Quick Laugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvPkUMRE7yg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D0555EtAZ4

Here's where I live - Now you can visualize my college life.

Roommate Janine from Switzerland:
We've become good friends the last few weeks!
Hale Pukiniahi
Janine's side of the room! :) Kinda funny- It never bothers me cuz she keeps it all on her side.
My bed/corkboard
Desk and drawers
Its nice for the dorms. It works.

I've decided to keep a record of my adventures on this blog. I need to remember my funny stories and memorable moments, especially in Hawaii!

Saturdays here are precious!! Its the only day you can actually GO and DO something! Two Saturdays ago I planned to go snorkeling but there was "miscommunication" and I was totally left behind. I felt REALLY cool. I played on the beach by myself trying not to be bitter for 6 hours. I was so mad my Saturday was wasted so I walked home, wallowed in self - pity, missing my Idaho friends, thinking of what everyone else was doing without me, watched Little Rascals, Wimbledon, Ever After, Dirty Dancing AND The Devil Wears Prada! That's 5 movies in a row on my little laptop all alone in my dorm! I’ve never felt cooler.

The next Saturday rolls around and I’m determined to have a FUN! There’s so much to do on the island and I refuse to not enjoy Hawaii! I get up at 5:30am, (willingly!... weird) get ready for my FUN day, meet my girls at the bus stop by 6:30am. Picture:Kim,Me,Whitney @Bustop
(SwapMeet is only open in the mornings and we wanted to maximize our Saturday.) Two girls we were expecting were not at the bus stop when the bus came so we did not get on. We decided to wait for them and all ride the same bus. Meanwhile, Lina calls to see if we want a ride. (She drove by us while we were waiting) We gladly accept this amazing offer! By the time Lina came the bus had come a 2nd time and it was now 7:30! I’m trying not to notice the hour wasted and focus on the fact that a 45 minute car ride, windows down, music up is pure luxury compared to a 2 hour crowded stinky bus ride!

We arrive at SwapMeet, try on some fun jewelry, bargain for cocoanut bras, and shop til we drop! I had no idea it was so big! It goes all around the UofH stadium. We catch the bus over to Waikiki beach where my desire to take off all clothing is socially acceptable for once! I realize I didn’t eat much the day before (except for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! Mmmm) and I had not eaten all day except my regular “I’m too cheap to buy real food” breakfast: a hardboiled egg. It was now around 2pm, I take a bite of the warm apple I brought. Gag reflex. Concessions were serving slaughtered animal or Spam for only $12.99! Tempting. I decide on the rip off water that cost me 3 and a half bucks. UGH. I return to my towel on the sand. (At this point, Whitney had left for work, and some stayed at SwapMeet so now its Kim and I laying out.) I whine to Kim excessively like she’s mommy, demanding she fix my stomach right now! I stand up but quickly squat down and start throwing up ON WAIKIKI BEACH! With every heave of nasty, I pile sand on top to cover my upchuck!


I stop long enough to make it to the hot, dirty, humid, stinky, fecal-infested, never been cleaned, stuffy, sticky floored, NASTY bathroom, where I manage to peel my one piece swimsuit down to my ankles and spew from both ends! Which I must say, requires great aim and technique!!! This leaves me butt naked in a public stall where the door won’t close. By now Kim has gathered up all our stuff and is listening to my sexy bodily functions. Eventually I sat in the shade outside and ate 2 little pieces of toast that cost like $400 each I swear. I was dreading the crowded windey 2hr busride home! I realized I had spent my last few dollars on “exploit all tourists” bread and water and I needed 2$ for the bus fare. Two older women draped in diamonds walk by and I stopped them to ask if they had any spare quarters. I told them I had been throwing up all day, I spent my last dollar on a slice of bread and I’m just trying to get enough money to go home. After I explained myself I realized I sounded like some rebellious runaway teen with a bad hangover!!! One of the ladies turned her nose up at me in disgust. The other looked me in the eye, held my hands as she gave me all her coins, and said in a tender voice, “ Go home honey, and you be safe.” Hahahaha oh well mooching works!!

I make it home without puking on strangers. I walk through campus to get home where one of the biggest and most looked forward to events of the semester is set up outside. FOOD FEST. ( I had been excited about it because all the different clubs set up a booth/tent with food or games and apparently people from all over the island and especially the whole north shore come to food fest. I really wanted to try all the different ethnic foods, Tongan, Samoan, Korean, Japanese, etc.) I refused to miss food fest though so after I had showered and cleaned up, I walked around the big event with friends but let’s just say the aroma of foreign foods was not appealing.

Long story short: It was a FUN day!

Downtown Honolulu

Always a tree hugger...
On top of the Aloha Tower

Chinese New Year Parade in ChinaTown

My roommate Janine is from Switzerland. She is... uh.... nice? She doesn't acknowledge my existence if we're on campus and she's never home for more than 5 minutes at a time. She sleeps in her own bed maybe twice a week. I think she usually sleeps at her boyfriend's place which is funny cuz she is the RA who is supposed to encourage the honor code and be the rule enforcer for things like curfew. Her boyfriend is named "Fa" from Tonga. He dropped out of high school, hasn't served a mission, flakes out on her often and goes kava drinking a lot. He sounds like a real keeper!!! Oh well, Janine has at least one of everything you might ever need:
Ace bandages, bottles of lotion, a boogie board and surf board she's never used, rubbing alcohol, all sorts of clothes she takes from the DI bin, suticases, empty picture frames, a large collection of towels, a years worth of Cosmopolitan, and InStyle, a stash of unopened art supplies, fireknife batons, stuffed animals....... the list goes on! Janine does have a pretty good stash of European chocolate so whats to not like?!

I shipped a box of my things to my place in Laie on January 2nd. I expected to have to live with out it for a few days in Hawaii but I didn't realize those few days would turn into a few WEEKS! It had all my crazy nail polish and weird jewelry which are 2 very important things for me to feel like I am Robin Bell! My hair dryer and razor was in there so everyday I left for class with gross wet hair on my head and legs! SICK. It also had pictures and decorations for my room (not that big of a deal to some people I know- but I don't enjoy claiming an ugly old empty room as my new home) It also had books, school supplies, my journal, etc., making student life a challenge. Eventually it came just this week on the 20th!!! Opening that box felt like Christmas as a little kid! I called friends to come over to share the excitement and celebrate the arrival of what felt like my whole life!!!

The box had my bedding in it so after Kami first dropped me off and moved me in, I slept curled up in sweats/sweatshirt on a sick bare mattress that i'm sure plenty of random gross students have slept on over the years. (Ew) The floor looked pretty dirty so I chose the softer of the icky options. Eventually I borrowed 2 queen size sheets from some family friends (They used to be in our home ward and now the husband teaches at BYU-H) So i wrapped one around the mattress to work as a fitted sheet (by morning it was always totally off the mattress) and the 2nd I used on top to keep "warm." After almost a week of that, I'm telling my mom about how cold I was last night and these mini mosquito bumps ALL OVER my legs that itch like crazy and I realize my mattress had BED BUGS!!!! ugh sick nasty! I talked to the housing office on a thursday to have my bed replaced and a new mattress didn't come until Monday! I slept every night with Kim in her twin bed until my new mattress came! (ha - i had no choice but to become close friends with her FAST!) Sleeping with my own cute bedding feels like such a luxury and I get excited about it every night!

I have more to write about concerning my random traumas upon arrival but that's it for now!

I have a blog! I created it a year ago but never figured it out and now that I am not so stressed with time I'm excited to use it!

I'm now at BYU Hawaii livin it up! Here's some photos of my life here...

Kim and I at my dorm getting ready for the dance last Friday. I knew Kim in Idaho but just barely. She was in my Anatomy class so once I got here and knew nobody we became BFF! Don't judge my room decor - it will get better!

Our first adventure to the beach with Kim and her 2 roommates, Haidy and Johana!

Polynesian Culture Center! We got some New Zealand War paint for the show that night.
I'm on Kim's computer right now but when I have mine with my camera i'll upload more!