Hilo, Hawaii

We arrived in Hilo, Hawaii on Tuesday, January 15th around 8:00 a.m. I didn't have any class field labs and I decided not to sign up for any field programs for this port, which meant I was free to travel independently the entire time we were there. We had to go through customs before being allowed off of the ship, so we didn't actually get to leave until around 10:30. There was definitely a mad rush towards the door when we were finally cleared!

On the first day, me and a couple of other girls (Kaitlynn and Dahana) took a taxi up to Rainbow Falls. I had heard that this was an absolute must while in Hilo. It was gorgeous! While we were there, I had a conversation with a Native Hawaiian that was making hats and baskets out of some sort of plant. When I asked him about it he said he was using leaves from a coconut palm tree. There are over 80 different types of palm trees in Hawaii, but the coconut palm is the only one that has leaves you can use to make something functional. It has been used like this in Hawaii for thousands of years. It was very interesting to learn about and it fit very with an assignment I had in one of my classes to journal about different cultural experiences I had in Hilo. Here are a few pictures from Rainbow Falls!

After Rainbow Falls, we made our way to downtown Hilo to check out some of the local shops and the Farmer's Market. It was a very small downtown, and it wasn't quite what I was expecting. Hilo is not nearly as industrialized as most of the other islands, but it was great to get to experience it!  I bought a few things at one of the little shops, and then we went to the Farmer's Market where we tried rainbow papaya (delicious) and a few other kinds of fruit. For lunch, we went to a small local place called Puka Puka Kitchen and then stopped at a small shaved ice store. After hanging out downtown for a couple of hours we took a bus to Target to stock up on things we needed or weren't able to fit in our suitcases when we packed. We bought TONS of snacks (granola bars, nut mixes, pretzels, peanut butter, etc) and some school supplies and other items we thought might be useful. For example, I bought a watch. It has been extremely helpful these last few days because there are honestly no clocks up anywhere in the ship. For anyone considering Semester at Sea, put a watch on your packing list!

After Target, we took a taxi back to the ship to drop our bags off. Then we took a mile long walk down to the Coconut Grill for supper. I ordered the Coconut Shrimp Tikis. It was SO GOOD!

On the second day, Kaitlynn and I decided we wanted to go to the beach to relax for a few hours. However, our plan didn't exactly work out. We were told by several locals that there was a great beach about 2 miles from the ship where we could swim and lay out. We were pretty excited! When we got to the beach they directed us to, it was nothing but rocks. There was no sand anywhere, and we were not about to attempt walking over those rocks to get into the water. It was a pretty big failure, but we took a couple of pictures anyway!

We walked back to the ship and then decided to head back downtown to find an ATM, visit the Farmer's Market again, (it was about 3 times larger the second day) and find a place to use WiFi for a few minutes. After that, we headed back to the port! We had to be back on board by 6:00 p.m., but they recommended getting back around 4:00 p.m. so that not everyone was trying to get back on at the exact same time. I had a fabulous time in Hilo, but there were definitely some people that did not make the best decisions while we were there. Some students might actually get kicked off because of their behavior. I guess there were 32 rooms rented out at a hotel for about 200 students. By the end of the night, there were alcohol cans thrown everywhere, vomit in the elevators, and over 40 complains from hotel visitors. Other students decided to go to a bar and drink illegally. Why anyone would choose to do these things is beyond me. Why would anyone even think it's okay to do that?  Getting so drunk that you can't even remember what happened is definitely NOT the point of this trip. It's pretty disappointing that there seems to be some people on this voyage that are here for the very wrong reasons.

When we stopped in Honolulu for fuel, the captain made the decision to stay docked overnight due to dangerous storms in the Pacific. If we had kept going, we likely would have run into 30 ft. waves! I'm definitely glad we waited. There is still a pretty good chance that we will be hitting some storms between now and Japan, but hopefully they won't be too terrible!

As far as life on the ship, it took a while to get adjusted but I feel like I am finally getting used to the swing of things! It is still a little hard to successfully manage my time because there is constantly something going on, but I'm getting the hang of it. Student run clubs and organizations officially started today, which has been very exciting! I was assigned to an "Extended Family" and should be meeting them sometime within the next couple of days. I'm really looking forward to that. Zumba will occur every A Day at 7 p.m. I'm planning on going to that as much as I possibly can. I went tonight and it was a lot of fun! I wish I had taken some pictures, but there is plenty of time for that. Singers at Sea will be starting up within the next week, and I cannot even explain how excited I am for that! Also, a friend of mine is starting weekly Bible studies and Church services. I'm planning on attending the services on Sundays. :)

I've also really been enjoying my work study job! It's a pretty big honor to be able to work directly with the Assistant Executive Dean on this voyage. Here is a picture of what the outside of the office looks like.

Our next stop is Yokohama, Japan! We're finally getting outside of the United States and I am SO EXCITED!! It will take us a pretty long stretch of about 10 days to get there, but hopefully the ocean won't get too rough. I have a field lab on the first day of Yokohama with my Anthropology of Religion course, but other than that I have no official plans. A group of us is thinking about taking a train to Hiroshima! If I could pick only one thing to do/see in Japan, that would be it. We're still working out all of the details but I'm pretty sure that we will end up going! I can't wait!

 I'll probably do another post or two before we get to Japan. We have a "study day" with no classes coming up the day after tomorrow. That is going to be the best day. We also gain another hour of sleep tonight. Yay! :)

Thanks guys!