Hawaii

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Place: Honolulu


APRIL 16th---

The day started off at 10 am when all the students on the ship had to take the Global Studies Final. But right after everyone was finished, 7th deck turned into Spring Break hahah! Literally, everyone was up by the pool, lounging, playing music and anxiously waiting by the banisters looking at Honolulu in the distance. (We docked in Honolulu for a couple of hours to do immigration paperwork….we didn’t get off the ship). When we actually docked in the port, I really felt like I had circled the globe….it was nice to see the American flag! I heard a buzz on my phone and then all of a sudden I had service! I got to call home and it was so nice to hear people’s voices. I felt bad because I was talking about 100 words per minute, but I didn’t know when we were leaving Honolulu, so I didn’t know when I would lose service. It was funny to walk around the pool deck because everyone literally had out their phone and was texting and calling.

So it’s currently 9 pm and we have now left Honolulu and are heading to Hilo. We will be there around 8 am tomorrow morning!


PLACE: Hilo

APRIL 17th---

Today was absolutely amazing. We woke up bright and early so that we could be off the ship once we were cleared. Luckily one of my best friends on the ship, Sydney goes to school in Hilo, so we met up with her boyfriend and her friends to go around the island. First we got to try some of the local food. This included my new favorite, Poke Bowls. It is basically a bowl filled with sticky rice, seaweed, and raw chunks of tuna coated in seasonings. It sounds kinds of weird but it was amazing! There was also Lala, which is pork wrapped in taro leaves (spinach-like leaves). If you know me, you know that I hate pork products….but I have to say, I have liked almost all the food with pork on this trip so far…(it’s weird!). We also had two desserts: Sweet Potato Pie with coconut jelly top (this cake was for my friend Charli’s 21st birthday----the sweet potatoes inside were purple---Sydney said that is the color or sweet potatoes in Hawaii). Also we got to try Lilioki (I don’t know if my spelling is right). Lilioki is kind of like a passion fruit tart. The last comment I have to make about food is that everyone in Hawaii loves spam. They literally include it in all of their meals. Ewww!

After we got all this food, we took most of it to a beach with us. Once we parked the car there, we had to climb down this huge rock wall to get down to the actual beach. It was actually really challenging! We got really cut up but not too bad. Once we got down though, the view was amazing! The whole beach had black sand because of the volcanoes in the past. The waves were huge and in the distance you could see dolphins jumping in the air and spinning. Most of the beaches were hippie/nude beaches in Hilo. It was really funny to watch these people frolic around the beach and sing and dance. There was even a drum circle and a bamboo swing that you could go on. We tried to go out in the waves but they were really intense and I kept falling over and getting washed up on shore. While we sang happy birthday to Charli a bunch of the hippie came over and sang too hahah! (Although most of them wanted to steal our cake----not cool hahah). We stayed there for about 2 hours and then we decided to go somewhere else.

We drove around and would occasionally pull over to see a really pretty look out area. The landscape here is beautiful. Everything is so green and vibrant and all of the people are so happy and friendly. They all came up to us and said aloha. We also went to another beach where we walked through a jungle to a small hot pond. The atmosphere in Hawaii is so relaxing and calm….I loved it!

Finally, we went to area that used to be an active volcano. Once it erupted, everything was destroyed and all that was left was hardened lava and all these big rocks. We walked across all of it until we got to the water front. We walked up to the edge and once a huge wave came in, the water would splash up behind you and you would get soaked. It was really cool!

Since it was Sunday, nothing was really open, but we found a Thai restaurant and it was really good. After that, we went to the hotel to check in and drop our back packs off. We went to a bar down the street. I was so nervous because everyone in my group was 21 except me. They actually carded at the door but didn’t care and let me in anyway. I was really relieved because I thought I was going to be that problematic person in the group that couldn’t get in anywhere. It was weird to think that way now because the entire time we have been on this trip, the drinking age never mattered. The bar was fun and they had a huge dance floor. Sadly, the fun only lasted for about an hour and a half because everyone in the bar decided they wanted to leave around that time.

Once everyone left they headed to this 24 hour diner down the street called Ken’s (it’s really well-known there). We got late night pancakes! After we ate we were practically falling asleep at the table. I think the sun and all the walking around finally hit us and we decided to go back to the hotel and get some sleep.


APRIL 18th---


I woke up and actually went to Ken’s again for breakfast. It is really the only place around where we were staying to eat. It was really good though. After that we went to this place which is kind of hard to describe. You park on this dirt path and walk into this jungle clearing. There are all these massive, trees with vines coming out of them. You follow this path until you reach the river front. After you get to the river front, you have to climb up this rock wall to get to the top of the hill. You have to pull your entire body up using the vines. This was really challenging and I honestly feared my life (probably because if I did fall…well it wouldn’t have ended well). But we all somehow made it to the top. We had to jump across all these rocks and then you finally made it to the top of the hill. Once you are at the top of the hill people cliff dive and jump off waterfalls. A few people braved the jump and the rest of us just laid out on top of the rocks and enjoyed the view. Getting back to where we started at the end was hard. Getting down that vine wall was actually harder than getting up it. I felt my hands shake as I pushed my body over the ledge and was dangling from the wall. It was really scary! But after 5 minutes of positioning my hands and feet, I made it to the bottom safely.

After that we went to another beach area. We went into the water there but it was hard to swim because there were a lot of rocks on the bottom. But once we got further out, it wasn’t as difficult. The water felt great though. I was upset because I was told I would see turtles but I guess none of them were there when I was. I did see a lot of black colored crabs walking all over the rocks. Everyone from this area is so laid back. They told me after classes are done; they just come out here and jump off some rocks, eat some food and lay out in the sun. Sounds like a nice life….why didn’t I go to school in Hawaii hahah!

Anyway, we had to head back to the ship eventually. On the way back we stopped to try a Hawaiian classic, shaved ice with ice cream. It is basically a scoop of ice cream with shaved ice on top, flavored syrup and then some type of fruit powder or condensed milk as toppings. Once they all melt together it tastes amazing. After that we headed to the ship and got on around 6 pm. Once I got back on the ship I realized that the next time I got off would be my last time.

Overall, I absolutely loved Hawaii. I had such an amazing time there. I was so lucky that one of my friends was able to show me and all my other friends around both days. Everyone was so nice and laid back (especially all of her friends). The lifestyle here is very relaxed and I loved that about it. I felt so refreshed and happy after my two days here. I didn’t want to leave. I wish we would have had more time. We really wanted to go camping but you can’t do everything in 2 days I guess…..I definitely want to come back soon.

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