Showing posts with label Kauai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kauai. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Revival of the Aloha Blog

The Aloha blog wasn’t dead if that’s what you thought… It just went into hibernation for an extended period of time. For many good reasons! Since you heard from me last time, lots of things have happened, and I’m not sure where to start… Let’s try to go with it in chronological sequence.
I think the first thing that happened was Maria visiting from Canada. She was here for five days, and it was great to see her and have the chance to show her around in Hawaii. We rented a car one day and did a circle island tour. We were lucky enough to see a big sea turtle on Laniakea Beach on the North Shore, we got to swim in a waterfall, we ate garlic and chili shrimps at the shrimp wagons, relaxed at Waimea Bay, and went for a walk on the beach where Lost is filmed. We also did some scuba diving and got to see 20 dolphins swimming in front of the boat. On her last days here we went to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling.

Maria left a few days prior to Halloween. Hege and I had decided to invite people over for a Halloween Party, one thing we forgot to discuss, however, was how many people to invite to the party… By accident we invited around 60 people, and by accident… everybody showed up at some point during the evening! In addition our neighbors across the hall had a party going on, so we decided to open the two doors and make two big parties one humongous party. It was good fun, and everybody had dressed up in crazy costumes. At one point it kinda got out of control, and I though I would make people leave. I also thought people were not gonna leave voluntarily, so I started yelling: Get the F*** out of here… NOW! It actually worked… Although the next day I started wondering why I hadn’t just asked people to leave in a friendlier way… Well – it seems as if nobody really took insult… I still have some friends left; what's more, the apartment is still in pretty good shape.

A week following Halloween Christer came all the way to Hawaii from Norway. He was here for two weeks, and I think we got to see and experience a lot of what Hawaii has to offer. We pretty much did all the stuff you’re supposed to do while in Hawaii. Here on Oahu we went to North Shore to see turtles and surfers, Kayaking in Kailua and Lanikai, snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, hiking the Onomana ridge, Pearl Harbor, Waikiki Beach, Muse on a Tuesday for $1 drinks, Chessecake Factory, we watched hula in the sunset, watched baseball, went to down town and china town, Aloha Tower, Ala Moana Shopping Center, etc. But I think the best part was the trip to Kauai – the oldest and northernmost of the Hawaiian Island. I’ve been there three years ago with Sisse. It is called the Garden Island for good reasons. The Island is extremely green… Also for very good reasons! It rains a lot over there, something we also got to experience. We had rented a convertible Mustang (niiiiiice!!) and more than once we had to stop and put the cover back on, so we wouldn’t get soaked… (However, we discovered that if we drove really fast we didn’t actually feel the rain. That theory, however, only applied until it was raining a certain amount of rain, and we couldn’t go any faster than we all ready did…) While on Kauai we went on a boat trip where we were lucky enough to see humpback whales, dolphins jumping in front of the boat and we got to snorkel with turtles. We also did a trip to Waimea Canyon (Grand Canyon of the Pacific – check out the pictures) and hiked the beautiful Na Pali coast.

Christer left two weeks ago, and because I practically did not do any school work while he was here, I’ve pretty much spent the last two weeks catching up on papers and exams, and in three days this semester is officially over! I’ve got my last two finals on Thursday, so I’ve spent the last few day writing papers, doing presentations and studying… If you wanna know anything about The Implementation of Fiscal and Monetary Policies in the US or The Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 – just let me know… I’m the one to ask!!
I’ve started the countdown… In only 9 days I’ll be on my way home to Denmark to celebrate a traditional, rainy Danish Christmas, and I’m so exited… I cannot wait to see family and friends; I’ve been feeling a little homesick lately. I’ll be home for an entire month, and I’ll make sure to spend time both in Copenhagen and Oslo besides my parents place, so I’ll get to see everybody. I just can’t wait!

Now I have to go cause I’m heading over to Susanne and Hallvard to watch julekalender… We’re watching a Norwegian julekalender called Nisserne på Låven (I think…!!) It’s kinda hard to get in the right kind of Christmas mood while there’s 25 degrees Celsius outside (I’m not complaining..!) however, Susanne is making an excellent effort by baking rolls with chocolate inside and serving hot chocolate every time we come over. Gotta go!!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

What’s new in Hawaii?



I bought a tennis racket and six tennis balls. Now I’m searching craigslist for a tennis coach. (Where’s Magnus when you need him??) Or someone who wants to play with a beginner like me. Anyone interested – just let me know. By the way – the racket is pink! That’s why I bought it… I’ve also started running. The thing is I signed up for membership in 24hourfitness, but since the Waikiki club is being renovated I’ve found it hard to pack up all my stuff and work out in down town. Queen Kapiolani Park is right outside my door, sp I try to run 5 kilometers 3-4 times a week. 24hour fitness in Waikiki is supposed to open in the beginning of November – that’ll make everything a lot simpler.

I got great news….. Maria is flying out from Canada to visit! She’ll be here in a little more than a week from today and stay for five days. I’m really exited to see her and show her everything. And that not all - in three weeks from now Christer will be here. He’s here for two weeks, and the plan is to go to Kauai for a long weekend. Kauai is known as “The Garden Isle”, and I think it is the most beautiful of the 8 major Hawaiian Islands. I was lucky enough to go there with Sisse three years ago. This time around I think we’ll rent a convertible and stay in a nice resort hotel. I need vacation!!

I’ve got midterms coming up this week. I’ve already finished one midterm for my Org Behavior Class – I did pretty well on that one. On Thursday I got a two midterms – one in Economics and one on Business Law. It’s mostly multiple choose and True/False so I’m really not too worried. Also, I kind of made up my mind... I don’t have to be a straight A student this time – there’s so much stuff I’d rather do than sit inside and study. So I guess it’s ok if I don’t do perfect. It’s all about prioritizing really.

I’d rather spent my time scuba diving. I did four awesome dives last week, and Jonas and I are going out again this Friday. On Wednesday we did a wreck dive called The Barge out of Hawaii Kai, and on Friday we did a wreck dive in Waikiki called OY 157. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see any Sharks on The Barge, maybe next time. To Jonas delight we saw a spotted eagle ray, and of course… Lots of huge sea turtles! On Friday the OY 157 was maybe the best dive so far. The two wrecks were beautiful and we got to go inside one of them – twice actually. Lots of fish, sea turtles, huge moraine eels and eagle rays. On the second dive we came across the biggest octopus I’ve seen so far, I’ll upload pictures as soon as I get them from Jonas. Scuba diving really is tons of fun.

Saturday we went to Kualoa Ranch to do some fund raising for Danish Dynamite. It was my first time up there, and it was absolutely stunning. Lots of movies have been filmed up there, to name a few: Jurassic Park, 50 first Dates, Pearl Harbor, You, Me and Dupree, and the Lost series of course. The HPU cross country team had a race up there, and our job was to stand in the movie settings and make sure the runners were running in the right direction. Check out the pictures!

Sunday night I had arranged Sunset on the Beach for GSO. The films were really, really…. Really boring, but it’s always nice to sit one the beach, watch the sunset and a movie… I’m not complaining!

I miss all of you back home. Even though I’ve been really bad at writing personal e-mails I hope you all know that you’re in my thoughts every single day….