We arrived in Hilo this morning around 8 am. Again, I was up
at 6 am to see the sunrise (so worth it!) I made all my “Hi, I made it to Hawaii” phone calls to my family and texted my
friends. While I was on the phone with my Grandma, I was able to see a group of
whales jumping out of the water. Of course my Grandma found it hilarious how
mid-conversation I said, “Hold on! There are whales jumping out of the water!!”
After going on a whale watch in Boston and realizing those whales typically
don’t jump out of the water, it was a really cool to see.
Even though we arrived at 8 am, it was a long process to get
off the ship. Since we arrived from Mexico, we had to go through immigration,
which we will have to do at every port.
Once we were allowed to get off the ship, around 10ish, I of
course being thrilled to be in Hawaii, was a little too excited… I left my key
in my room. After running up and down the stairs, I was finally able to get off
the ship!
My friend Justin and I tried to meet up with a group of
friends, but we couldn’t get in touch with them. So the two of us walked around
Hilo for a little trying to figure out what to do. We found a group of SAS kids
who were waiting for a shuttle ride to one of the black sand beaches. We
decided to join them, until we arrived. We lucked out that there was a tour of
about 13 SAS students, so we asked the tour guide if we could join.
We went to a Japanese garden, which was beautiful and
relaxing. And a perfect little preview of our next stop in Japan! We stopped to
get lunch at one of the best lunch places. Justin tried some raw fish thing,
which I thought was gross. One of my goals for this semester is to try
something new everyday and put myself out of my comfort zone, but raw fish is
where I draw the line! We continued on our adventurous journey to Akaka falls.
There was a walking trail through a small rainforest and at the end was a
beautiful waterfall. Then we saw a second waterfall, Rainbow falls. We all
walked up to the top of the waterfall, where a lot of SAS students were hanging
out and swimming. I ended up climbing through the rocks with Justin and a few
other people to get a closer look at the waterfall. I was able to get right to
the edge, which was pretty scary! After that, we made our way to the macadamia
nut factory in Hilo. I of course got macadamia nuts and Hershey kisses with
macadamia nuts inside… AMAZING J
We made our way back to the ship and got ready for the
night. Justin started playing the piano and we hung out waiting for our friends
to get back from their field labs. Andrea and I saw Bishop Tu Tu walking
towards us, so we told Justin to play a good song. Justin had those blue tinted
reflexive sunglasses on his head, and when Bishop Tu Tu walked by he stopped,
pauses, and starts laughing say “I thought you had blue lights comin’ out of
your head!” It was the cutest and funniest thing.
Once everyone was back on the ship and ready to go out, we made
our way to Ken’s Diner, which is a 24/7 breakfast place. I had already eaten
something on the ship, so I got a bagel. After dinner we walked around Hilo in
the rain looking for something to do. There was a hotel where a lot of students
were partying, but we decided not to go there. Being kind of cold and tired,
some of us decided to walk back to the ship.
My friends went through boat security before me, and when I swipe
my card and the security guy stops me saying “wait a minute... this isn’t you.”
My ID picture is the same as my passport picture, which was taken in August. So
I’m really tan and my hair was up. Tonight, I’m not as tan, my hair was down
and I now have side bangs. I laughed and told him it was me… I didn’t know what
else say since it was actually me! Luckily, he looked at my picture long enough
to be convinced it was me.
We ended up hanging out in the Union talking before going to
bed. And that was my exciting first day in Hawaii!
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