Second Proper Day in Hawai'i

Heeeeyy frieeeends.

This morning Jay was playing beautiful Hawaiian melodies that drifted into my room and awoke me from my slumber. 

But I wanted to sleep in so it was kind of annoying.

Still a good way to wake up though.

I took a really long time to get ready, but once I did, I was off to Starbucks for a delicious and nutritious breakfast. 

I got a bagel with cream cheese and jam and a mocha frappucino. All for $6!

I ate it outside which was sooo nice.

But I couldn't get their wifi from outside :(

These are the stairs I walk down from Jay's place:

He has two cats which sit on these stairs and want you to pat them.

From Starbucks, I went over to the bank and set up an account because I'm rolling in it.
It rained money aaall over the bank desk when I gave them my cash.

Then I went to the UHM campus to the health services place and got some nasty tuberculosis stuff injected into my arm:

I have to go back in two days to see if I'm diseased or not.

Checked out campus for a bit, there are solo many plants! It's more plants than uni.
They don't say uni here. Ever. Just college or university.
But yeah, the campus has over 600 different types of plants!
I have a brochure about them all.

On campus, I went to visit the exchange office then I went in search for a T-mobile.
On the way I went to a supermarket for some lunch where there was Werther's Original caramel popcorn and other delicious looking things.

I passed by this cool church that had heaps of palm trees around it:

Found a very busy T-Mobile and so I now have data!! Omg I am so lost without Google Maps. Then caught a bus to the bank and sorted out the rest of my account stuff.

When I got back, Jay needed to go to a few stores to return some stuff (apparently everyone buys like, 2 of everything and just returns them if they don't like it) so he drove us to Ross' Dress for Less. I got some cool shorts and a top, both under $10! They're very colourful and light, so good for the heat.

Then we went to Sam's Club which is like Moore Wilson's but like, FIVE TIMES BIGGER.
It was soooo huge.
They stocked everything.
I only took one sneaky picture there coz I didn't wanna look like a tourist, getting all excited about all the bulk stuff, but here are some big boxes of cereal:

Crazy times in Hawaii.

I'm back in my room now, we were gonna go for a drive up a mountain to get a nice view of the city, but we might do that tomorrow instead. I'm exhausted! Might head off to sleep now.

Until tomorrow probably,

Good night!

Madeleine :)

Waking up in Hawaii

Heyoooo!

So today was my first proper day in Hawaii and it was hot.
I got shweaty.
But that's ok because I'm still fabulous.

This morning I got up and walked down the road to the Safeway supermarket where I picked up some brekkie and some things to snack on in the day. The sun was already super warm at 10am but it was really nice to walk in.
So I kept walking for like, 40 min, meaning to find the university but I'd gone down the wrong street so I was just walking by heaps of random shops and stuff. (Apparently nobody ever says "heaps" here. It's what really old people say.)

That's pretty much how the rest of my day was, just wandering round the streets of Honolulu and stuff, not knowing where I was going.

But somehow I stumbled into Nordstrom (I used their toilet) which then lead me into the Ala Moana shopping centre. That place is amazing.
They've got every single shop in the world there and it's all kind of outside but also covered at the same time.

They even had koi ponds along the middle:

And they had a Tiffany's but I held myself back.

I went into a store called Bath & Body Works which smelt amazing AND they were having a sale! I got this antibacterial hand spray which is Warm Vanilla Sugar flavour. It'll protect me from nasty germs while making my hands smell like cookies. Mmmmm. And a "Mad About You" triple moisture body cream which smells delicious and fruity. I used it tonight after my shower.

This was the cute lil bag I got it in, even though it's not Christmas:

On my travels I eventually found the uni campus:

That'll be me next week!

Then I went back to Jay's and got changed into better walking gears because I was preparing for the adventures ahead.

I was meant to meet Yohan (the other Vic exchange student) at Waikiki but I ended up on the wrong beach so I just kept walking along the sand of all the hotels' private beaches, disturbing all the hotel guests. But it was really nice.

I saw a turtle in the water.

FINALLY I made it to Waikiki and saw these cool palm trees at the park next to the beach:

Just kidding, that was the wrong beach again!

So I just kept walking.

I like taking these sorts of photos because you can take it without looking like you're taking a photo.
People already thought I was weird though because I was the only one wearing a top.

One place had these tricycle things that you ride along the sand and into the water, then you just cycle floating on the water!

Then I really got to Waikiki where I met up with Yohan. We caught a bus to the start of the Diamond Head trail. Diamond Head is a really high point of the outer ring of a crater that formed after a volcano erupted there 300,000 years ago.

You can kind of see the shape of the crater, the hilly bits are the rest of the outer ring:

 These are some views from like, 3/4 of the way up:

Classic Panorama, didn't turn out that great:

There was a little collection of surfers and we watched them catch a few waves:

We climbed soooo many stairs to get to the top:

But it was so worth it. You could see heeeaps of the island and the sea was such a pretty blue, it just went on forever.

You could even see another Hawaiian island, Molokai way in the distance.

Went through a really long tunnel too:

That's the crater:

Honolulu with all its super tall buildings:

After we'd been chilling at the top for a while, this guy who had been sitting by us was like, "I dropped by bag down there last Sunday and I really want it back." And he asked us to look out for him as he tied a real flimsy rope to his arm and the barrier, then scaled down the cliff to his bag. 
He really loved that bag.
When he got back up he gave Yohan a high five and me a fist bump because I'm the man.

That's him getting his bag:

Yeah! So then we went back down and caught a bus back to our places. I still had another bus to catch back to Jay's but I couldn't be bothered waiting for it so I just walked back.

My legs are soooo tired and sore now!

Think I'll have a sleep in :)

Don't know how exciting tomorrow will be, just gonna sort stuff out at the uni and stuff. But I'll update if anything cool happens.

Thanks for reading!

Madeleine

xoxo

Aloha Hawaii!

Aloha friends, 

I'm in my room at Jay's house in Honolulu where I'll be staying until Friday then I'll be moving into the YMCA where you can do whatever you feeeeel.

The day started off pretty early for everyone and I had a little leaving party at the airport made up of Mum, Dad, Kate, Jack, Tem and his Mum and Dad.
The three kids on the way to the airport:

They look thrilled.

Here I am a couple of days before getting squashed:

Anyway, I caught the flight to Auckland then walked straight to the international terminal along the green line:

That's just an artistic travelling shot.

Then I waited for like, hardly any time at all and got on the flight to Honolulu.

I sat next to the window and at the emergency exit which was good because they said they need strong people at the exits to open the doors. Obviously a wise move to have me there.

I sat next to Lynette who's a cool Hawaiian teacher and she told me about all the super markets and where to buy the most delicious donuts.

Lynette tells it how it is.

I got my veggo food first and the pic looks kinda gross but it was actually really yum. It was a lasagne full of deliciousness:

There were also roast veggies around it but I ate those before I took the picture.
And a raspberry macaroon for pud:

The flight was so smooth and the skies were so clear, it was great. 
Pretty sure this is Samoa:

This probably looks like the same picture but the big long cloud looked really menacing and I thought we were about to fly into The Day After Tomorrow because Lynette kept saying that there were huge storms in Hawaii!

But we flew through it and it was just a little wispy cloud.

I did some colouring on the plane:

And I watched If I Stay, and listened to a lil Bruno while I coloured. I also watched Bear Grylls taking Zac Efron into the wild to survive and be manly and stuff. That was pretty good.

Had dinner which was kinda more of a lunch. It was fruit and club sandwiches:

The sunset was really really pretty but you can't appreciate it as much in this photo because it lit up the clouds all pink and orange too.

Then we landed in Honolulu, I got my bags, went through customs, and headed outside where Carmi (you say it Car-mai) was waiting for me with a sign that said Miss Madeleine Wilson on it.
Then he drove me to Jay's apartment and gave me a lil tour of the uni and some shops on the way.
He was so so nice and Jay is super nice too.
I hope that everyone here is as nice as them and no one is mean to me.

Soooooo yeah. I feel like I wrote a lot about not much..
But I'll write again tomorrow probably about what I get up to on my first proper day in Hawaii!

Bye for now!

Madeleine

Wintery Goodness.

So, seeing as it's smack-bang in the middle of exams, it's the perfect time to start blogging again.

I feel like blogging is definitely a good way of just stepping away from stuff and checkin' out what's going on in yo life.

Probably could have done a few blogs over the last couple of months, 'cause I have done cool stuff! But it's always like, oh nah, don't have time. But being "too busy" is always gonna be an excuse. For everything. So I feel justified in my abandonment of study for the moment to update le blog!

Currently been spending the last couple of weeks locked in my room, studying for exams. It feels both pointless and rewarding at the same time.

Anyway, here's a quick flashback to a cute date Carrie-Ann and I went on towards the end of the semester. We went to Chow in Wellington and then straight across to The Library. Not gonna pass up them two-for-one cocktail Wednesdays!
(artistic photo credit to Carrie-Ann - thanks gal).

We had a deeelish cappuccino crème brulée:

But that was then, this is now.
No going out for me!
Actually, I went out to dinner last night.
But you know, gotta say that I can't go out so I feel like I'm dedicated to studying,

A couple of weekends ago, Tem and I went on an afternoon bush walk and when we came back over the hill, the sun had set and there was a cool glow over the harbour:

I don't know if it's the cold or the study doing it to me, but I feel like winter makes you appreciate stuff heaps more. Like, I know you're more likely to get depressed during the winter months, but I feel pretty content right now.
The cold is super bearable when you know you've got so many little things that you can take pleasure in. Like hot breakfasts to warm your insides up in the morning. I made a baked berry and apple crumble one morning, made my insides happy for the whooooole day:

And knowing that there is totally nothing wrong with staying inside all day because it's miserable weather outside.

That's what warm snuggly socks are for!

And cuddling hot water bottles.
(feat. my Tiffany bracelet)

And hot chocolates to keep up them warm tummy feels.

I also love the fact that you can wake up knowing that you can chuck on a hoodie, some tights and the good old ugg boots as your day's attire.

All set.

Plus you don't have to worry about making up yo face! Ain't nobody gonna be seeing you today!

There are the occasional sunny (albeit cold) days where you can pop outside for ten minutes and get some Vitamin D in you. Or maybe just enough time to grab a mandarin, take a mandarin-tree selfie and get back to the warm safety of your heater.

I have done one exam so far.
One.
But I felt it was definitely enough to deserve a waffle trip.

Soooo, that's probably the most exciting things that have happened to me the last couple of weeks.
Oh! Hold up.
Finding this mutant cashew nut definitely makes the exciting events list:

This picture doesn't even do the cashew nut's monster size justice.

And I finally got to try some blue corn chips which I've been fascinated with for a while.

There was also the French Society's Languages and Cultures Ball. That was pretty fun, everyone was very well dressed. Except this one guy who wore chucks and a puffer vest.

This next week is filled to the brim with exams, so gonna knuckle down and brace myself for the impact of those.

Until next time, stay cool (I definitely will), take some selfies and also take comfort in all the little things, even if everything around you is looking pretty grim.

Ciao!

:)