Aloha!

Honolulu, Hawaii

 

I have officially decided that Hawaii is not a part of the United States. It should really just be its own country. It was so beautiful! I felt so frustrated that we could only stay for 2 days, but I know that I will go back to Hawaii for sure, so I didn’t try to cram in a bunch of things in two days, I just kind of took it easy.

 

It was the strangest thing being back in the “U.S”. Things were similar yet still really different. The first thing that I took note of the first day was that there were actually cars on the street that I recognized the make and model. They were normal cars that I would see everyday at home, but it was still very strange to see them after 3 and a half months. And, people were driving on the right side of the road, but at first, I’m not going to lie, I was confused by this and it felt like to me that it was now the wrong side of the road. I have been so used to driving on the left side, looking right when stepping off the sidewalk, that even that small thing took getting used to again. ANDDDD I could use my cell phone again which was once again so strange. I forgot people’s numbers and my texting skills were lacking. These last three months, I haven’t thought about my cell phone once, and it’s been nice kind of being out of contact, but it was nice just having it to even keep in touch with people here on Semester at Sea, and see where they were on the island and what not.

 

Day 1

 

So the first day we were awoken at 6 am to Luke (our Assistant Executive Dean), who is the “voice” of the ship and makes the daily announcements. While he played "Back in America" over the loud speaker, he announced that we'd be going through customs in a few minutes.  It was an early wake up call, so I’m sure that he thought the music would get us going. But to honest, I was just excited to be Hawaii that I was awake as soon as the loud speaker came on. So they called us by sea to go up to the faculty/staff lounge to “go through customs” which only consisted of us just going and getting our passports, showing them to a customs official and then giving them back. So it only took a few minutes.

 

Then after the quick customs routine, I walked down to the Piano Lounge to sit and use my phone for a little bit. I kid you not, there were 10 people that I saw on my walk to the Piano Lounge also using their cell phones. I must have sat there for about 30 minutes on my phone and I can tell you that only 5 people walked by who were not on their cell phones. Everybody was happy to have a little normalcy and to be back in the U.S. for a few days.

 

They cleared the ship around 9 am, and I was to go skydiving at 10 am, so around 930 I headed off the ship and went to wait for the shuttle to the skydiving place. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! It was sunny and about 85 degrees with a nice breeze. Right outside the port were shops and stores and ice cream places and just some normal places that we hadn’t seen in months. The skydive shuttle van came around 945 and we all piled in. We asked Sunny (the shuttle driver) how many people we can fit in, and he said, as many as you can get in. So 21 of us piled into a van for about a 45 minute drive to the skydive place, but we were all so excited we didn’t mind being crammed. I mean we’ve all lived on the same ship for the last 3 months, I don’t think it was anything new for us.

 

After a gorgeous drive to the skydive place, we finally arrived. We pulled up and there was the landing strip and the field where people landed. People were literally falling out of the sky and landing as we pulled up. I was super excited. We all walked into the office to sign our lives away. They had our consent waivers and liability papers all ready for us and the last line read, “Please note that you can become seriously injured during skydiving and you may die”. Okay, good to know. I still didn’t care, I was going! Then we all walked outside to wait for them to call our names and suit us up to go. People were beginning to go and everyone was so hyped up. About two groups of people went and then they kind of stopped calling names. We were all getting a little frustrated and really wanted to go up. But they informed us that the winds had started blowing in from the Southwest, which is the worst kind of winds for skydiving because you can hit pockets of wind tunnels. So they announced that they would be putting skydiving on hold, but didn’t tell us for how long. We must have waited about 2 hours and then they decided that the winds weren’t going to let up so they wrote down all our names and we were to come back tomorrow at 6 am.

 

The shuttle took us back to the ship and I decided to just walk around the shops for a little to see what they had. The weather was so beautiful I couldn’t resist just taking a little stroll. It’s nice having some time to yourself after being cooped up in a ship for 9 days with 750 students. I decided to walk further down and see what was near, someone told me there was a mall near, and I decided to take a cab there. I needed a dress for the Ambassador’s Ball, so I figured I could find something there. When I got to the mall, it was honestly overwhelming. I saw stores that I hadn’t seen in 3 months; they had Old Navy, Gap, Forever 21, and American Eagle. I just wanted to buy everything and anything, just because it was there. I went into Forever 21 and spent enough money in there that I decided I probably shouldn’t go anywhere else. The mall was really beautiful. It was an outdoor mall, so you could feel the breeze and everything. It was really relaxing. After about an hour or so at the mall, I took a cab back to the ship and started getting ready for my friend Dylan’s barbeque later that night. He lives in Hawaii so his parents and friends were throwing him a welcome back luau.

 

At around 5 or so, Anders and I headed to Dylan’s house in Waikiki. We drove past all sorts of cool things. The beach was beautiful and you could see everybody surfing. The drive was about 20 minutes or so, and when we got there, I was just so amazed by the houses. They were gorgeous, they didn’t look extravagant, but they were all the most amazing beach houses. It made me want to live there really bad. So we walked into his backyard and he had a beautiful pool and you could see the beach. And then he had a patio with a grill and a bar set up. It was really beautiful. We all grabbed some food and met his friends from University of Hawaii and then they brought out the Ukulele players and the hula dancer. They were really entertaining and beautiful to watch. And the food is so different than the food we eat at home, but still so amazing. Hawaii really is its own culture and environment. Nothing is rushed; you do everything when and as you please.

 

A little later more people from Semester at Sea started showing up and we all sat around the table, some went swimming, others played beer pong and everyone was having a great time. It was a lot of fun. We all had some drinks and some great food. Around 12 or so, we decided to go back to the ship because I had to be up in the morning to skydive.

 

Day 2

 

Well we got back later than expected and I decided to sleep in and catch the shuttle for the 10 am skydivers. So I woke up around 830 to catch some breakfast and then I headed out for the shuttle. There were a lot less people waiting than the day before so I figured that most the people went in the early morning and was happier that I decided to go at 10 so I wouldn’t have to wait around as long. There were about 8 of us that went, and we got there in about 45 minutes. It was a lot less crowded than the day before also and we all got signed in and waited to go. The group before me went, but since I was getting pictures and a video, they told me that I should just go with the next group. I didn’t really too much about whom I went with, as long as I went. So the first group went and then came back down about 20 minutes later. Then when I thought that all hope was lost, they called my name and I started getting suited up. I knew that I was really going to do this.

 

My tandem jumper’s name was Peter and he was from Germany and was a really nice man. I asked him how many jumps he’d done and he told me he’s jumped over 5,000 times, so I trusted him. We chit chatted a little while he suited me up. Then he told me the general procedures. When we jumped out of the plane, make sure to arch my back, breath through my nose and not my mouth, and some general landing procedures. After that, we were headed out to the plane. I was so ready to go, not nervous yet, just excited. We hop into the plane and we are off. We lift off and there was no turning back. You could see the view of the whole island, the water, the beaches, all the land, it was beautiful. I was mesmerized. Then we got to a certain point and Peter strapped himself to me and we were just waiting to get high enough. Then the buzzer buzzed, they opened the door and said, alright let’s go. And my heart just exploded. I was so excited but couldn’t believe that I was actually doing it. The first guy and his girl just rolled out of the plane, and then it was Peter and me. I screamed and just went for it. And that was it; we were flying through the air, free falling for 60 seconds. I literally couldn’t breath, I remembered him saying to breathe through my nose, but I couldn’t breathe fast enough, my adrenaline was crazy! Then the camera guy came up next to us and Peter kept telling me to lift my head up, but there was just so much going on. Our skin was like jell-o with the wind so fast, we were just falling through the sky, and I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Then before I knew it, the parachute was out and we were floating through the clouds. It was one of the most exhilarating and scary feelings of my life. We just floated down and I could see everything. I really can’t explain it in words. We got closer to the ground and Peter told me how were going to land. So as we’re rapidly approaching the ground, I lifted my legs and well, it wasn’t as graceful as I would have liked, but a landing is a landing, regardless of its gracefulness. And I just couldn’t believe that we just did it. But I was ready to go again. My hair was all over the place and my knees got a little skinned from the landing, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was one of the best times of my life.

 

After I got unsuited and fixed my hair, Peter gave me a signed certificate that read “First Skydive Jump”. Then they brought me my pictures and video. I got a hotdog from the hotdog stand and we all waited for the shuttle bus to come and take us back to the ship. About 30 minutes later, the bus came and I got back to the ship around 230 or so. I was still beaming from the fact that I had finally skydived, something I’ve always wanted to do. I went back to the ship for a few minutes to watch the video and to drop off some of my stuff. The video is amazing and I can’t wait to show everybody when I get back home.

 

I got back off the ship and decided to sit at the little café’s right next to ship where they had gelato and ice cream. I used the internet for a little bit and put up some pictures on Facebook from skydiving. After I used my computer for a little bit, I decided to go and get some ice cream because it was another beautiful day out and ice cream felt like the perfect thing.

 

Then I walked through the promenade of stores. I ran into a few friends and we stopped and chatted for a little while. Then I went into some of the souvenir stores and picked up a few things. I sat by the water for a little bit and took some pictures, and mostly just took some time for me and to reflect on things. I got back on the ship around 5, before the mad rush started and got some dinner.

 

Overall, I spent most of my time relaxing and not doing too much. Finals are coming up and the stretch from Japan to Hawaii was filled with a lot of schoolwork. So I decided that Hawaii would be the perfect place to unwind and just relax on my own for a while.

 

We have another 7 days until we arrive in Guatemala, but I have two finals in that stretch, so I’m looking forward to just getting them out of the way. Then we have 3 days in Guatemala and I have two more finals after Guatemala, and we have our Ambassador’s Ball, and I’m sure a few other things they have planned. Then it is back to the good old U.S. in Ft. Lauderdale. So many mixed emotions right now as it’s all coming to an end and only two weeks left. I can hardly believe it. I look forward to getting home and seeing everybody though. Take care!