switzerland!

so for my study abroad this summer, we were supposed to go to italy, greece, turkey, and egypt; but as i'm sure you know egypt hasn't been doin so well lately. since we don't want to, you know, die this summer, we've had to abandon our plans to see the pyramids in favor of a safer land.
what could be safer than switzerland, eternally neutral?




besides the obvious gorgeous landscape and amazing chocolate,
we also might get the chance to visit this place:


i went to switzerland with my parents when i was three, but i don't feel like that even really happened because all i remember is the cobblestones! i'm very excited to see the place that my mom would move to "in a heartbeat" if she had the chance. :)

daddy-o

my dad came out to hawaii to visit me over the weekend!! it was so much fun. we did a few hikes, went to the beach, pearl harbor, snorkeled at hanauma bay, had dinner with the lovely family i worked for out here, went to the temple/visitor's center... and we ate a lot! i've been surviving off of quesadillas, apples &peanut butter, and oatmeal. so it was nice to eat some real food with him. we had a great time :)

maunawili falls hike.

this is the ledge i jumped off of in the middle of the night

once upon a time last semester. yep, it's about 50 ft.

maunawili falls.

lanikai- voted #1 beach in america.

waimea valley hike.

so this was pretty much the highlight of my weekend?

i'm obsessed.

laie, hawaii temple <3

the other highlight- lanikai pillboxes hike. GORGEOUS.

:)

what?!

the other day when i checked out books from the library for my psychology paper, the stamp that says when it's due, in three weeks... was dated april 4th. i leave april 10th... i freaked out. first of all, cause i only have 3 weeks to do this huge paper! and secondly because 6 days after those books are due, i'm leaving.

i only have 23 days left in hawaii.
how did this happen?
i feel like i just got back to the island. for a large portion of this semester i have just been wanting to be home... but as of a couple days ago, it really hit me that i'm leaving. leaving and i don't know when i'm coming back. yeah, i'm sad. this place has become such a part of me, and i'm so grateful for all the people i've met and the things i've learned here.

good thing i quit my job, cause for the next 3 weeks i'm about to

L I V E . I T . U P .

tsunami tsurvivor.

thursday night we had quite the little adventure! we heard about the tsunami coming from the 8.9 earthquake in japan and all started to kinda freak out. this was closer than the one in chile last year; it would probably cause more damage. we didn't know what to expect. we all packed a bag with some clothes, food, and a couple things we couldn't stand to lose. our house is up pretty high, and we're on the third floor, so everything should have been just fine. but we didn't want to take any chances. so in the case that we couldn't come home for a few days, we cleaned the house, locked all the windows and doors, and headed for the hills. literally. we went up to this mountainous area a few minutes away. we left at midnight and stayed there til 4:30am, listening to updates on the radio.

our window didn't have a lock on it. so someone had the idea that we had to stuff it with books so that no one could break in. we're on the second floor, and there's nothing below our window for someone to climb on.. better to be safe than sorry, right?

as soon as we heard we had to evacuate, asia decided to make pancakes. we thought it was a weird idea, but they turned out to be a great snack in the car!

kristal and caitie.

sharee, me, and asia.

i spilled syrup all over myself. so did cait.

stupid syrup bottle shoots out at you!

the next morning we made some more pancakes. this time we got a little creative: we call them tsunami cakes! they were quite delicious. some had blueberries in them, some had spiced apples.. yum :)

the wall on our balcony between our side and the left side got blown down!? makes it wayy easier to visit the girls over there!

it was all kind of scary cause we didn't know what to expect, but our little town was safe and sound. hawaii didn't get hit too hard at all, thank goodness.

our hearts go out to those in japan, though. <3

you can call us the chick rescuers.

so wednesday morning, after helping our darling little second graders with reading at laie elementary, miss courtney and i were on our way to school. this little dog started following us and i recognized him as the same dog that followed me all the way to the temple the previous day. silly guy, just wanted some company. so we're walkin along, and we come across a hen and her baby chicks just minding their own business in some bushes. what happened next? well i'm sure you guessed it- our little canine friend decided to play with the chickens! at first it was way funny, he was jumping over and through bushes to try to get to the mama hen, who was in turn clucking and running away. we had a pretty good laugh until the dog got close to mama hen, and mama hen FLEW UP INTO A TREE AND LEFT HER BABIES ALONE!!! what kind of a mom does that?! court and i were immediately like, "uh oh." the dog realized there were now 5 little chicks that were left unattended. so he swooped in and grabbed one! he ran away with it in his mouth, stopping every so often to play with it. courtney and i started running after the lil rascal but as soon as we would run, so would he. court was pretty creative and found an empty coke bottle and began brandishing it. i think this finally convinced him we meant business and he ran away, leaving the chick lying all askew-looking in the grass. we thought for sure he was a goner, but i picked him up and he was in one piece! he was wet from doggy slobber and definitely scared, but he was alive! he kept trying to huddle in my hand, it was so sweet. the poor guy!

needless to say we were very late for class. but we were glad to save a little chick's life. i was super excited- i've always wanted to hold one! :)

40 days.

some of you might be familiar with the term "lent." it is a predominantly catholic thing, a period lasting 40 days, ending on easter. it represents the 40 days and 40 nights Christ went without food and water. traditionally, catholics give up something for those 40 days to prepare themselves for the celebration of easter. now, i haven't been catholic for a few years but i think it's still a good thing to do. so this lent, i am giving up FACEBOOK and SWEETS! not sure which will be harder.

although it will be hard, i am very excited to do it. i spend more time than is necessary on facebook and i definitely eat more sweets than i should. a few of my roommates have joined me and are swearing off sweets as well! that'll make it easier... plus the fact that on sundays, we're allowed to have the things we gave up. i'm not just making this up... it's what most catholics do! so sundays will be facebook and treats days. yay.

besides just giving up those things i decided to add something good too. i am going to read or watch a general conference talk every day. :) i love general conference but i never re-read the talks afterwards! i think it will be a good spiritual boost for me.

so, here's to 40 days (and hopefully more) of learning self-control and bettering myself. aloha :)