Hawaii was absolutely unbelievable. These last two days, we spent in Honolulu… soaking up the sun and admiring the fabulous Waikiki beach… Right now were all sitting outside on the deck looking out on the marina eating dinner, writing postcards, and talking frantically on our cell phones (this is the only port that we’ll be able to use them so we gotta call mom and dad and whoever else for the last time! Especially cause we’ll be at sea for 11 days from now to Japan!)…

So let’s see where we left off… We went to sleep on the ship the night before yesterday (who keeps track of days these days? I have no idea what day of the week it is.. all I know is I’m on island time ☺ ) Anyways, that night we went to sleep on the ship docked at the big island, and the captain (who’s from croatia, by the way, and notably wears trademark bright red ray bans around all the time) booked it from Hilo, Big Island, to Honolulu, Oahu.. We woke up in the Honolulu port, excited for another two days of fun ahead.. we got up and at ‘em early enough to take a bus to pearl harbor ($2.25 bus rides all around Honolulu—how resourceful are we!!! Compared to all the students who naively spent $20 on cab rides every which way they went… we were doin well ;) … anyways we got to pearl harbor and saw the heart-wrenching display of all the lives lost, missiles fired, and honor exhibited there so many years ago.. it was really cool because we got to meet a Pearl Harbor survivor himself, chipper Sterling Cale, who took a picture hanging loose with us and was signing autographs at the exhibit. We left Pearl Harbor and made our way to Waikiki, taking the bus and sitting next to a character-of-a-lady named Linda from VietNam who claimed to have “the gift of God” in that she was psychic and could see the future.. she told Trevor that he was a hard worker and a good man, and then told us that “we are very good, when side by side” we took this as a confirmation from the heavens of our perfection as a couple and continued on with our day ☺ .. we walked around and meandered downtown and landing on the beach in front of the Royal Hawaiian… The sun was to die for, and the water was soooo turquoise and beautiful… seriously I kept trying to take pictures to capture the moments laying on the beach, enjoying a typical weekday as a Semester at Sea student, and no picture does it justice… we hung out with a bunch of our friends, as most SASers had congregated to the beach, and four of us ended up going to Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch, munchin on aloha burgers (cheeseburgers with grilled pineapple)… we were sure to get our cheeseburger fix in honolulu as we knew this would be our last taste of the great american tradition before we head off to asia and beyond!

After a full day of sunning, playing in the waves and getting awesomely bronzed on just a typical day in January… we made our way back to the boat, got showered and refreshed for the Honolulu nightlife, and ended up going out to Senor Frog’s for the night, where tons of Semester at Sea-ers ended up, dancing the night away and getting especially ecstatic when the DJ decided to play “I’m on a Boat”!!!!

Today was another eventful day of living the surreal life that we now do… we woke up and headed straight for Waikiki, Trevor almost immediately fell asleep on the shore, of course.. and we spent the day enjoying every ray of sun we could get.. the day today was even more amazing than yesterday.. it was fabulous. We had lunch with our friends at Tiki Bar & Grill, and I actually ended up getting a free lunch (no such thing? Ya right) Since, in the middle of the meal, all of the sudden this canopy that was right above MY SEAT and my seat only.. spilled a TON of water ALL over me, drenching me like a water balloon aimed right for my head.. everyone was laughing and I thought it was a joke, but the manager ran out apologizing and gave me a free lunch.. it was quite funny and fortunate considering my fish tacos were 16$!

Now were back on the ship… We had a spectacular four days in port and are looking forward to shiplife en route to japan! We’ll keep you updated, miss you all.. xoxoxo