Aloha!

Hawaii.

Beautiful.

Those two words go together like peanut butter and jelly (mmm). Hawaii is a tropical paradise, and the weather while we were there was absolutely perfect, which made it all the more amazing! We were docked on Oahu, in the city of Honolulu, and we pulled in at about 6 am on Sunday. Because it’s Hawaii, and because we haven’t done it enough on this trip, we woke up for the sunrise at about 5:40 that morning and went out on deck 7. There were already a few people out there on their cell phones (being back in the US, most people’s cell phones worked again), and we ended up not being able to see the sunrise because it was blocked by all the tall buildings downtown. But it was quiet and serene, and we were very excited about being on American soil again. At about 6:05, we heard a song being played and didn’t know where it was coming from until we heard Luke’s voice on the loudspeaker saying, “Wakey wakey…it’s time to get up. Rise and shine!!” The song was, very fittingly, “Living in America”. It was quite hilarious to us since we were already awake, but I’m sure some people on the ship were not too happy about it! The reason we were woken up so early was because the immigration process was going to take such a long time. We had to go up to the faculty/staff lounge and complete a face-to-face inspection with the customs officials. They started calling the seas, and Kate and I waited patiently in the library until our sea was called….last. We didn’t get done until 7:30, and by that time, everyone was up and eating breakfast. So we went to eat breakfast after that, and everyone was in the dining hall. And I mean everyone. The line on both sides went out the door to the deck, and people were eating standing up because there weren’t enough tables. So we decided to wait and get ready first. We took showers, got dressed, and got everything together that we would need for the day, and then ate some fruit loops in the dining hall. It was so funny to walk around the ship because literally all you would see were people on their cell phones. Everywhere you looked, there was someone talking, or shouting, into their phone, and Jerry (the videographer) even got people to line up on the back deck while talking, and he ran down the line with his camera to capture the cell phone madness. We didn’t have a cell phone so we felt a little out of place, but it was still funny to watch! We did borrow a friend’s cell phone to call Mom, and it was great to talk to her without a delay for once. It almost felt normal to talk to her again, like it was no big deal, even though it’s been hard to do the past few months.

A few days before docking in Hawaii, we had decided to go surfing with my boss, Lisa, and two other girls who also work in the library. She set it up with firefighters ;-) who were going to teach us how to surf, and we were all pretty excited. However, when Lisa called them to ask when we would be picked up, they cancelled. They didn’t even really give her a reason, so we were bummed. But, making lemonade out of lemons, Kate and I decided to go skydiving instead. So we met up with a bunch of other people who were taking a shuttle out to the place and headed out. It took about 45 minutes to get there, and on the way, our driver played a bunch of new songs we hadn’t yet heard (new to us, he said they were old because they came out in February). It was strange to have a driver who spoke English- usually they don’t talk to us so this was a real treat to be able to ask him questions and talk to him. The drive was really fun! Once we got there, we saw people falling from the sky trailed by huge parachutes, and we started to get really nervous. Not to mention, right after we got there, we had to sign our life away. They literally had forms that said, “If you agree not to sue us if you get injured or die, sign here”, and they outlined how you could get injured on the next page. It was pretty crazy, but we were all so excited. So we waited a few minutes, and a few people got called to go. They got suited up, ran to the plane, and about 15 minutes later, we saw them coming down and landing in the field. We waited for more people’s names to be called, and then we waited, and waited, and waited some more. Eventually they said that the trade winds had picked up, which was dangerous, so they were waiting until they calmed down. So we got some ice cream and hung around talking for about two hours. We used our friend Laura’s phone and called Anna. It was great to talk to her!! We told her what we were doing and she didn’t believe us at all! Then we basically spent the rest of the time talking about how much we missed each other. It was awesome. After almost three hours, the people in charge said they were canceling any more jumps for the day, and that we would need to reschedule. So we set up for a van to come pick some of us up at 6 am the next day, but because Kate & I, and a few other people, had a trip in the morning, we asked to be picked up at 1 pm. We drove back to the ship and had some lunch, and then Kate and I went to help out with an open ship program that we had agreed to be a part of.

The program allows potential students and parents to come see the ship, ask questions, and get a tour, and they needed us there to help out. There turned out to be about 15 people, and the director, Marty, talked about ISE and Semester at Sea for a little while before showing a promotional video that we had all watched about 100 times before coming on the voyage. A few other SASers showed up to help, too, and we were talking about how weird it was to be watching the video again after being on the ship and in the middle of our voyage. It was a very strange feeling. At the end, they show students getting off in Florida, reuniting with their parents and family members, and it was so sad. Jillian, Kate, and I started tearing up because we knew that would soon be us, and we didn’t want to think about it. After the video, we got asked a lot of questions- everything from classes to the food to what our favorite port was. It was cool to talk about our experience with people who didn’t know what it felt like, but at the same time, it was hard. We could try to describe how amazing the Taj Mahal or Angkor Wat was to see, or how it felt to talk to the children in Khayelitsha, but they didn’t really understand. It was definitely a preview of how it’s going to be to go home and try to tell everyone about this spring. At the end of the session, we all gave tours, which was easy. It felt like last summer again! I was able to answer all of their questions and relate my own experiences about what it was really like to live on a ship for 4 months. Altogether, the program went well, and I would love to do it again for anyone who’s looking at possibly doing SAS in the future because it’s an amazing experience, and I would definitely recommend it to everyone! The rest of our night was spent walking around Honolulu downtown and Waikiki, eating at Planet Hollywood (very cool), and just relaxing. We got back to the ship at around midnight and slept until our alarm went off at 6:45 am.

Monday morning, we woke up, ate breakfast with our neighbors, and then boarded a bus to go on a SAS trip to Pearl Harbor. This was one of the places Kate and I were so looking forward to going on the trip because, as you know, we are huge history buffs, and WWII is our favorite time period. So we drove to the memorial, got our tickets, and were ushered into a theatre to watch a video explaining Pearl Harbor, what led up to it, and what happened on that day in 1941. The movie, which lasted about 23 minutes, was excellent. It was very objective, just stating the facts, and it included a ton of footage from that time period and the actual day of the attacks. It was very interesting, and I like it a lot! After it finished, we got on a shuttle boat that drove us out to the Arizona memorial. The weather was beautiful, the water was calm, and it was hard to imagine what had happened almost 68 years ago. The destruction, fires, and death that had taken place back then was a complete contrast to what it looked like today. There was absolute silence as we walked onto the memorial and looked around. The building was actually built on top of the USS Arizona, which was never recovered from the harbor, but became a shallow grave for almost 2,000 men who lost their lives that day. All of the names were etched into the back wall, along with the names of surviving men who chose to be entombed with their ship when they died, two of which were as recently as 2008. It was eerie, but at the same time, peaceful, and I couldn’t help getting the feeling that I was one of millions of people who had already visited, and who were yet to come after me, and it felt less-than significant. It was very cool to see it in person, though, and I’m so glad we got to go. After taking a few pictures, we took the boat back to shore and looked around the museum and gift shop. Kate and I got a paper signed by a veteran who was there, and we bought a few books. The trip continued after the memorial, and we took a city tour of Honolulu. We got to see the Palace downtown, which is the only one in the US, the Punchbowl cemetery for military personnel and their families, and a few other historical and political sites. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so it turned out to be a pretty great morning!

After getting back to the ship, we ate in the dining hall (they had fries!!), and then got ready to go skydiving- again. We went outside to wait, tried to call people but it wouldn’t work, and then sat drinking chocolate milk from Starbucks while waiting for the shuttle. Of course, with our luck, it never showed, and we waited around for it until about 1:45. A van from another company came to drop people off who had just gone, so we asked if they would take us back so we could do it, too. He sad he had to drive to Waikiki first but that he would be back to pick us up. So again, we waited and waited (sensing a pattern?). Just when we were about to give up, at 2:40, he came back. YAY! So we hopped in, immediately fell asleep, and were woken up as we pulled into the mini-airport. Side note: the show Lost is filmed on Oahu, and the plane that they use is kept at this airport. Pretty cool, huh? So anyway, we got there, filled out more papers, and within 15 minutes of arrival, we were in the plane flying up to 14,000 ft! It was kind of insane. When it was time to jump, they opened the door, and Kate, along with her tandem partner, fell out of the plane. I was like, whoah- she just dropped out of this plane!! Then it was my turn, and I can’t even describe to you what it is like to be up that high in an airplane and then just fall from the sky into nothing. It’s so loud you can’t hear anything but wind, and you twist and turn and float while looking at all of Oahu underneath, waiting for you. After about 60 seconds, my tandem instructor, George, pulled the chute and we began floating around, as if we had wings. He pointed out all of the sights below, and we flew over the ocean and back, and at one point, we even went through the middle of a full circle rainbow! It was incredible! I saw Kate parachuting a few hundred feet away, and then I watched her land. When it was our turn, George guided us smoothly to the open field, and we glided down, landing on our butts, and then I collapsed, with a huge smile, in awe of what had just happened. Then I got up and ran over to Kate and we just hugged and laughed. It was SOOO awesome! We took a few more pictures, paid, and then drove back to the ship. It was 5:00 by the time we got back, and on-ship time was 6, so we hurried to get everything we wanted from the small mall in front of the terminal. We saw Kevin, Amy, and Ellie, just returning from the beach, and they bought us ice cream ☺ and then we ran into Pat who was eating and waiting for the twins to get done so they could head back also. We went to a convenience store and bought wheat thins, gummy snacks, rice krispie treats, and magnets, and then we bought a couple Hawaii shirts before running back to the ship. There was a loooong line to get through security and get our bags checked, and the minutes ticked closer to getting dock time. Thankfully, we made it with nine minutes to spare (!), and we filled out postcards and talked to everyone about their two days on the island. Kevin was nice enough to let us use his phone, so we called Dad & Kathy, Mom, Jenna, and Liz! It was so great to hear their voices and talk to them all, even if we did wake a few of them up (sorry!). I can’t wait to see everyone in a few weeks!

Last night, we unpacked all of the stuff we got (Amy also picked us up some peanut butter, pop-tarts, Doritos, granola bars, and panda-cookies!! She’s awesome!), played with Ellie, and went out on deck to get some pizza and talk with the twins and Pat. They told us all about their trip to Kuaii to see a family friend, and we went to their room and showed them pictures from skydiving. Then we came back up, read our books, and went to sleep by 11:30. We lost another hour of sleep last night (8 hours total since leaving Japan), and we’re going to lose another 3 before Guatemala! We are definitely all feeling it, and finals are coming up in the next few days, along with FDP’s to turn in and papers to turn in! We’re having a sea-social tomorrow night, which should be really fun, and we get to have a movie night with popcorn and soda (from the auction), and invite 7 friends: Victoria, Stephanie, Pat, Gregg, Tara, Rachel, and Kelly. We’re watching “Wedding Crashers”, and that’ll be on the last B day of classes. It’s gonna be so much fun! We get to Guatemala in a week, and then we have 5 more days until we reach Ft. Lauderdale. I’ll keep you updated on everything going on, since there’s a lot!

Love you and miss you all!!

K&S