HONOLULU- LIFE IS JUST BETTER WHEN YOU'RE TAN!

Waikiki Beach, LOST, paddle surfing, sailing, 80 degree weather in January, the New York of the Pacific… if I didn’t already live in the best place in the world I would move to Honolulu in a second. It amazes me that people would choose to suffer, literally suffer, in negative degree weather when they could live somewhere with sun and beach all year long. Though I admit I love Michigan, let’s be honest, I’m moving back to California the second I graduate. On that note- East Coasters: there’s a reason why your grandparents live in Florida or Arizona.

Moving on from hating on the rest of the country and literally having to wear Eskimo gear from January basically through April in Ann Arbor, Honolulu is AMAZING. Granted, I’ve been to Honolulu before. The summer before 8^th grade my soccer team composed of a lot of my best friends that I grew up with, went to Honolulu for a tournament. I of course ended up in the ER to have XRAYS taken on my wrist at some point during the trip but regardless Honolulu was just as amazing then as it is now. In fact, I would be willing to say that Honolulu is more fun as you grow older, or more specifically if you are fortunate enough to visit it with 585 college kids.

After our early, over-eager start in Hilo, we decided to wait a little longer to get off the ship. This meant we were on the beach by 10 AM rather than 8 AM. The first day in Honolulu Rachel, Brooke, Jimmy, Flicker (real name’s Robbie but from here on out he’ll be referred as Flick or Flicker), and John went to Waikiki Beach to enjoy a normal sand beach. After lying down for about an hour we decided to start the day off right and go on a sail boat on a small trip off shore. For a small fee we were entitled to a two hour ride off shore, unlimited beverages, and an ocean swim. After renting mopeds, Ivy and Jill met up with us to enjoy this sailing cruise. One would expect mostly college aged or younger kids to be on this boat but to my surprise there were couples and people of ALL ages. Fun can be had at any age. Apart from the few rules (don’t jump in the water if you don’t know how to swim, choose to hold on to the boat rather than your drink if the water gets rough, and have fun) we were free to enjoy the music and relax. Swimming in the middle of the ocean was definitely a highlight of the day and thank you to Jimmy and his waterproof camera. After Jill blew the conch to clear swimmers out of our way to shore, we ventured back to the beach.

It was now 1:30 PM and after a day of mostly beverages and not much eating, we were overdue for lunch. Quick lunch followed by more beach followed by walking down Waikiki and looking around the shops and international market place. Most importantly Rachel and I got our JAPAN RAIL PASS which entitles us to the use of unlimited bullet trains for a week in Japan. This rail pass is essential to us being able to go anywhere and everywhere in Japan.

By 5 PM I was back on the MV Explorer, napping, and getting ready for dinner and a night out. The same day group met up at 8 PM to go back to Waikiki for dinner followed by bars and clubs. Though we were in Hawaii we all decided we wanted P.F. Chang’s which is kind of funny and kind of random. After a great dinner (in comparison to the luau which resorted to me eating a lot of Pringles later that night) we proceeded to Senor Frogs. I want to note that I think it is beyond weird that SASers chose to go to Senor Frogs while in Hawaii. I associate Senor Frogs with Cancun and Acapulco and to see it in an American context and still so popular was confounding. I expected a popular Hawaiian bar or club to be the choice of preference. Anyway about half of us are 21, so after one ID got taken away we soon departed from there. After a series of events Rachel, Brooke, and I ended up in a couple different bars and finally at a club with the majority of kids from our ship. All in all it was a fun night- pictures were taken, friends were made, dances were danced, and drinks were drunk.

After a long night, Brooke luckily woke me up at 8:15 for my 8:30 FDP. FDP- field directed practica, certain field trips we have to do for our classes. This one happened to be for my Global Mental Health class and more importantly went to the Hawaiian Psychiatric Hospital. After running to the bus a total of 21 of us headed to the other, rainy side of the island. I saw dressed for sunny Hawaiian weather and in a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. For the entire stay at the hospital it was raining and on top if it we had to walk outside for a lot of the time- I got soaked.

We met with the head psychiatrist and coordinator and learned that most (97%) of these patients were sent here involuntarily from the court settings. These were criminals who were unable to communicate adequately and thus sent over to psych to determine the level of sanity. The overall feeling I got from the mental hospital was one of despair. The hospital was essentially a prison or holding cell. Most of the patients had been there for years and this was not a place of rehabilitation but rather one of confinement. The interaction with the patients was strained- I believe the feelings of fear followed by curiosity were mutual. It was an intense morning and since this was a state funded hospital I was interested in the comparison between a hospital where patients were involuntarily admitted as opposed to one in which patients voluntarily admitted themselves. I did not see medicine trying to benefit mentally ill patients and get them back in the community but rather clients who were staying there indefinitely.

Since I would be at sea for the next 10-12 days (we cross the International Date Line so the amount of days and class days are really confusing- I think we miss February 3^rd completely) let alone out of the country until May 5^th I needed an amazing last meal which of course was at CPK. I went with Jenny to CPK at this huge Hawaiian shopping mall. It made Century City look like a joke. After walking around and getting some last minute souvenirs to send to my Vicarious Voyage classroom in Washington (I am a pen pal to a 3^rd grade classroom and will be mailing items to them throughout my voyage) we went back to the ship. I was exhausted. I made my last AT&T carrier phone calls to family and friends and was on my way.

Hawaii is amazing and honestly I wish we spent more time there. After a week of class we were in an unbelievable paradise. I looked at the calendar today for the rest of the trip and discovered that we never have more than 4 straight days of class! Also I got my extended family, a married life long learner couple, and will be meeting with them tomorrow. I’ll keep updating my blog pre-Japan. We just met/ played Apples to Apples with a Japanese student, Rina, who is staying with us on the voyage to Japan. Apparently we have native students from each country we are visiting, stay on the ship before each port. Also we lost another hour tonight! Finally it’s weird that we are disconnected from the real world- finding information out delayed, like the deaths of J.D. Salinger and Howard Zinn is shocking. Sending my love from the middle of the Pacific.