HAWAII

Alright, so Hawaii. Well, you know, I was here for soooooo long I’m not sure if I’ll be able to cover everything that I did. Haha! Yeah, right. So actually, I was in Honolulu from about 7:00 pm on Nov. 31 til 10:00pm on Dec. 1^st. The night we got in we went to eat at the popular Hawaiian restaurant, Duke’s. It was located in the Outrigger Waikiki Hotel. Some friends and I decided that we would get a room there just for the night. Some of you may already know this story, but to make a long story short all but two of us ended up getting kicked (“escorted”) out. It was ridiculous, and we honestly didn’t do anything wrong at all. For those of you who don’t know the whole story, but would like to, just let me know and I’ll give you the long version.

The next day we went to the beach for a little bit, grabbed some lunch, did some shopping, had a picnic on the beach for dinner and watched the sunset, did some more shopping and got back right at on ship time.

I’m not even sure if I should even count this trip to Hawaii b/c I really didn’t get to see much. I would love to go back one day and be able to spend longer than a day there. I thought all the people were really nice, but it definitely felt different being in America again. Everyone spoke English, it was 85 degrees in December!, and no one was in our faces trying to sell us stuff. It was both refreshing and strange at the same time. I’m definitely going to need some time to readjust once I get back home.

Speaking of home, I’ll be there in about 6 days, so this will be my last email/blog. It’s been fun. I hope you all have enjoyed reading them and were able to get a taste of what the last 3 ½ months of my life have been like. Hope to see you all soon!!

Lauren

a california girl don't change her ways

i am in love with europe, but i’d rather experience this love from a distance now. my quarter here has been fantastic. i’ve traveled the continent as much as my wallet would allow from Berlin where the nightlife is cheap and the music scene is like a dream, to Italy where the men are sketchy and the art is what i’ve been studying all my life, to Amsterdam where the women are cheap—literally—and where we did things the american government wouldn’t allow, to Latvia which most people haven’t even heard of and rightfully so, to Austria in two weeks. i have been here the perfect amount of time: any shorter and i would feel like i left too soon, any longer and i’d cut off my right arm and eat it in a crazed bout of homesickness.

my experiences have been good and bad. i have a lot of stories to tell you guys when i get back, like about crazy german dancing in nightclubs and funny sounding dutch people (dutch basically sounds like speaking german and english why gargling Listerine) not to mention random esoteric knowledge to bring up in future classes at school. but sometimes it was lonely and scary, because i experienced firsthand that despite the american perception of how liberal Europe is, it’s still as racist and as un-progressive as the most southern parts of the States at times.

i’m living in loro with nadya. i finally have a major and an honors thesis topic. my wardrobe has improved exponentially from european fashion. good times are ahead.

game plan:

1. incorporate german slang into the american language. genau, prepare to be annoyed.

2. have a party and buy the alcohol myself, cause i’ll be legal!

3. go sit in the center of a california shopping mall and scream phrases in English like a crazy bag lady. soak up pop culture through the germs on the floor, just because i can.

4. eat spicy, greasy fast food until my stomach is thickly coated in preservatives.

5. take a shower without cutting the water off every other minute.

6. love you guys. which i already did, but hey.