The Journey Begins

One week and two days have passed since the beginning of nursing school. It's not joke when it comes to long, full days of lectures, group work, and quizzes. The 6 days in total (I have classes from M-TR) have been packed with information. And ever since school began, I've just been trying to keep up or catch up. I should actually be reading a chapter about inflammation right now so I can take another quiz (my second one for the class thus far). We just got our quizzes back for another class and I've really been cutting it close getting 90% on the quizzes we've had so far.

But rewinding about a little less than two weeks ago, we had our nursing orientation and induction. To make it short and sweet, we sat for hours on end, listening to people talk about what we'll be "looking forward to" in the next 3 years. Quite possibly, the most interesting thing during that orientation was listening to nurses in the field share with us their experiences with patients. I wasn't able to take any pictures during the orientation, but here are a few that were taken of the whole class:


I'm somewhere in the middle.

My parents caught a bit of traffic on their way to the ceremony, so they got there pretty late. They weren't able to get any pictures of the ceremony's process, but we were able to get some pictures, albeit the blurryness, this was the only picture of me, my mom, and my dad. My brother was taking the picture:

We headed back to the west side of the island to find a place to eat and "celebrate".

We ate at Phuket Thai to celebrate. After that dinner, I've kind of deduced Thai food has instantly become one of my favorites. :) Sadly, I wasn't able to get any pictures, one: because I didn't have my camera on hand, and two: because my phone camera was not working at that time.

I might be able to post something tomorrow, but I'm making no promises. Until next time...

Kuli'ou'ou Ridge Trail

This hike came unexpectedly with my mom knocking on the door of my room telling me my brother was leaving to go hiking with his friends and a few of our cousins. I thought to myself, is he serious?! He didn't even care to invite me! With that aside, I quickly packed up a few necessities and we were on our way. I live in the middle of the island and the hike was on the south side of the island. With picking up a few cousins and waiting for a couple of people, we didn't start the hike until around 10:30. The hike was fairly easy, with a few tough spots.

There were shortcuts everywhere. Although not advised, we took a few.

At the halfway point, a green shack is conveniently located for you to rest up for the rest of the hike. It seems like a nice place to camp as well. I didn't quite get a view of the shack, just the view from the table.

Hawaii is known for it's different climates. The area we were in would be considered the desert side of the island, whereas I live in a more year-round rainy area. At the beginning of the hike, the view is filled with a lot of beach trees, but as you venture further up the mountain, you come in contact with a lot of evergreens.

We finally reached the top, and the view was a spectacular 360.

We did the hike mainly for my cousin who came from England (far left), my cousin from the Philippines (red), and my cousin who'll be leaving to Nebraska for college on Monday (white tank).

The trek down was a lot easier than it was up. We came to a steep hill that was pretty challenging to get down from. Me and my cousin took a simple route and slid down. I slid down on my feet whereas my cousin took his butt down.

Afterward, we headed down to Alan Davis beach in Makapu'u near the lighthouse.

A log is conveniently placed for you to jump off of and dive into the clear water.

The location is also home to Hawaii's volcano god, Pele, and her 'chair'.

By the time we finished all of the above it was about 4:00 and we were all very hungry. We headed to "Da Kitchen" for an unbelievable meal that is mentioned in the next post...

Romano's Macaroni Grill

Last night, a few friends and I headed to Romano's Macaroni Grill at Ala Moana. The initial plan was to have dinner at Shokudo, but with our last minute planning, we weren't able to get reservations. We got seated at around 6:30 and since it's been around 2 months since we've last been together as a whole, we caught up with each other. Our waiter for the day was Toni -

If you've been to Macaroni Grill before, the waiters all have their own awesome name writing skills. Toni (and I'm sure all other waiters) was able to write his name upside down for all of us to see. The last time I ate at this restaurant, our waiter incorporated his name into a drawing of his face. I really wouldn't mind working there. We ordered spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer, and for my meal, I ordered Carla's Chicken Rigatoni (or so I thought).

With the little knowledge I have of pasta (even though it's my favorite food), I failed to notice that this was not what I ordered. After eating about a sixth of this plate, my friend, Cassey, finally mentioned the awkward shape of our noodles. We deduced that we were both given the wrong plate, and quickly switched. I was slow to notice, so it was a good thing she caught on. I did have a feeling though (I was staring at her plate for a while). I had leftovers, so I was able to get a picture of what I really ordered afterward.

Cassey brought along her cute little daughter, Adi. She was too adorable. I drew a picture for her on the table with the crayons they had available. Unfortunately, I was having too much fun and wasn't able to snap a quick picture of it. But I did get one of her.

When we finished eating, the dessert menu came around. I was too full to order anything, but doesn't the Roasted Almond dessert sound like the most delicious thing ever? As soon as I turn 21, I'll be sure to save some room for it.

Afterward, we headed to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for some coffee, while the others headed to Cinnabon. I was looking for a Bank Machine to get some cash, but the shopping center so stupidly got rid of MY bank's bank machine and replaced it with a bank that absolutely no one has. Worst idea ever, Ala Moana. So to no avail, we gave up and chit-chatted for a bit before heading to the car. We walked past a window display showcasing Spongebob Squarepants and Adi wanted to say Hi, which eventually led to us stepping into the store to get her something. It was quite amusing as we were trying to find out what she really wanted. While she was occupied with the mass of toys, we checked out the cutest bags and purses. The brand is called Angry Little Girls, and if you haven't heard of it, you must take a look for yourself asap!

This was my favorite:

After rummaging through that store, we were pooped and stuffed. We headed to our cars but had to wait a while for one friend, Ana, to get her car to pick up Cassey and Adi since Ana didn't want to drive alone. While we waited, I took pictures of Adi and her new cup.

And how small she is compared to my friend Nescia's boyfriend, Art.

I really suck at taking group pictures, but I really couldn't since there was no one around to really take our picture and we couldn't really get everyone together. Or maybe it was my lack of trying, haha!

Anyway, after saying our goodbyes, we headed out, me with Nescia and Art. But before we went home, we stopped by Target to get a lock for Nescia's suitcase (she took off to the Philippines today with her mom for two weeks). After Target, we dropped Art home, then went on our way. I live four houses down from Nescia, so it's always easy to catch a ride with her if I don't have a car available.

On our way home, friends on twitter mentioned major traffic on the freeway (and mind you, this is at 10:30 at night, and in a non-traffic area), so we were advised to take a different route. Me and Nescia were being hopeful, so we decided to skip the exit for the alternate route on the Highway and stayed on route. We thought that by 10:30, it would've cleared up, but no, what a bad idea. We were stuck in traffic for about 45 minutes, just complaining about our bad choice. We were also freaking out a bit because of the fact that we were low on gas and phone battery. I was going to take a picture of the craziness that was the traffic that ensued, but figured you would only see red lights. Eventually, we got out, headed to the gas station, and headed home.

I said my goodbyes and my 'have a safe trip' and that was my night. Apparently my parents also went out and witnessed the traffic as well. It was a fun night, and I haven't had one of those in a while. It seems like everything always starts picking up near the end of summer. But I'm not complaining. Now, I need to step on it with my tests and training for nursing.

Look forward to a post about Inception tomorrow!