Back to reality

“There’s always some made up reason to go out here”

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Aloha Hawaii. Until next time. 

There is nothing worse than a six hour drive back to good ole’ Tally after an amazing summer in Hawaii. No more..

beach

    dolphins

         umbrella drinks

               active volcanoes

                   cheesy Hawaiin shirts

All I have to look forward to is mounds of books that I have no interest in and papers I will probably throw away the second I’m get a grade on them. Now and then I think back on the amazing summer I had in Hawaii and how different it was from Florida. It was honestly like living in another country. Like Hawaii wasn’t really apart of the United States.

I felt if I lived there I would be on vacation all the time. I heard a worker at Starbucks there tell a co-worker she was leaving for vacation. I though to myself, “where in the world does someone from Hawaii go on vacation?!”. Everyone was in flip flops all the time and no one had to brush their hair or wear uncomfortable clothes to work every day. Every now and then I picture what my life would be like if I actually lived in Hawaii. I could take up surfing lessons or even become a dolphin trainer! 

It’s always nice to dream about what life could be...

I need a vacation from this vacation

“It's only the end of our first week and already we're talking about home. Then again, every day here feels like five. Plenty of time to feel homesick”.

http://kathmandukough.blogspot.com/

 Ever hear the term I need a vacation from this vacation? We’ve been here for almost two weeks. All I want to do is go home and snuggle with my dog and eat something that doesn’t have pineapple in it. We’ve been living out of a suitcase jumping from island to island every four to five days. I’m sharing a bed with both of them and I get stuck in the middle every damn time.  This time change is really kicking my ass too.

All fourteen of us were not stop the whole trip.

I felt like I had not time sit and smell the damn roses.

After two long uncomfortable flights we’re finally home.

As I sat there unpacking my overweight suitcase of clothes I didn’t wear and souvenirs I didn’t need I realize how much I missed living out of a suitcase. Walter Benjamin once said, "In principal a work of at has always been reproducible. Man made artifacts could always be imitated by men". But the natural beauty I saw in Hawaii could not come close to being replicated. 
Waking up at 5am to watch the sunrise and then taking a thirty-mile bike ride down an active volcano doesn’t seem so bad after all. And zip lining through the jungle, the terrifying helicopter tour, and swimming with dolphins in freezing cold water sounded like heaven. As a matter of fact I miss the hell out of not getting any sleep, being scared, and feeling outside of my comfort zone. Pineapples and pina coladas made me smile.

I felt homesick

Drunkety, drunk

"I'd been dying to get drunk from the moment I'd stepped into the first

 of many airports that brought me here..."

http://kathmandukough.blogspot.com/

I'm in Maui. Maui Waui as some call it. Everything here is so much better than Honolulu. After doing so many active things in Honolulu all I want to do is get drunk. Everything in Hawaii has pineapple in it...and I mean everything. The first drink I ordered was a beer in one of the tall funnel looking things. It was some Hawaiian beer and it was delicious. She kept telling me to put by dress down but I felt so free. I wanted to run around downtown and felt it was necessary to show everyone my ass. Who did I think I was? We ran from shop to shop being so obnoxious. I felt like such a bad ass. I imagine that is what Victor Kelly from Resurrection Man felt like all the time. He killed people and did whatever he wanted all the time. I drunk on beer and high on Maui (although I wish it was more than just that). 

The next time I was drunk was at this beautiful outside restaurant. My drink came in a fake coconut that I kept as a souvenir, which ended up being a pain in the ass to lug back home, but I thought it was the coolest thing ever and so worth it. All I remember was taking a million pictures in this new turquoise dress I bought specifically for Hawaii. It was amazing running around the beach with all seven of us. I felt as if being drunk in Maui was better than being drunk in Florida. In that moment we were 

young

        wild 

             and 

                 free 

How to be Hawaiian

It brings to mind the phrase, "Big fish in a small pond, or small fish in the ocean?"

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Here I was sipping my pina coloada in Honolulu. I felt so authentic drinking it because whenever I would have them back home this is exactly what I think of with the song “Over the rainbow” playing in my head. This drink was the essence of my being. All fourteen of us were sitting at a table with non-stop laughter. We were always the loudest ones at a restaurant and I loved it. It was all about my drink, the view, and us. For a moment I looked around and everyone and everything I saw and realized that if this were the happiest I would ever be I am fine with that. I had no responsibilities, nothing to hold me back.

 I know that I am just a small part of this big world, but I liked that. No one knew who I was in Honolulu or even paid attention to me. I loved being a tourist and learning about different cultures and meeting new people. We went to the beach and the pool and explored as much as we could. I bought a flower clip, which ended up being the most annoying accessory on the planet, but felt like I was obligated. I mean I was in Hawaii for heavens sake! I even went as far as taking a lei out of the garbage and pretended that I got “leid”. I had no responsibilities, nothing to hold me back. I was going to soak up every part of this culture as I could. And it was okay to make a fool of myself because it was on to the next island for us! 

Aloha!

Finally! The moment I have been waiting for my whole life is here. It is everything I imagined and more. As I stepped off the eight hour flight into an open airport feeling that warm breeze hit my face and seeing birds fly all around I knew that I was in paradise. “Aloha!”, yells one person, a word I have been waiting to use for months and now I am in the land of “aloha’s” and “mahalo”. All fourteen of us grab our luggage and head to the bus. As we’re driving to the first stop I’m taking in all the scenery and natives around me. We get to our hotel and what do you know the lobby is also outside! As I settle into my room I go out on the balcony to see the view that overlooks not only the pool, but the sandy beach with its clear blue water and the Diamond Head volcano. This was only the first of three islands we were going to visit so I wanted to as much in as possible. We walked around downtown Honolulu visiting shops and chatting with the locals. Coming from the sunshine state I did not expect much of a difference, but everything seemed so much more tropical there. It was like I was on a different planet. This was already the best vacation ever and it hadn’t even started yet.