Aloha
In this blog I will talk about my incredible Hawaii
experience. It all started a few weeks ago when I had to get my tickets with a
lot of help and get all my permission forms filled out and so on.
Then just the week before the trip I finally got the
programm and I could get really excited for Monday when we would go to the
North Shore and go wave-surfing.
But everything in order. The trip started early Saturday
morning and we went to the Airport in Fort Wayne. My flight was supposed to
leave at 7:30am but it was late.
But before that a few interesting things already happenend.
We got to the airport and to the check in where we arrived before any staff was
there. After waiting for a while somebody showed up. It took everybody forever
to get their tickets for some reason and the line was barely moving. Then a
second person showed up. It took me 30 seconds to get what all the people in
front of me needed about 7 minutes for, honestly really frustrating.
I said my goodbyes and made it quickly through security to
the gate and boarded the plane in time. But it was a cold morning and the pilot
decided we needed the aircraft to be sprayed down with this de-icing stuff.
This obvioulsy delayed us and we didn’t leave the ground in time. It was kind
of cool though, since I never saw this happen before.
During the flight I got to know a family, but never found
out their names, which was on their way to a srpingbreak trip to Utah and Las
Vegans since it was their daughters last springbreak in college. Although we had
a delay of the take-off we almost landed in time, the pilot must have used the
afterburner.
I was wearing the “I would rather be scuba diving”
sweatshirt on my travels and got into conversations with at least 4 people
because of it J
The trip all in all went really well and after I boarded my
flight to Honolulu I found out that one of my friends is in the same airport
and we could have totally met if we found out earlier.
It was a long way to Honolulu. But after about 9 hours of
boring flight time with little sleep I was finally there. Before leaving the
aircraft I talked to one of the flight attendants and was told that I will have
a great time if I keep applying enough sunscreen.
I always like to have talks to new people and it makes time
fly by.
The Honolulu Airport is really interesting. The building is
not closed up, so you can see outside without windows and it lets you feel the
warm air immediately. It was a wonderful feeling.
With about 5 other students that arrived at the same time we
made it to our hotel in a taxi and it was just one block from the beautigul
Waikiki beach.
After checking in and putting our stuff in rooms we could go
out and see the place we stay for a week. It was just fantastic feeling the sun
and warm air.
From that moment on I started taking pictures and I didn’t
stop until the next Saturday. In this time the shutter of my camera got pressed
a 1932 times!! Incredible.
People kept arriving over time and then we ate supper
together for the first time and got to know each other. Also we got to see some
impressions of previous trips and the sunscreen, suprisingly, got mentioned
again. After supper we hung out for a little bit, got to know each other, I met
two dear friends from the Orientation Camp in Switzerland again, we got some necceassairy
groceries and then went ot bed.
Since Hawaii and Indiana have a time difference of 5hours I
was jetlagged the next day and this als pretty much all other days woke up as
early as 5am in the morning or even earlier.
I worked out before getting a huge american breakfast with
waffles, bacon, pancakes, toast and so much more. In the morning we did a
little bustour around Waikiki. Our busdriver Rhonda was supercool! She thaught
us some Hawaiian words and passed on a lot of knowledge about Hawaii and
especially Oahu, the Island we were on. She was our driver the whole week.
Here is a picture with her.
One of the places we wanted to see, the house that politics is done in, was actually closed, because they were filming Hawaii five-o in there. To actually see a Film set was kind of cool though.
But we also saw the palace of the queen from back in the
time when Hawaii was a monarchy.
In the afternoon we sailed out for a beautiful Catamaran Tour. We sailed for about an hour and had to really watch out for the sun. Sadly I didn’t have my camera with me but the view was nothing short of breathtaking. Beautiful blue sky with some small white clouds in it over the island and we had a great view to the Diamond Head, which we later in the week hiked on. During the the tour we could hang in the nets in front of the ship or just where ever. It was really nice how clear the water was. We were able to see the ground even in deeper waters. Also we saw the head of a turtle sticking out of the water for a few moments before it dove down. The Catamaran Ride also gave us lots of time for talking and getting to know each other better and we started forming a group.
Then we had dinner and time to cure our first sunburns.
Since Hawaii is about 19 degrees north of the Equator even the ones coming from
warmer countries or states had to use lots of sunscreen and after sun.
The next day it took us to the for surfing famous north
shore. The drive up there along the coast line was absolutely incredible. The
beaches were beautiful and the mountain ranges building up to the other side
just perfected the view.
Sadly we didn’t have too much time for surfing but before we
had time to take some awesome pictures. And nevermind the little tilted
horizon, vorallem du Papa!
The scenery out there was beautiful and we got to take some cool pictures of each other.
I was so excited to run into the surf with a board, it was
the moment I had been waiting on for such a long time.
During the surf lesson a photographer was taking some pictures.
That was pretty cool since I could not have taken them while being in the
water.
No worries, I didn’t run that guy over. But I fell of my board because I tried to make a turn…
As mentioned sadly we didn’t get to catch that many waves but rather a few than none.
We headed back to our bus to drive to a little surftown
behind the beaches. Almost all of us ate at a famous place for its Pineapple
Burgers. Sadly I didn’t get the Pineapple Burger but one with avocado and a
sandwich with avocado and both were delicous.
We had some time to walk around in the town and stare at the
beautiful surfshops, crafts shops and even art galleries.
All in all we definetely had a wonderful time before we
headed back into the buses to drive back. On our way back we saw some more
amazing scenery.
Picture with my favorite Japanese after the surf session. Kiri is pretty cool! ;)
In the afternoon we paid the Polinesian Culture Centre (PCC)
a visit. It was impressive what all we saw and we even learned dancing a hula.
Besides that one of our group got to play the drums with the chief and it was a
hilarious thing.
Certainly there also was some time to take a picture with
the other swiss exchange students on the trip.
We saw many different presentations.
Starting off with a beautiful film about the Polynesian islands and its natural features and nice areal views. It was an incredible look
After that we had time to see things for ourselves. Many activities were already closed though since
we got there in late afternoon. But otherwise we could have gotten tattoos and
learn how to open coconuts and use all parts of it. We ate dinner in
the same place. There were a few typical dishes, but they were not to strange.
Maybe they just didn’t want to shock the visitors. After dinner we headed back
to the hotel and it was already dark.
It was an interesting day and I pretty much went straight to
bed when we got back.
A very different morning came up. We met at 7am to go to a
yoga lesson on the beach during the sunrise over the city and the mountain
chains. It was quite difficult but a very differnent and relaxing start into
the day. I definetely felt that I am everything else but flexible.
After yoga we had breakfast and then jumped back on our bus.
To drive to a secretive beach…
On our way to the beach we stopped at a beautiful lookout
point.
After a few photo opportunities it was time again to hop on
the bus and head to the secret beach.
The beach was simply beautiful. It was also voted Americas
most beautiful beach for the last year.
Because the islands are full of craters from anchient
vulcanos, and this beach lies basically in one of those craters there is an
atoll in front of it, breaking the big surf so only fairly small waves roll in.
The waves were still big enough to body surf and we had an awesome time in the
water or just in the shadow of the palm trees.
On our way back we stopped at another nice lookout point. We
even saw a turtle swimming in the water.
In the evening we ate at a the Honolulu Hard Rock Café. So I
actually visited already 3 of those now. The one in Chicago, Indianapolis and
now Honolulu.
We had a good burger and asked a nice elder man to take a
picture of us in front of the place after.
On our way back to the hotel we had some shaved ice. A
specialty from Hawaii. It was not the best though, but a interesting idea.
And then something happened I would have never imagined
would happen to me in my life. We saw one of Americas Presidents in real life!
Can you believe that? No, me neither. We were walking down the road and came up
to a big croud. By asking a nearby police officer we got to know that Mr Obama
was eating in the Cheese Cake factory and people were waiting for him to come
out. We decided to wait with them and had to wait for about 30 minutes. But we
saw an American President. I still cant believe this actually happenend.
During our waiting period a funny moment happened to.
To see better, two of us climed each others shoulders.
As she was up there she said:”The police is talking to the
hotel staff.” And a man nearby commented:” I doubt that’s the hotel staff, it’s
the secret service.”
And we all had a good laugh about it.
After all the waiting Mr Obama actually left and got into
his car and drove by. I still can’t believe I was standing just a few meters
away from his car. It is certainly something I wont forget anytime soon.
And then we had to hurry back to our hotel to make it on
time. But that was totally worth it.
Wednesday greeted us with a beautiful sunrise.
We left early to go on a little hike. Actually it was more a
walk than hike but on a beautiful day and it was a lot of fun. We first had to
take the public bus. That’s a pretty cool thing in Waikiki, there is public
busses everywhere and a sticker on the busses even told us that it was the best
public transportation system of the USA in 2014.
While we were waiting on the bus, a slightly intoxicated man
on a bicycle came by. He got really upset by the fact that we were standing on
the sidewalk. He took this as reason to walk in the middle of the road and it
certainly gave us an interesting start into the day.
Then we finally came to the diamond head which we were going
to hike on. And we started walking. As we hiked through a tunnel I met an nice
elderly couple from Switzerland from Geneva. It was really funny to meet some
swiss people half way across the globe on a little island in the middle of the
ocean. At the end of the tunnel we finally could see diamond head and it was a
really nice view.
The hike lead us up through a bunch of old staircases and a
long small tunnel. Because of the strong sun everybody was really sweaty as we
came to the top, but the view up there is just incredible.
We certainly took a lot of pictures up there and enjoyed the
view. On top of the mountain is and old abandoned military building. It is
really small so we as many others climbed the roof of it. As we were up there a
nice lady came up as well and she was crazy enough to do a handstand up there.
On our way back down I also talked to her and we had a really nice
conversation.
In the afternoon we had chance to do extra activities or
just hang out. I took the opportunity and went surfing again. This time it was
much more fun, as we were a smaller group, surfed some waves all together with
5 of us standing next to each other and even our trip coordinator Katie came
into the waves with us even though she never surfed before.
After a refreshing shower back in the hotel before we went
out for dinner I had chance to see and take pictures of probably one of the
most beautiful sunsets I have seen so far.
The colors were incredible and everybody on the beach was
stopping to watch it.
I also met these two guys that were flying a DJI Phantom
over the beach and captured incredible footage of the city and the sunset as
well.
This last one is my personal favorite. I took it just while
I was waiting to cross the street to go back to the hotel. Sadly I didn’t get
to talk to the guy in the middle of it since I had to run back. But The little
run was definitely worth the time spent on the beach during the sunset.
For dinner we had a really good chicken wing made the
hawaiian way with rice. Also we learned another hula dance from the waiter, but
sadly I didn’t get chance to take a picture with him.
After dinner we had chance to go to the beach which we
usually weren’t allowed to. But I spent too much time taking pictures, I didn’t
even get chance to go swimming that night.
But here are some of the pictures.
Then we went on the pier nearby to take more pictures and
some of them actually happened to be not too bad J
When we came back it was about time for bed, but we had a
good time on the beach in the warm night.
Thursday was Pearl Harbour day. We went in there and first
went through the exhibitions about the history of December 7th, 1941
when it was attaced by the japanese Air force.
The whole thing was really impressive but also had a really
sad feeling to it.
We also went out to the USS Arizona Memorial where 1100
American soldiers died on as the ship rolled over in the harbor.
The USS Arizona memorial is built over the sunken and still
laying USS Arizona. There was also an US Park Ranger out there that was talking
about the happenings and as he told us, the Diesel in the sunken USS Arizona is
still in its huge tanks and actually leaking out. But there were fish swimming
around and didn’t seem to be bothered by it at all. And it also is some sort of
bio degradable fuel that doesn’t have any artificial parts in it so it
shouldn’t harm the sea.
The memorial building is all white and all fallen soldiers
names are ingraved in one wall. There were many couples of brothers and even
father and son serving on the ship when it was attacked.
After that the mood of the trip changed quite a bit as we
went to a big mall, in which me with a bunch of other guys obviously got lost.
I mean what else should happen? But there was definitely a bunch of cool stuff
in many cool stores. But we didn’t buy a lot of it. The coolest would have been
to buy a surf board, but I guess that wouldn’t have been really practical.
After we ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Inc. It was a cool place
with many interesting refrences to the movie.
After the dinner we played a little game. We got asked
questions about the movie and got a little gift for a right answer. It has been
4 years since I saw the movie in school, but I still knew most of it. And I got
a little keychain for it. It has a quote from the movie on it, as Forrest would
say, “My mama says I’m special”. I put it right on my camera bag.
We also talked to the waiter who played the game with us, shame
on me, I forgot his name. But he was a cood dude and we had a good little
conversation. And this time I got a picture taken, with the whole table J
And a funny references to the place, the restrooms weren’t
labeled with man/woman but with Bubba and Jenny. Kinda cool I thought.
Then we headed home with an exhausted group of sleepy people
getting ready for the last day…
Friday was our last full day before departure. The trip came
to an end as quickly as it started.
We headed out to a beautiful bay for snorkeling. To get
there we got split up into little groups and were transported by individual
taxis. After a 50min drive, we saw this beautiful little bay, formed by an
anchient crater that lost one half to the sea and then got flooded.
As we came down there to the beach we got settled in and
made our first little snorkel tour.
We didn’t go too far out but still saw quite a bunch of
different fish and it was beautiful.
Then we warmed up a little in the sun and went out again.
This time two of my german friends and I went out and we went out as far as the
lifeguart told us to. Then we crossed the bay from right to left side and swam
back in. It was incredible. Even in deeper waters, up to at least 40 ft deep
you could still see the bottom of it, it was so clear. We also dove quite deep,
probably between 20 and 30ft down to see fish from closer or to just swim in
the awesome reef. Sadly the reef wasn’t really colorful and looked all dead
even though it was totally vivid. We had such a good time out there and were in
the water for a full hour. But it was totally worth it, as I haven’t seen so
many fish in one place out in nature since we went to the red sea many years
ago.
After all this nature experience we went back to the hotel
in our taxis where we showered and then headed back to the lobby to make some flower
chains and things to prepare for the last afternoon and evening.
We also took some pictures and the man who instructed us
doing the flower chains said I should do a more manly thing, which happened to
be a tea-leaf chain.
Shame on me again, I forgot his name. But I am not sure if
he even introduced himself.
Obviously when everybody dresses up there has a grouppicture
to be taken. And so it happened. Also note that everybody, following the
Hawaiian traditions for a sign, is wearing the flower on the right side ;)
When everybody was ready we left the hotel again and went to
another polynesian culutre learning place. I liked this one actually better.
It was a big open space with different places to learn
things.
Before we went anywhere we took another picture.
Then we saw different demonstrations.
Starting off with how to tie your towel around your waist
the traditional way. I learned how to do the one usual for fishermen and I
think it’s the prettiest way but I couldn’t do it on myself. Maybe one day…
Following we saw the process of opening coconut.
To explain that process real quick, you look for a nice tan
coconut, looking like a real polynesian chief, not like a tourist. Then you
hammer it down on a pieve of wood until you have all of the shell off and only
the middle part of the coconut with the flesh and water.
To crack this part open we discussed different options.
First we came up with forehead, but figured then that doesn’t work that well,
the coconut has just a harder bone than us.
So we used a very modern tool, basically just invented in
this year 2017. The tool is often referred to as a stone. But it is a great
tool. Totally did the job.
Here are some pictures:
Make sure coconut is tan, not tourist tan, Polynesian tan!
Pose with cracked coconut to make sure everybody sees your
work
Use stone
Questions?
After his wonderful presentation I managed to get a picture
with the brutal coconut-killer.
I’m really glad he doesn’t crack unripe coconuts…
After that the flower-shower was next.
This was actually pretty cool and impressive. With a bag of
apua (hawaiian word for flower) a young men climbed a palm tree to let the
flowers rain.
I was also able to get a picture with him J My goal throughout the
week was to take pictures with local people who taught me things about Hawaii
or Oahu.
Following was a presentation about fishing the traditional
way. And fishing without a hula to ask for a good catch wouldn’t be Polynesian
fishing. So we got to see another hula dance.
After a good dance the nets can be brought in from the
little boats.
After that we didn’t follow the demonstrations but took a
ton of pictures on this beautiful little beach before the sunset was to come.
We found out that the girls carrying the guy only works more
or less, but somehow it did.
But we all had a good laugh about it and that is the most
important part of it.
About a hundred pictures of everybody later it was time to
pay attention to the beautiful sunset that was about to come.
And more pictures had to be taken.
We also tried to write Hawaii with our bodies. Probably not
that succesfull but we had fun and laughed a lot.
And certainly a try to write AFS shouldn’t be missing as
well. Just don’t pay too much attention to the lettering, it’s not the best you
have ever seen.
And some evening gymnastics shouldn’t be missing as well.
Maybe my handstand needs a little work, but at least we tried.
I thought it was pretty cool that we pulled this off
together J
This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. It was
one of the last ones with people in it before it was time to take some sunset
pictures.
Both guys on the side are german and the one in the middle
japanese. We got along as a group really well and especially my japanese friend
Kiri will live in my memories for a long time to come.
Here are some of the pictures from the sunset:
The sky was completely clear so there was nothing to reflect
the light like the one sunset I captured before but the colors were still
incredible.
After the beautiful sunset it was time for dinner. In a
traditional way they had cooked a whole pig all afternoon long and actually
uncovered it in a kind of ceremony but during that time we were taking pictures
on the beach to help our memories one day a little when we think back to this
trip.
But it wasn’t just dinner. We had another hula lesson and
everybody who was part of it, which includes me, got certified by chief Aloha!
There was also a fireshow and dancers which was quite
impressive.
After this wonderful evening we headed back to our tour bus
for a last time.
This day 499 pictures where on my camera when we came back
to the hotel so we almost had to take a special 500th one. Obviously
the 500th one was taken much earlier already but a bunch got deleted
all the time so the spot for the 500th was still open.
This happened to be the picture:
We then had some time to hang out in the hotel lobby and it
was great to talk some more to people or talk about the trip and whatever else
there was.
Before we headed to bed a few others and I got a picture
taken with our amazing coordinators. They were really cool and made this week
awesome but also looked out for us really well.
Then we headed back to our rooms to pack our stuff.
I helped Kiki pack his bags while our other two roomates
were already asleep. We had such a great time and laughed a lot since we were
so tired. We found one of his sakers under his bed after we already packed his
suitcase and ended up giving it to me and we agreed he should sign it in the
morning before he leaves.
Then we got a few hours of sleep before we had to say
goodbye to more people each hour which was kind fo sad. Against midday only a
few of us were left and we decided to go look around some more.
We found a cool surf statue, a neat waterfountain and a
really old car. It was pretty cool to just spend some more time together and
talk about our exchange life and our home countries.
Before I left one of my new spanish friends and I
decided to grab ice cream for a last time.
We did that quite a few times during the week and if you
know me well it shouldn’t be hard to tell which one is mine.
Then it was time for me to go to the airport and I actually
ended up being on the same flight as one of the guys and he is from Paraguay.
The flight to Chicago was long and the Madame next to me fell asleep on my
shoulder ^^
Then I flew from Chicago to Fort Wayne and just like that
the trip was over. It was an amazing trip. I had a wonderful time getting to
know all these other exchange students from so many different places around the
earth. We did so many fantastic activities and had great times together.
I am really glad I got to go and experience this. So many
memories will stay with me and also I am really sure I want to go back to see
more of the islands and also see the other ones.
As I mentioned earlier I took an incredible amount of
pictures on the trip. Well not only me but many others helped take them.
If you want to see all of them there are accessible on a
google drive, follow this link:
I will post another blog about this past week back in
Indiana sometimes this week and then try to get back to my regular schedule and
post on the Sundays.
