by Aria Kerebs

The past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. From Thanksgiving break over the 23rd-26th November, and now the last week of classes, aptly dubbed “hell week”, and then finals week next week, life has been pretty busy. In terms of uni work, I’ve been gradually working my way through three reports, three presentations, one lab final, a variety of speeches, and three upcoming final exams. I just remind myself it’s all worth it though, because once I get all this done, I will have finished my undergraduate degree! Woohoo!

But even with all this work, I have still found time to enjoy my last few weeks here in Hawai’i. Over the Thanksgiving break, a few friends and I rented a car so we could explore the island and jam-pack our weekend full of adventures! Over the four days we had the car, one of our first adventures was waking in the very early hours of the morning and driving to the top of Mauna Kea to watch the sunrise. At the summit car park we were at an elevation of 2830 metres and were well and truly above the clouds. It was pretty chilly up there, around 2 degrees celsius as the sun was rising, but boy oh boy was the view worth it! 

We also ventured out to many different beaches, viewed the spectacular sites of the Waipio Valley lookout, checked out some of the local farmers markets and bought a delectable variety of local fresh fruit, visited the Honomu Goat Dairy where we bought some lovely handmade caramels, went to a pottery class where we made and glazed mushroom christmas tree ornaments, and went night snorkeling with manta rays!  We were also fortunate enough to be invited to our jiu-jitsu sensei’s house for Thanksgiving dinner where we were very kindly presented with a delightfully delicious array of turkey, stuffing, green beans, sweet potato, bread rolls, and salads. As my first ever Thanksgiving experience, I would have to say it was pretty good!

It’s crazy that in less than two weeks I will have to leave this beautiful island, and all the new friends I’ve made, but knowing that we all plan to visit each other makes it easier. I will also be spending a few days relaxing and exploring Honolulu with my suitemate Jenna before we go our separate ways and fly off home! So that’s rather wonderful. 

All I have to do now is get through “hell week” and finals week, so fingers crossed I get it all done!