Starting Anew

Well....It's a new semester, and I'm not taking classes! While everyone else stresses about papers and exams, I stress about rain clouds (which impede on my beach time) and which movie I should watch. All I can say is that I NEEDED it. Going to school while I was still broken was not the best idea. I needed time to fix myself....so I'm doing it now! I've made a bunch of new and reasonable goals, I'm still going to therapy, and I'm taking care of ME. Of course I still have my ups and downs...but there is hope for me yet! 

Since I haven't posted anything for a long while, here's a few pics of my happenings:

As a project for my religion class I visited "The Valley of the Temples" and got to get an inside peak at this Buddhist temple. We arranged a tour and had an awesome experience. Even though I'm not a believer of the Buddhist faith, I have a deep respect for anyone who believes something and actually lives it. The Buddhist believes are very different than mine, but that doesn't mean I can't respect them and their lifestyle. I love their reverence for all living creatures, and their rituals intrigued me. There was a definitely a peaceful feeling there...

Our tour guide was a cute Japanese man who serves as the "Temple Bishop." He kept calling me "the big one" haha, talk about a self-esteem booster. He loved the fact that we were students, and he tried to cram everything he knew about his religion and the temple into our brains. My favorite thing he said was about the lotus flower. He said that the lotus serves as a symbol of enlightenment. Since it grows out of the mud, it is a symbol of purity. He pointed to us and 

said with a soft voice "we are all to bloom like a lotus flower." See? So many differences, and yet, we're remarkably alike:)

Culture Night!  Every year each of the clubs on campus spends hours and hours preparing a dance to perform in-front of not only the student body, but the community as well. My roommates are avid members of the Samoan Club, and even though I wasn't dancing, they got me to participate in their performance. Their plan was to do their dance, and at the very end, all run together and pose for a picture. That was MY job:) I waited anxiously on the floor until the end of the performance, and as soon as the last drum beat, I ran out to the middle of the dance floor and snapped this shot! I was praying the flash would go off, and it did! Their performance was definitely the most exciting of the night. Full of screams, loud drums, and very well coordinated dance moves that got the entire gym excited. While I was sitting on the floor I was able to take some other pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

A few week ago we went to Hulilau Beach to watch the sunrise. There were some fun photo ops. Such as the big huge bouey washed up on the shore...

Overall, my experiences thus far in Hawaii have been awesome. It's a great place to explore and to heal. Hawaii is growing more and more on me. I love its adventures! I love the cultures, the faces and the places...what a blessing:)