Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Orientaion and Classes

Orientation felt like EFY. The group leaders were older college kids, we ate together, we went to devotionals and we walked everywhere. I met a ton of people but overall it was quite awkward. I did enjoy the English Orientation. It made me wish I was taking English classes for summer. Sunday was fun though. I had to teach gospel doctrine and it was a lot of fun and I met a bunch more people, especially because we had ward prayer that night and then hung out and it was really fun. Monday morning I got up and went to tennis (we didn't actually play, it was a boring first day) and then came back to my dorm and showered and then headed with Cassie (my fabulous roommate) and her friend Tyler to Physical Science. I then watched Netflix and then Cassie and I went to Target for some housekeeping shopping and then we had a ward social that night that was so much fun- we played Frisbee and got to know the ward better. This morning in tennis we actually played tennis and then tonight I have Into to Music and I am pumped. Plus I think tomorrow we are hiking the Y!

 Saturday I hung out with these two hooligans^^^^^^

Provo Bound and Pre Orientation

Driving up!





Allie and I did a lot of this ^^^^^^^

Pretty Utah^^^^^

Pre-Provo Plus Packing

The official packing beings. In the end I had 4 boxes, 2 suitcases, two garbage bags, a guitar case and a backpack.



 This was my last night home. That night I had friends over to say goodbye and it felt very strange for some of then and not at all for others haha


Peurto Rico 5

The last day. We got up, finished packing and got on the bus to head to San Juan, saying goodbye to our beautiful beach and resort. Once we got to San Juan we couldn't find a place for our suitcases so we had to lug them around with us witch was frankly embarrassing. Way to walk around with a billboard that says HELLO WE ARE TOURISTS. But I got over it. We took a trolley to the old Spanish ramparts and then took another on to the tourist shop section and enjoyed shopping around. I love tourist shopping. We had a delicious Puerto Rican lunch and continued to shop and walk along the beautiful and colorful city. Then at about 2 we headed back to the airport and flew to Houston and had to run to make our connecting flight back to Phoenix. On the flight home I finished Mere Christianity and Eat Pray Love. Both were great. I loved EPL, it was a fun read. It made me want to go to India, Italy and Indonesia. We got back at like 11 but I was stressing about packing so I stayed up until like 1 organizing and prepping.








 
 

Peurto Rico 4

We got up and got picked up and headed to the Marina where we got on a sailboat and headed to this island for snorkeling. There were a ton of people around which kind of sucked and the reef wasn't very colorful but I loved swimming around and the water was amazingly beautiful and the reef was cool. We had lunch there and then we headed to this other island and the reef was way better there according to my pro-snorkeling/ world traveling mother it was still pretty lame but I thought it was amazing. Snorkeling feels like flying because you are soaring over this whole world beneath you. I slept on the boat ride back to the marina. Back at the resort we showered and took a nap and then headed to the town and had dinner and walked around. The sunset that night was incredible.




^^^^^^^^^^ My hair got all curly from the humidity

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Puerto Rico 3

The lazy beach day came. We slept in until 10, ate our beautiful mango, donned our damp suits, still moist from yesterday's adventures and not dry because of the humidity, and headed down to the marina. We waited around for the ferry, got on and headed to the island. It's was beautiful. We read. We slept. We explored the reef. We didn't wear shoes and our feet were dying so we went back and got our shoes from the beach. I collected coral. Mom floated. We sat in the sand. We sat in the sea. We enjoyed the tropical rain and let the tropical breeze wip through our hair. We stayed until 5ish and then we headed back, took showers and ate our fish tacos and mango drinks. We then put on our other swim suits and went to the boo bay kayaks. We waited for a solid two hours because we got there early and the   group before us was late. I told my mom that there was this small spot in the middle of my chest, and that no matter how hard the ocean, sea-spray filled wind blew all my other cares and worrys away that spot stayed and that cavity inside of me was fear got next week. For college. For every adventure and heartache to come. I am like my baby brother Reed, who is simultaneously terrified and desperate for bugs- I have wanted this so long so badly but know that it is finally here I am afraid to touch it. 
We kayaked out to the ocean and then entered into the tunnel of mangroves. It was incredible . There was a full moon and so it filtered down through the thick trees and made the water shimmer. We kayaked through and then it opened up into a bay. Then the full moon was not our friend because we could not see our glowing dinoflagellates. Instead they gave us a tarp that we took turns putting over us. You swished your hand around and then whoosh! Your hand was glowing! It was like someone poured the stuff inside glow sticks in the water, the moe you splashed the brighter it glowed. If you pulled your hand out it would sparkled like a twinkling  Christmas tree. I splashed the water over out kayack and aoon everything was blinking and twinkling. It was incredible. We kayaked back and were happy to be on shore when we did, we were salty and tired. We walked back to the resort and went to bed.









Thursday, June 12, 2014

Puerto Rico 2

We got up and then grabbed an overpriced breakfast and then met in the lobby with the rest if the group and then got on a bus to head to the rainforest national park to hike. The drive there was incredible and the jungle was gorgeous-lush and green on literally every inch. Our tour guide spoke lots of grammatically correct vocabulary that was completely indecipherable. He also had some very interesting facts that I am pretty sure he made up. To say it was a 'hike' was really actually misleading and we were expecting to hike on this hike but really it was like a walk. Granted there were lost of stairs but to call it a hike is laughable. Anyway we walked/hiked through the jungle parallel to this creek all the way down to these waterfalls witch were incredible. We swam around and then we  walked back up. Then we went to this roadside shop where we got this cocoanut stuff that was delicious, sweet bread, and a mango for later. I got a bunch of souvenirs and was too much of a chicken to bargan with her so I am pretty sure I got ripped off. We got back to the hotel and showered and took a nap and then we set up the tours for the rest of the trip and then we got on the ferry to check out the beach. It was breathtakingly beautiful and the water was warm and deliciously salty. We then headed back to the mainland and walked  over to where the bio bay tour people were to make sure we could get there later. We grabbed dinner (delicious grouper) and then headed back to the hotel. We then watched Napoleon Dynamite until we were ready for bed.