Aloha Paradise!

Aloha everyone! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying life. This is the beginning of my blog, to help me keep track of my adventures this summer as well as share them with you! So, here goes:

I arrived in Honolulu yesterday morning. My boss, Zackary, picked me up from the airport. He greeted me with a traditional lei! After driving me around downtown Honolulu and Waikiki, he dropped me off at my dorm. I got settled into my room, went to the grocery store, and went for a run. I had no idea it was going to be so hot here! I guess I had expected the humidity but a girl from the dry Californian dessert is never prepared for summer rain. Anyway, the campus was really quiet on Sunday afternoon, although I did see a ton of extremely territorial cats roaming around.



Today was my first day of work! It was really exciting to get into the lab, meet the people I would be working with, and see the space and equipment. I got a pretty intensive overview of my project for the summer but I won't bore you with the details. Zackary is great, really approachable and friendly. The grad student who will be sort of like my mentor for the summer, Anna, is also very sweet and easygoing. She's originally from Michigan but has been in Hawaii for the past 7 years and has fallen in love with surfing. I already made her tell me all about it so I can get started this weekend once Otto gets here. Finally, there is a recent high school graduate (who, coincidentally, is going to MIT next year) , Jennifer, who I also met. She was definitely not the nerd I thought she might be. I think we will get along well. There is another grad student, Carli, who I haven't met. Oh! And of course, my favorite, Catalpa. She is the administrative assistant. She is a typical native Hawaiian woman (except she doesn't speak much Hawaiian). She says her mom named her Catalpa, which means tree, because her mom knew that she would grow up to be as big as a tree (she said it, not me!). She is so talkative and just a little crazy in that totally awesome way.


First impressions of Hawaii:
1)there are beautiful flowers and greenery EVERYWHERE (I always want to pick the beautiful plumeria and hibiscuses, but have so far restrained myself)
2) the girls dress mostly like tomboys and do not seem to appreciate east coast fashion
3) even on the hottest days most people are wearing jeans
4) i've heard a little bit of Hawaiian Pidgin but hopefully I'll get to meet some more locals who really use it fluently


Everything is going great so far and I can't wait for Otto to get here so that I won't be eating in the cafeteria by myself! This weekend is going to be lots of fun!