Little Maya and the Big Ocean, Take 2

(This post is slightly delayed, and there will be INCREDIBLE pictures to come, but for now I just have to write about my weekend...)

I went snorkeling for the first time this weekend. And it was PHENOMENAL. It was truly unlike anything else I've ever done before. Sticking your face in the water and seeing everything that's swimming beneath you... well, it's pretty cool.

I went with some fellow women from the Electros (my ultimate frisbee team here) to a place called Electric Beach. I think it was a pretty prime diving spot, because the only people we saw were diving or snorkeling. Here's a picture of the women I went with:
(From left to right: Kristen, Merete and Micki. I was taking the picture, so I'm not in it, obviously, but hopefully you can picture me there with them)

Merete is from Denmark and is also here as a one-semester exchange student, Kristen is from Florida, and is a Biology grad student at UH Manoa, and Micki is from Seattle and is working for the National Marine Sanctuaries here in Honolulu. They're all such wonderful and positive women, and it was great spending the day with them. While we were snorkeling, Micki would point out the different kinds of fish and other sea life we were looking at. She was also generous enough to let me borrow her extra mask and fins so I could tag along without a trip to Wal*Mart for my own gear!

Micki also took a lot of really incredible pictures with her underwater camera that I will be sure to post as soon as she sends them. There's even one of me "diving"-- or trying to! It was definitely tricky getting used to figuring out when and how to breathe with the mask, and I tried diving a few times, but I wasn't very good. They all said it takes practice... So hopefully we'll go out again soon and I can practice some more!

After diving, we laid out on the beach until the afternoon rains started. We then got a fantastic lunch of local Hawaiian food, and went back to Micki's for the afternoon until we had Electros practice that afternoon. Overall, it was a fantastic day! Hopefully this can become a Sunday tradition for us to have adventures before afternoon practice, (hereby called "Sunday Fun-day").

I've also recently become friends with my RA, and she is a PRO at diving and all ocean-type activities. She even got Isaac to sign up for a scuba class she's helping out with. Maybe she'll take me out, too? (Bailey, I know you might be reading this, so this is really just another plea to get you to take me out!)

In general, I'm just continuing to love my life here, and it just keeps getting better. I feel like I've met a lot of really wonderful people, and I'm enjoying getting to know them more. I'm also enjoying exploring the area a little more, too. For example, right now, I'm at a coffee shop near campus drinking THIS:


Yummm... This morning, I made the decision to get OUT of my room, and go somewhere to be productive with work. So, I've been in this cafe, doing work for my research at Haverford, and blogging while my code runs, or is taking time to load. Hopefully, I can make this a semi-regular practice, as I've been incredibly productive this morning. I don't have morning class, so if I can motivate myself to do this more often, it will be better for me overall.

Thanks for reading! It's hard for me to gauge how many people ACTUALLY read this, so feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think! (As in, tell me if I'm too rambly, boring, etc.)