Stay young. Go dancing!

This was our last day in Hawaii so we decided to hit the beach and just relax. We wanted to surf but the waves weren’t that good and the water was ice cold. We had fun boy-spotting nonetheless haha 

At our friend’s hotel room balcony with a gorgeous view of the beach.

Such a perfect day to enjoy the sun, sand, and the beach.

The beach strip was pretty empty considering Waikiki is always crowded. Or maybe it’s because all the tourists stayed in the area with the beach chairs and umbrellas. 

Not so cute penguins we passed by on the way to our room. I thought all penguins were supposed to be cute :(

Of jump shots and dance poses (part 1)

At Pali lookout…

At North Shore beach…

In front of the Hollywood sign…

In front of the LACMA lights display…

Parc Guell Picnic!

One sunny day, me and my friends decided to go on a picnic at Park Guell. We brought sandwiches, chips, juice boxes, and wine of course (which we drank from a thermos, cause we’re classy like that).

This was the view from where we were sitting: one of Gaudi’s amazing works. Is it just me or does it look like a gingerbread house? 

Close up of the tiles of the benches we were sitting on. 

This random guy approached us and asked if we wanted our caricatures to be drawn. Too bad I never got my copy :| 

Janice and Jen had to go, so Jolene and I decided to buy some cheap wine, find a random park bench, and just drink. Haha that’s what most of the spanish people do anyway. 

Lovely day indeed! 

Random fact #7

A few weeks ago, I found out I got accepted into a business school in France. I’ll be taking up an international masters in management this september, which means a few things:

1. I have to review before the school year starts. I took up European Studies, which means I barely had any math, economics, and business subjects. Not only that, I graduated last year which means the little knowledge I have of these subjects are probably rotting away in some obscure part of my brain. 

2. I have to learn basic french before I actually go there. I guess I minored in the wrong language :| A friend of mine who’s taking her masters in France said that very few people speak English, and most of the people there don’t wanna deal with non-french speakers asking for help/directions/whatever. 

3. I have to find a place to live in. Not only is it difficult cause I’m halfway across the globe, but also because most french websites don’t have an english translation. And google translate isn’t exactly accurate.

4. I have to fix my student visa. I have no idea how to go about this, but I think I have enough time to worry about that..for now. 

5. I have to say goodbye to dance. Ugh thinking about it makes me cry :(( The longest I’ve gone without dance is probably a month, when I studied and worked in Spain. And it drove me crazy. Now I don’t even know if I’d be able to go back to it. 

6. Oh and I have to say goodbye to all my family and friends. But I’ll deal with that later on. Haha

So much to do, and I only have 6 months to do it!! On the bright side, this is probably gonna be the biggest adventure I’ll ever have. So bring it on! 

Surfvivor Baler

I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time. And finally, I learned how to surf!! It felt amazing, like a different kind of adrenaline rush. 

So my friend and I went to Baler (one of the most well known surfing spots in the country) last weekend. It was a tour package which included surf lessons. We had an instructor per person, so they were able to focus on each one of us. 

It took me quite a while to get used to it. But once I was able to actually stand up on my board and reach the shore without falling, I felt like one of those badass surfers in the movies hahaha. I still have a lot to learn, that’s why I’ll be back in a few weeks for sure.

Despite the scary violent waves, bad wipeouts, tons of swallowed seawater, cuts and bruises everywhere, and sore muscles, I had a blast! Surfing is something I want to do as a hobby, and I’m hoping I’ll be decent enough to enjoy doing it regularly haha

Sevy and I in front of the beach, before taking our surfing lessons. 

Intense waves, see? They can be really intimidating, especially for a beginner like me. Good thing our instructors were there to help us. 

One of my 254634123514356768 attempts haha

Yay for an awesome trip!

Japaaaaan!

So here are my favorite things about Japan:

1. The homey cozy atmosphere of Nagoya. It was especially nice since we went there January, so there were still Christmas stuff everywhere.

2. Authentic Japanese food!! Mmmyummeh :P~

3. Shopping, of course. We went to this tiangge type place, but everything was so expensive :| Well everything in Japan is expensive..I think. We still had fun though, they sell the most interesting stuff!

4. Tokyo Disneyland! Too bad we didn’t have enough time to visit DisneySea. Next time for sure! Oh and because we only spent like 2 days in Tokyo, we didn’t get to see Harajuku and all the other interesting places in the city. :(

5. Pokka: the yummiest chocolate drink…EVER! We got to taste it in Nagoya, and it was so good we bought like 4 at a time from the vendo. We didn’t find any in Tokyo, which was sad. But we bought Pino as a replacement! These are mini-chocolate covered ice cream, which were shaped like candy.

Though we only got to spend a week in Japan because it was January and we had school, I loved every single minute of it! I’m praying that I get to go back someday, because there’s still a lot left to explore!