My stay in Oahu is coming to an end. Therefore, I have thought a lot about what I’m going to miss the most from this island. Here’s the three biggest things I will miss from Oahu. The climate The main thing I’m going to miss is the weather in Hawaii. It’s much warmer than in Norway. In December, the temperature in Oslo, where I live, is around -5 degrees Celsius, compared to 28 degrees Celsius in Hawaii. The ability to constantly walk around in shorts and t-shirts is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted. Trust me, you’ll miss it the moment you got to put on 6 layers of clothes before walking out your door. The beaches Yes, this is a big time cliché, but it’s worth noting. The beaches in Hawaii are incredible. Some of the best ones in the world. As a person who hates to lay on the beach sunbathing, the beaches here are perfect. You could go out and surf or shorebreak near the sand. You can do so many activities on the beach. Or just lay on the sand and get bored to death while sunbathing, at least you’ll get tan. The atmosphere The vibe of Hawaii is something special. As soon as I landed here, I felt much more calm at once. It’s just chill. Aloha time is a real thing and you don’t realize why, until you’ve stayed at the island for some time. I’m going to miss the people here as well. There’s a lot of shady homeless people, but almost every person I’ve met here have been welcoming and very nice people. The feeling of driving a car at 5:30 in the morning up to the North shore with a warm cup of coffee in your hand, listening to some Jack Johnson can’t be expressed with words.
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It's two days until we're in December, the month I go back to Norway, sadly.
After this semester is done at school, I will have 12 days of vacation on Oahu, before I leave the island and head home to Norway. During those 12 days, I will have a friend come visit me from back home. His name is Sondre Hoffsbakken and we used to go to high school together. The plan for those final 12 days will be to rent a car and experience everything Hawaii has to offer. From swimming with dolphins on the west coast at 5:30 in the morning, to go the best hikes Oahu has to offer. Needless to say, there's going to be a lot of Acai bowls on the North shore those last couple of days. Mermaid caves on the west coast, Three peaks and skydiving are three of the things we're going to do while we have the car. I have yet to visit the Mermaid caves, but that's one of the spots on Oahu I want to visit before I leave. Three peaks is probably one of the most spectacular hikes that I've ever done in my life. Skydiving is something I'm not superexcited about doing, but I feel like I have to do it here, since it's so cheap compared to in Norway. If I'm going to do it in my life, this is the place to do it. The last 5 days, we're going to sleep in a tent with some of my fellow Norwegian exhange students, on the North shore. Hopefully we're going to see Pipemasters before we leave for Norway. In total, I reckon we'll be around nine people camping. It's going to be alot of fun. Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy our last days on the island and create more great memories from this semester and that Sondre find this island as amazing as I do. It's only eight days left of this year's fall semester at Hawaii Pacific University (HPU). That means it's time for finals period.
In the U.S school system, unlike in Norway, the teachers take attendance in their classes throughout the semester. Except for in the last week of school, where there is no normal classes, just exams. This is the most stressfull period of the semester. Every quiz, every paper, every presentation, boils down to this last week. For me as a communication student, the finals projects that I need to do is mostly to make portfolios of previous assignments I've done throughout the semester and present this in a nice way. I have five finals, and three of these are to perfectionate previous assignments and deliver these. Which is not that bad, compared to other majors. But at the same time, communication classes probably have more assignments throughout the semester. So, for the next eight days I will be at HPU's library on Bishop Street, finalizing my projects. Luckily, the library serves free coffee and chips after 7 p.m. See you in eight day! This year's thanksgiving was my first ever. In Norway we don't celebrate this holiday, of course not, it's an American holiday. I have heard about the tradition and the history of this celebration, but never experienced it. Until now. Four friends of mine; Adrien, Kristian, Anders and Ibrahim, decided we were gonna go camping on the North shore of Oahu for the entire weekend. From Thursday until Sunday. We had already bought a 10-person tent a couple of weeks ago and we were ready to head out and camp. Little did we know how difficult it is to camp up on the North shore. Everything is private property up there. We found a good spot to set up camp for our first night, at Pua'ena Point, near Haleiwa. We went to our friend Axel's house after and had a thanksgiving dinner, wich was really nice. We were 10 people in total around the dinner table, everyone had a good time and enjoyed themselves. The day after we were told by Security personell that we had to move our camp, so we moved it into the middle of the forrest somewhere on the North Shore. There we slept for the last two nights. There we barbequed, played cards and watched the stars from the beach nearby. One thing that I liked about thanksgiving, is the spirit of the holiday. Wherever you went, you could see families spending time together and appreciate each others company. The atmosphere that was on the North shore this weekend was fantastic, it made me appreciate the time I have had in Hawaii and be thankfull for the time I have left on this Island. Oahu is well-known as a tropical paradise for tourists. But what is it tourists should experience here before they leave the island? Number one: Acai bowls. Acai bowls is a Hawaiian specialty. It has become very popular over the last couple of years in the rest of the world, but it's worth experiencing the dessert in it's right environment. Acai bowl looks a lot like ice cream but it's much healthier. It's made from Acai-berries topped with different berries and coconut. The best Acai bowl in Oahu is located at "da Cove Health bar" near diamondhead and at Haleiwa bowls at the north shore of Oahu.
Number two: Pipeline. The famous surf beach on the north shore of Oahu has fast become one of my all time favorite beaches of all time. Even for those who don't know how to surf it's a beatifull, big beach with not a lot of people on it. You can bring a camera and take some great shots of the surfers that are hitting the waves. Or you can go shorebreaking when it's high tide. If you're one of those who just want to lay in the flat waters and chill then I would recommend Waikiki, but c'mon that's boring! Number three: Three peaks. Granted, I haven't hiked all the hikes on Oahu yet. But out of those I have hiked, three peaks certainly sticks out. With incredible views and spectacular climbs, this hike is one of the best I have ever been on. Three peaks gives you an incredible view over the island and it's nature. It's kind of tough and should not be taken by inexperienced hikers. If you like hiking and rockclimbing, then this is definetly the hike for you. Number four: Surfing. Hawaii's the perfect spot for surfing and no other of the islands have as many spots as Oahu. Either if you're a beginner or an experienced surfer. This is the perfect activity to try out if you like water. Waikiki is probably the best way to get started if you're a beginner. It offers a lot of long and nice longboard waves, where you get plenty of time to learn how to get up and stand on your board. Kaizers and bowls at Ala Moana is for more experienced surfers. Here, it's a bit more shallow and it has bigger waves than at Waikiki. But it's less crowded and you get more speed on your board. For those who are very good at surfing, the north shore is the place to be. Here you can surf the legendary spot "Pipeline" or almost any other beach on the north side of the island. Number five: Snorkling with dolphins. At the westside of Oahu, you have a possibility to snorkel with dolphins in the morning. You can either head out at Electric beach or Makua beach. It's not for everyone though, as you have to be at the beach around 5:30 a.m. If you go though, you will witness a beatifull sunrise as well! At the age of 24, Juan Peralta have life experience like few others. Born in El Paso, Texas, Peralta grew up in a family consisting of two older brothers and two younger ones. When he was 1 year old, his mom and dad decided to move the family to Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is the town Peralta grew up in. "My mom and dad split up when I was 13 years. My mom was mostly around, she pretty much raised us" told Peralta on his childhood in the "Breaking bad"-city. After High school, Peralta decided to join the army for four years. It was in the camouflaged uniform that he met his bestfriend and current roomate. Peralta said "I was like 18 or 19 years old. Bootcamp, we were roomates. When we went to Afghanistan, roomates. When we came back, roomates. So when we decided to leave for Hawaii, we became roomates here as well." His face lights up when he's thinking back to the army and you can see how much the army has meant for him. "I was in the infantry in Afghanistan. We were in the front lines down there" said Peralta on his time in Afghanistan. He was there for nine months. "Mentally, we were prepared for it. You do a lot of mental training and normal training before you travel down there. It sounds kinda messed up, but when a person shoots at you and you fire back, all you see is a target." In Afghanistan, American soldiers are often on missions with the Afghan army. Even though they didn't understood eachothers languages, they created a special bond with eachother. Peralta said "What impacted me the most was when they said to me that they would take a bullet for me, and that they considered me a brother. The group of dudes we were working with knew why we were there, what our mission was. They didn’t know me, but they knew our mission. And that was enough for them to risk they’re life for me and for us" So, this weekend I went to the island Kauai with some norwegian friends. We left Oahu friday morning and we were at Kauai the entire weekend. Wow, what a beautiful island it was! We rented a beatiful house in Princeville, on the north shore of the island. Princeville is basically a gigantic golfcourse and a couple of houses around the course. We had a garden, swimming pool, plenty of space for six people, and a lot of hens. A lot. On friday, we went hiking to Hanakapiai falls, which is on the famous Na Pali coast of Kauai. It was a beatiful hike, but very tiredsome. We spent about 4-5 hours on the hike, including a break to go swimming at the falls. You can go swiming underneath the waterfall, which was an amazing experience. The view along the hiking trail was also spectacular. You walk on the edge of the mountains on the Na Pali coast, with only the ocean on your right side, and mountains on your left. On saturday, we went to Queen's bath. Wich is a great spot if you want to watch turtles. They often come there to eat near the rocks. Sometimes they put their heads above the water to get some air. Queens bath is made of a lot of rocks, which has been shaped by the waves from the ocean over several hundred years. There are also some great spots there for cliffjumping, which was a lot of fun. Sunday was probably our most spectacular day. We went to the Waimea canyon. Wich is one of the most spectacular places in Hawaii. We went hiking along the canyon and stopped at several viewpoints. What seperates Waimea canyon from other canyons is the luxuriant nature at the bottom of the canyon. The top of the canyon is dry sand, but further down there is a lot of green trees and flowers. It's definately one of the most spectacular places I've been to in the world. After Waimea canyon we enjoyed the sunset at Anini beach, on the north shore of Kauai. All in all, it was a fantastic trip with some great places that you should put on your bucket list. Ole Christian Nymoen Welcome to my first blog post! Thank you so much for reading my blog. My name is Ole Christian Nymoen and I'm a 22 year old norwegian. I was born and raised in Oslo, which is Norway's capital and largest city. Fun fact about Oslo, it's actually one of the largest cities in Europe, if you measure by square kilometres. I have a little sister, her name is Elin, and she's 19 years old. Here's a picture of me and her from a vacation trip we had this summer, in Nice. My mom's name is Merete, and my dad's name is Ole Bjørn. I've always lived in Oslo, but the last couple of years I've been travelling a lot. I joined the navy after High school, where I lived in Bergen for a year. The navy was a lot of fun actually. I learned a lot about co-operation, and about myself as well. After the army I started studying journalism in a small village called Volda. The village has about 4000 inhabitants, and about 4000 students, so you feel like you know everyone you meet. It's an incredible place. Volda is surrounded by mountains, as you can see on the picture below. So, why did I decide to study journalism in Volda? Well, first of all, I am a huge sports nerd. I watch all kinds of sports, football (soccer), NBA, NHL, NFL, cycling and tennis especially. I have always wanted to become a sports journalist, that's the main reason for choosing journalism. Why I chose Volda though? I wanted to study a place that was not Oslo, and I love hiking and being out in the nature. In Volda, this is possible. That is also why I decided to go to Hawaii for my semester abroad. I wanted an adventure where I could go snorkling, scubadiving, surfing, hiking and I also wanted to meet interesting people. In this blog, I will take you on my adventure here in Hawaii, I hope you'll stick around for it! Underneath you can see a beatiful video from Norway! Ole Christian Nymoen |
AuthorHi there! My name is Ole Christian Nymoen. I'm a 22 year old exchange student in Hawaii. I major in Journalis and I love taking action photography and writing about sports. Archives
November 2017
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