It's been about a week and a half since I got here. Slowly getting settled in but this grad school in Hawaii thing...... it doesn't look too bad :)
Found a place to stay. It's probably the most rent I've ever paid (because I'm super cheap and used to willingly live in sketchy/dinky little places) but for the price i'm paying, it's waaaay bigger and cheaper than prollly 90% of housing offered on craigslist in honolulu (and other places I've lived in). Plus, the landlord is nice and there aren't a lot of strict rules. I've got 7 housemates...which is a lot but definitely less than the 39 girls I lived with in my co-op so it's not too bad. Also, I managed to talk my landlord into giving me a discount in exchange for helping to "manage" the place because I'm apparently a "responsible" grad student. Hahahahaha.....the wonders of putting the word "graduate" in front of "student"....man, should have done that sooner....like years ago...at Cal... What's great about the deal is that I really only have to make sure the chores get done, make sure the trash goes out and complain to him if the other housemates get too noisy or dirty. Seriously?!? I'd do that anyway but if it means a Ben Franklin gets taken out of my rent, I'm not about to tell him that! lol.
Classes started on Monday last week and I've only just sorted it out. Managed to get all the classes I wanted and it's not too bad a load for the first semester. Still have to deal with all the red tape bs which is driving me crazy and sorting through it is very trying but it doesn't seem to be all that bad now that I'm right in the middle of it. I do have to say that the student health center here is much better than Berkeley's (where I've never had a good experience because they charge too much and some of the doctors there are horrible).
Hawai'i is pretty darn amazing but it's definitely a lot more expensive than the mainland. Housing, food and even the bus costs more yet most places only pay about $7-9/hour. How do people live?? Gah! Gotta start looking for a job soon :/ Other than that, Hawai'i is very nice....the people are really friendly and super helpful. The scenery is great too - both the landscape and the people. lol. The only thing is the weather. It's been fairly nice and it is not as hot as I thought it would be due to the breeze but it keeps raining suddenly while the sun is shining and there are barely any clouds in the sky! Crazy!
So, school is on track (including getting the advisor I want), medical clearance should be taken care of by the end of this week, I'm not homeless, rent is miraculously cheap (even by mainland standards), I'm slowly making friends (I think) and chocolate covered macadamia nuts are on sale. Now, I only have to worry about studying - it's a lot harder than it looks (my sister makes it look so easy) and getting a rug big enough to cover the ugly stain on my floor. Apart from that, life is good :)
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