orientation this morning. met my professors and all the participants of this year's program. afterwards, ate lunch then headed out to waikiki beach. not quite the picturesque, clear turqoise water i expected. oh, the water was turquoise alright, but it sure wasn't clear. after some time i learned that waikiki is the worst of all the beaches and the beach itself is actually manmade. =/ go figure.

lots of creepy crawlies here. they freak me out. they're everywhere. usually alive, but lotsa dead ones lying around too. and u know how ucsd has its wild, rampant rabbits, and ucla has its overgrown squirrels? UH has its cats. wild cats everywhere! and they all come out at nite with their beady lil eyes. *shiver*

had spam musubi from 7-11 today. quite the treat! i learned that there is this convenience store chain here in hawaii called ABC Stores. oh my god they do NOT mess around. at one corner alone there were 3 ABC stores. O_o i dunno. but they're everywhere, these ABC stores. but they've also got lotsa things.

tomorrow was supposed to be the first day of classes, but i guess we get it off for reasons that have to do with some holiday. independence day, they like to call it. so first day is tuesday. we get a whole day off tomorrow. what do to? i can't wait for classes to start. i'm such a nerd.

where are the koreans up in here?? i heard about koreans bein all over hawaii. are they not in honolulu? where the korean food/markets at? well, it's only been 1.5 days so i should have some patience. i've also been limited to just the university, the one main street near the university, and uber-touristy waikiki. let's see what tomorrow has in store....

cool thing #2: there is this fast food joint called MOS Burgers where they serve burgers... the asian way! teriyaki chicken burger, spam musubi burger, etc. AND! they have burgers in which the buns are made from rice. so it's just rice shaped in a patty shape and pan fried a little. mmm.... maybe they'll bring some of these restaurants to the mainland?