Greetings from 36,999 feet above

First off, Delta is amazing. Free wi-fi on all domestic flights until Jan 2. This made for a beautiful flight.

Second, I AM ALMOST HOME! I will be on the ground in Atlanta in under an hour. I can barely contain my excitement. This past semester has been full of ups and downs but I have enjoyed every moment of it. I am ready to see my family and friends back home, but I am excited to get to go back to Hawaii and continue my life there. I have been stretched over the past four months and have grown in immeasurable ways. I figured it would be nice if I could highlight the top 10 things I learned in Hawaii. These things are not necessarily about me, or how I've grown but just things I have picked up and want to share.

Drum roll please....

10: Hawaiian time is 10x worse than CP time. If you think CP time is late move to Hawaii. The pace here is glacially slow. And guess what, I thoroughly enjoy it. I have taken time to enjoy the little things, the side conversations, and not always rushed to be at a place at a certain time. Although there are some exceptions in which time is crucial, time is so much more flexible on the rock.

9: I'm not allergic to ALL pineapple, just the gross kind grown on the East Coast & Caribbean. I eat pineapple at least once a day, if not two.

8: I am addicted to fried chicken. Try taking a southern girl away from her fried chicken. This may make me seem like a bit of a glutton, but I really enjoy southern food. I can't wait until I can eat Mexican food & fried chicken tomorrow.

7: Related to 8, I really miss cooking. I had nice kitchens all through undergrad and never took the time to really appreciate being able to cook in my own apartment. Kitchens are luxuries to me now. I am so thankful that the kitchen on the roof is now fully functioning and I look forward to being able to cook more next semester, especially with Ryli who went to culinary school before moving to Hawaii.

6: Consistant weather is the most beautiful thing known to man. I have gotten less sick this year. Low 80s year round, yes please. My heart is happy.

5: Much like the South, family is very important in Hawaiian culture. Sir & Ma'am are replaced by Auntie and Uncle. Everyone remotely close to your age is your cousin. The more relaxed titles allow for conversation to naturally flow with relative ease. I have struck up conversation with Aunties at the bus stop several times. Each time I learn something new and exciting about the rock I call home.

4: Culture shock is not a bad thing. A lot of time culture shock heightens your senses. For once, you feel alive. Colors seem brighter, the sun seems warmer, and little things that used to get you down seem just that-little. Although its not healthy to continue to live in a fantasy land, feeling alive is much appreciated and invigorating.

3: Never judge a book by its cover. This is something we have "learned" since grade school, but how many of us actually put this into practice. Stereotypes continually override this philosophy. I have learned more from people who looked like they had nothing to offer. Aunties and uncles, classmates, and new friends have shown me how to put this into practice- like they say, you learn better from seeing than hearing.

2: I'm a workaholic. I live on an island. The beach is 4 miles away from me. I am less tan coming back to Atlanta than I was going to Honolulu. I'm working on this. I need to relax, get my work done but still enjoy life. Tomorrow is not guaranteed and I will not let myself regret not taking opportunities to enjoy my experience.

1: Kuhio, Likelike, Kapahulu, Kapiolani, Moiliili, Maona, Ala Moana, Pali, Aiea, Haleiwa, Waimea, Ewa, Makapuu & Hanauma- Try pronouncing all of that correctly! I can!

Down to 9....

Yay procrastination! I am in the midst of writing my lit review for my thesis. I have read all of the articles & taken painfully careful notes. As soon as I finish this post I'm going to start actually writing! I am not excited, and I have found just about any excuse not to start the thing, but now I am under enough pressure I think I can start.

Everyone keeps asking about my finger so I figure this would be the easiest way instead of answering 1,000 questions. I broke my finger playing flag football last Monday. My finger is broken in two places along the two knuckles and two bones in my palm are fractured. I opted out of a cast, therefore I have to wear a splint for the next 6 weeks. I'm glad I don't have to wear a cast, I would hate to get an awkward tan line. That being said, my flag football season seems to have ended early. I'm still going to attend all the games and cheer on Team Lasers! CHEE-HEE!


Another exciting fact, I am going to Israel this summer! I am going to help chaperone my little brother's senior trip. I cannot wait, it is going to be super exciting and its someplace I've always wanted to visit. I feel like its really going to bring the Bible to life. I cannot wait to experience being in the same places where so much of my faith is rooted. No worries, I will blog like crazy when I'm there.

My lit review is due Thursday. It's almost Sunday. I have zero motivation to finish this, but I know I need to.
Here's to being exhausted! 26 days until I leave for GA :)

Literature Reviews, Flag Football & Rain Storms

Team Lasers!


I guess it's time for an update! My life has utterly been consumed by school work. My literature review for my thesis is due on November 18th, I've been so busy with class work that I have barely made a dent in it. My literature review is about 1/4 of my total thesis, so there is a lot of pressure surrounding it. I know that in the next two weeks I can crank out a good lit review. Tomorrow I am going to the library with some students from my program in hopes to get a good dent in before the weekend starts.

My thesis topic has started to form. DRUMROLL: I am studying the acculturation of foreign athletes into UH's culture. In laymen's terms that means I am studying how culture shock affects athletes who come here from other cultures, how the assimilate into my university and if it affects their skills on the field among other things.

As of life outside of academia, I joined a flag football team. Team Lasers is pretty much dominating despite our very unfortunate loss last night. I guess theres no such thing as perfection. I am excited to meet a few other graduate students and just have fun. There is no pressure on the team to win & it is the most eclectic mix of people. I can't wait for the next game on Monday.

I've been making new friends left & right. I am making an conscious effort to get out of my room and socialize with people instead of focusing just on school work. It's crazy that I, Heather "she knows everyone" Blount, have been antisocial recently. I have a lot of schoolwork on my plate and I'm not going to let my priorities get out of line, but I realized I needed to get out of the same four walls. My grades are spectacular and my professors seem to like writing style so it's time to have some fun!! :)

Homecoming was last weekend, I tailgated before the football game with some friends and met a few new friends. UH won the game against Idaho & we are ranked 26th! Next week we play the #2 school...I'm praying for a miracle.

Halloween was last weekend as well, & that was a ton of fun. I was my alter ego Strawberry Shortcake. Two of my friends and I ventured down to Waikiki Beach on Sunday night to join the block party of sorts. There are thousands of people in costume walking up and down the strip. The costumes were pretty insane, I was impressed!!

I've heard from a lot of people that it's starting to cool down in Georgia. It's still 85 here :) Although the rainy season started. Theres no use in my straightening my hair anymore. It's been raining every day this week and doesn't seem to want to let up anytime soon. I can't complain though because its still warm outside and as soon as the there is a break in the rain there are rainbows. AND IT DOESN'T THUNDERSTORM! You have no idea how happy this makes me. I despise thunderstorms with all of my being. It's nice and calming at night to hear the rain outside with the windows open...as long as the rain doesn't come inside.

If you haven't heard, I'll be back in ATL in December to visit! Let me know if theres anything going on so I can pencil it in to my social calendar. It's filling up quickly :) I can't wait to see my family & my friends. It will be a good visit, I can feel it.

One Love <3

Blame it on Kiwi...

I have been urged several times to update my blog by a girl that lives on my hall. Her name is Ryli, but you can call her Kiwi for short. I would like to take this opportunity to not only introduce Kiwi but also Ali & Vanessa. These are three of the girls live on my hall. They are my closest friends in Hawaii and I love them very much.

Kiwi is from South San Francisco, but moved to South Carolina a while back. I wish she had more of a southern accent or said ya'll more...but she doesn't. Ali & Vanessa are both juniors from Arizona. Ali is into long walks & nature while Vanessa loves sharks. The four of us have gone on several adventures together & are looking forward to a lot more. We made a bucket list that hangs in Vanessa's room. This past weekend we went to Waimea Bay on the North Shore. Ali and I cliff jumped while Vanessa and Ryli took pictures, we all played in the ocean afterwords. The waves were huge and most of us wiped out at least once. I still have sand in my hair three days later. I am so thankful that God placed me on the same hall as these ladies. We may have our differences, but we are mature enough to look past them and just have fun together! I am looking forward to having girl friends again, its been a while since I had a tight knit group of girls :)

BUT, the real reason for this post is to clue everyone in to what the four of us have experienced so far. Let me preface this by saying each person has their own struggles. In my interpersonal communication class we have been learning about the science behind culture shock and how to understand it. I know a lot of my friends who read this blog are studying abroad in other countries and are experiencing the culture shock as well. Even if you are not currently experiencing it, one day you will. I hope after reading this you will feel not only enlightened but encouraged and "normal." In addition, this is the basis of my thesis! I am super excited to share with you a little bit of my focus for the next year and half!

Whenever you move to a new culture there are three main challenges you face. The first, coping with culture shock, is what I will focus this post on. The second challenge is getting the job done. This could be seen in a business context or even in a interracial relationship. The final challenge is staying motivated.

What is culture shock you may ask? Well through my research I see it as a series of symptoms that occur after moving into a new culture. My professor listed the most common symptoms and I will just copy paste them. Remember that not everyone goes though each symptom and also one can be experiencing several of them at the same time. Many people don't even realize they are experiencing culture shock. They don't understand why they are acting so differently. They don't make the connection that their anger or cold is due to culture shock. The symptoms of culture shock can range from a day, a week, to even months and years. Most of the time the symptom lessen over time as one begins to understand and adjust to the new culture.

1-Short-term illness and clumsiness from the breakdown of the immune system and imbalanced physiological reactions.
2-Long-term illness from the wearing effects of prolonged high stress .
3-Nervousness or unfocused anxiety.
4-Depression manifested in boredom, fatigue, withdrawal from others, sleeping all the time, inability to get interested in anything, and--in serious cases--substance abuse & suicide.
5-Irritability and other rapid, unpredictable mood changes, often over matters that otherwise might appear minor.
6-Fears of being taken advantage of, cheated, discriminated against, talked about.
7-Feelings of vulnerability to disease, crime, failure, and other bad things.
8-Narrowed, rigid and habitual thought processes.
9-Breakdown in ongoing relationships and difficulty in establishing and maintaining new ones.

All 9 symptoms stem from either a physiological change or less manageable levels of stress. A physiological change deals with the physical changes your body and mind are going through. It is important to note that you are not just experiencing the "new culture" but you are simultaneously separating yourself from the "old culture." Homesickness or leaving your home can be as big of a shock as new experiences.

Physiological changes are most frequently seen in the forms of jet lag and circadian rhythms. A person experiences jet lag because their bodies are used to daylight/night time cycles. When you are thrown into a culture that is more than three or four time zones away it takes your body time to readjust to the new light/dark cycles. Not everyone experiences jet lag the same way. Older people are more affected than younger people, people who primarily work during nighttime are less affected, and people who live close to the poles are used to changing light/day cycles. In addition, each persons body works off their own circadian rhythm. This rhythm helps your body know when to eat and sleep. People often call circadian rhythms their "biological clock." Its the reason why some people are more active at night than in the morning, etc. It is based loosely on your internal body temperature. When your core temperature is highest, you are more productive and active. I had to do an experiment in undergrad to find out my circadian rhythm. I was required to take my temperature every hour on the hour for a week. Although it disrupted my sleep schedule I know now I am most productive from 2:30pm-11:00pm. My core temperature is the lowest from 3am-9am. This would explain why I am a night owl. The more established a persons circadian rhythm is the harder it is for them to adjust to a new physiological state. This is the reason why it took me a while to adjust to living in Hawaii. I was never hungry at the right times and stayed up all night because I was not sleepy. The symptoms that are affected by physiological changes are short term and long term illness, nervousness, depression, and irritability. All of the symptoms are greatly affected by the lack of sleep.

Stress is an important factor to pay attention to as well. Let's face it, when you move to a new culture is is often not for relaxation or fun. Although that may happen most people move for work, school, or a relationship. All of these reasons add stress to your normal life. For me, I am trying to balance school on top of loosing sleep, making new friends, and experiencing all that Hawaii has for me. Needless to say I have found myself a lot more stressed than normal. You can never eliminate stressors from your life, but you can learn to manage them in order to be effective. Over time stress will lessen to a more manageable and optimal level. Until then all you can do is set in place stress management techniques that can trick your body into lowering your stress levels.

I know this blog post is getting long, and if you are still reading it I applaud you! I am going to finish up by summing up a few phases of culture shock. If you are experiencing a new culture think about what phase you may be in.

1-Contact: Occurs when a person first meets someone from the new culture. This phase is often called the honeymoon phase or tourist phase. There is an emphasis on the similarities between cultures and on nonthreatening differences such as clothes and food. This is what happens when you go on vacation somewhere, or just arrive to your new home. Everything is exciting and cool!
2- Disintegration: This is when things get ugly. You come to the realization that the differences aren't just fun and games. Traditions from the new culture are unfamiliar and scary. You get lost finding places, realize they don't serve your favorite kind of food or get laughed at for your habits. This is when the depression symptom begins to hit. You begin to recognize the differences between your old culture and your new one, but don't fully understand the difference.
3- Reintegration: When you have lived in the culture long enough you begin to understand the differences in culture and can predict outcomes of certain activities. The problem is most of the time one has a negative slant towards the new culture. Stereotypes people heard in their old culture begin to become reinforced. You begin to look for others from your old culture so you can criticize the new culture, safety in number right?! Sometimes though, people become obsessed and overly positive about the new culture. They see themselves as local and try to participate in traditions that they are not familiar with. This can cause strain on the relationships formed in the new culture. Most people get stuck in this phase or terminate the relationship. Divorces, leaving jobs, and moving back home is quite common.
4-Autonomy: This is when you actually become local, instead of pretending like you are. You are able to stand alone and participate in the culture without the crutch of stereotypes. You dress the same, talk the same & eat the same as everyone else around you. You begin to blend in to the culture.
5- Re Entry: The most shocking phase of all! You go back to your old culture, even if its just for a visit, and find out that everything changed! Your family & friends have changed, the positions you held in relationships are often filled by other people. It is liken to a train. You jump off the train when you leave, but the train keeps moving. When you come back, you can never catch the train. Sometimes people find it easier to make new friends, people who have experienced similar situations or even move back to the other place. The funny thing is, people don't realize they have changed too. You can blame a broken friendship on the other person, but often times you are the one that changed more. This phase doesn't have to be negative, but often times is looked to be negative because it is the least expected and most permeant of all the phases.

Congrats if you read the whole blog. This is more for my friends who are overseas or studying abroad! Good luck to everyone. Let me know if you need to talk to anyone. I understand, I'm there too :)

Taking Chances-- Why Hawaii?

You don't know about my past, and
I don't have a future figured out.
And maybe this is going too fast.
And maybe it's not meant to last,

But what do you say to taking chances,
What do you say to jumping off the edge?
Never knowing if there's solid ground below
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay,
What do you say,
What do you say?

Part of the song Taking Chances. It was on Glee last season, and instantly became one of the songs I played on repeat right before I left for Hawaii. I love this song because it describes exactly what happened in my life. I boarded a plane, flew 9 1/2 hours and almost 5,000 miles to a rock in the middle of the Pacific Island. You could say I took a chance.

Since I have moved here friends back on the mainland keep asking me why I chose Hawaii over New York or Texas. My sarcastic answer was always "more consistent weather," recently though I am realizing why I chose Hawaii. I took a break from everything that connected me to the mainland until today. I'm still not reconnecting all the way. I deleted even 1,500 people from facebook! :) I need(ed) some space to get acclimated to Honolulu and it was hard being SOOOO connected to everyone back home.

Georgia represents stability in my life. I lived in two houses growing up, both within the same school district. I was lucky to establish friendship that carried on from birth (or kindergarden) to high school graduation & further. I still talk to some people I have known since BIRTH, not many people can say that. I attended the same church until I moved to Atlanta, some of my best friends I met there.

I could have stayed in Atlanta. I would have gotten into the communication program at GSU no problem, most likely gotten a killer graduate assistantship/internship & made even more rockin' connections in Atlanta that would lead straight to corporate America. Atlanta was my safe haven. I knew everyone. Literally. It became distracting to walk around campus feeling almost required to at least say hey to everyone I knew. I had a ton of friend and a few close friends. The school work would have been easy to me & I could have graduated in two years no problem. Life would have been good, but a bit boring.

The long & short of it is that Atlanta was stable, easy, more of the same, busy, and distracting. That's why I chose Hawaii.

It was time for a change. I needed to get away from everything I knew (or thought I knew) and start over. Moving to Hawaii has allowed me to see my own strength and lack thereof but showed me that I am cut out for a lot more than just Atlanta. The program here is challenging. Intellectually I have learned more this past month and a half than I did in undergrad all together. The material is dense and tough to read, therefore I just have to keep rereading it until I digest everything. I don't mind this too much because I do most of my reading under the palm trees at the beach. My thesis topic is taking shape & I am so excited about it. I get to incorporate three of my favorite things- communication, football, and intercultural relations to research for the next year and a half! I am starting to fall in love with Hawaii, not only the pretty scenery but the people, culture & experience. I honestly can say that this was the right place for me & I'm glad I listened to my heart on this one. I would have missed out of a lot that God has in store for me if I went anywhere else. The quote from "It's My Life" says it perfectly-- "I just want to live while I'm alive." That's exactly whats happening here in Hawaii for me.

In other news, I got a bike for $10 the other weekend. I may have already blogged about it, but I am still stoked about getting it! I've ridden it to class & the beach. It's a used bike but it works perfectly. Last weekend I went to the UH football game and we won. There is another game this weekend. It's technically the weekend for me now! Ha, I just realized that. I have a lot of school work to do, but besides that I am very excited for a few possibilities that may happen this weekend. It's been rainy the past two days so I hope it clears up before tomorrow morning. Me, the beach & a text book have a date tomorrow afternoon. Sunday I am joining a Bible study at the BCM. I cannot tell you how stoked I am to start it. I've been having some trouble finding a church here in Honolulu. I hope that I will meet some awesome girls that can help me.

OH! & my current hobby is learning pidgin. It's a mix of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Hawaiian, English & Portuguese. It formed on plantations in Hawaii when workers didn't understand each others language. It's spoken by most of the locals here. It's funny sometime when I'm on the phone with friends back on the mainland I say something in Pidgin forgetting they don't know what it means & have to backtrack. It will be interesting to try not to speak it when I go back to the mainland.

K-den brah, I goin’ see ya latahz den. Aloha.


Ahh, Almost forgot. It's one of my closest girlfriends birthday today! Happy Deuce Deuce Joey Hilimire! I love you to pieces! Thank you for everything you've done for me for the past four years. I am so lucky to have you in my life...even though you make me cry with all of your sweet presents. You are the only one that understands my obsession with Shark Week. I can't wait to see you in December!!! Check your mailbox soon for your birthday card! :)

It's been a MONTH!

Woah! Time has flown by. I looked at my calendar today in class and realized I have been in Hawai'i for a month! I've started getting into the swing of things. Classes are well underway and I'm trying to balance going to the beach with all of my homework. Luckily, most of my homework involves reading and you can read just about anywhere...including on the beach! :) I've started some light research/literary reviews for my thesis. I'll update on that when things become more concrete.

I miss all my friends back in Atlanta (& the rest of the continental 48) but I am slowly but surely making friends here. It's odd going from Georgia State where I knew over half of the school and was super involved to Hawai'i where I know about 30 people and have yet to join an organization or get a job. I guess all that glitters is not gold. I have been making friends though. There are 3 girls on my hall who I have gotten to know. We eat together almost every day and always go to the beach together on the weekends. I lucked out having an awesome RA (Resident Assistant for all you old people who read this.) Our hall is fairly quiet, but fun at the same time. One of the girls and I have found ourselves hanging out with a group of Samoans recently. They are super musically inclined and love to sing. It's cool hearing them sing in Samoan (or English) & they are going to teach us how to speak it. I have NO idea how to spell anything they are saying but I know how to say one or two things. Hopefully I will be able sing in Samoan soon! :)

The weather here is wonderful. It is in the 80s with an ocean breeze ALL THE TIME! It sprinkles a little bit every day but only for a few minutes. It has only rained hard once since I've been here, which is nice. There are 2 seasons here- the dry season (summerish) and the rainy season (winterish.) It's actually not as humid as Atlanta which is a nice break. I'm diggin' the consistency. Theres no use for weather.com, which many of you know I would never leave my house without checking.

One final thing, I want to send everyone postcards and fun Hawaiian things! So email me your address & I'll send you things! Or if you want to send me things (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!) shoot me an email & I'll give you my address.
heatherblount@gmail.com

Aloha!!

Aloha, E komo mai!

Hey everyone!
A lot has happened since my last post. I moved into my new dorm, my dad left to go back to the mainland, and I started classes. My dorm was not quite what I expected. There is no air conditioning but in the past week and a half I have gotten used to it. The windows open and there is a constant breeze...not to mention my roommate and I have three fans to circulate air in the room. The room itself is not bad. I have a HUGE desk, a book shelf, and a closet. My view is of a rainforest and I have a nice shade tree in front so the morning sun doesn't make the room too hot. The food on campus hasn't been too bad, but then again it is still the first week. GOOD NEWS! I'm not allergic to the pineapples here! The fruit here is so tasty and juicy. I try to eat a few pieces at every meal.

It took me a few days to make new friends but I have bonded with some girls on my hall. We all live in a row and tend to see each other everyday and eat together. We have gone adventuring to a few beaches and tonight made a bucket list of sorts of things we want to do in the next two years. This weekend we are for sure going snorkeling and maybe hiking Diamond Head together. My roommate is wonderful. We have a lot in common and I am so thankful for God blessing me with yet another great roommate. I think we will get along fine.

I have only been to one class so far. I have three one-day-a-week classes. I met the 7 other people in my program at orientation but didn't have much time for introductions or anything. The 8 of us have a class together later this week so I will meet them again then. I am beginning to think about my thesis and trying to map out my research. The program is only two years and I do not want to wait until the last minute to begin. Hopefully by the end of this semester I will have my thesis chair and committee put together so I can begin next semester.

The hardest part so far is pronouncing the street names. Hawaiian is closer to spanish than english, but not too similar. I am quickly catching on to both street names and "island speak." Today I was informed that it is not "flip-flops" but "slippers." I never realized how much you see the word "Thank you" until you see "Mahalo" instead (on trash cans in fast food joints etc.) When I come home in December not only will I be tan, I will have corrected my mainland vocabulary :)

All in all, it was a slow start and I am continuing to adjust. I miss my family and friends back home but I know that I am going to learn so much out here. I'm excited to continue to share my experiences with everyone!

-H

AH-WAH-HOO!

We have arrived!!! The plane ride was 9 1/2 hours. It wasn't too bad, I watched a Book of Eli and When in Rome. I attempted to dominate at trivia like I normally do but the questions were terrible. Nobody was getting any of them right. The person that sat next to me was nice and is moving to Honolulu as well so we talked a fair amount.
There is SO much traffic in Honolulu, it took us almost 45 minutes to drive 11 miles down the interstate. We checked into our hotel and walked a few miles down the beach. We ate dinner at a restaurant called Dukes. Tomorrow I think we are heading to the North Shore to check out that side of the island!
I'm going to try to stay up until like 10 or 11 Hawaii time so I can adjust, but I don't know if I can last that long.
Aloha Friends!

Closing a HUGE chapter in my life...

Today is my last day at Georgia State University. It took me a while to get used to Atlanta and school, but once I found my niche I was head over heels for this place. In October of 2007, two months after I started my freshman year, I started working in the Office of Student Life and Leadership. I met some of my best friends through this job. The staff members in the office took me under their wings and guided me through college. I can never tell them thank you enough. Every single student assistant I have worked with over the past few years in any capacity holds a special place in my heart. I love each and every one of you very much. I have teared up several times today because ya'll aren’t just my coworkers, ya'll are my family. We been through our share of ups and downs, uniforms, and time sheet changes but as always the food, laugher and friendship has been flowing. These past three years have changed my life in so many ways. I am wiser, stronger, and more loving because of Georgia State.

To all my college friends, whether at State, Tech, UGA, etc. THANK YOU for the past three years. I can truly say I have been blessed with some of the sweetest, most encouraging friends. They say there are friends for a reason and friends for a season. It doesn’t matter if you are a reason or a season; my friends mean the world to me.

Thank you for the memories Georgia State. It was fun while it lasted.

Aloha.