I have attached the video of me on the Canyon Swing Bungee in New Zealand. I got the DVD because it is quite hilarious. In situations like this, I am totally gullible and the instructors had me convinced that I was going to hit the water!
Enjoy!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Graduation Pictures
My family after graduation!
My diploma! I am now Dr. Leslie Hamilton. :)
My official diploma
Awards and programs from Convocation
Carol White and I at the Graduation Banquet
My gown
My roommate Betsy Close, MD, and Leslie Hamilton, PharmD
My full cap, gown, and hood!
Paula and I after graduation...new PharmD's!Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Pictures from Hawaii
Horizons show (sorry the picture is a little blurry...we weren't able to use flash)
Me with the surfing instructors!
Samoan man climbing the coconut tree at the Polynesian Cultural Center
Luau at Polynesian Cultural Center
Luau at at Polynesian Cultural Center
Our dinner...isn't this the most colorful plate you have ever seen?
Luau at Polynesian Cultural Center
Flamingos in Hawaii?
Oahu countryside
Oahu
Rainbows of Paradise
Rainbows of Paradise
Hawaii's license plates...pretty, huh?
Palm trees on Waikiki
Our feet in the sand :)
Waikiki Beach
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Back home!
Hi everyone! I want to say thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog while I was gone and for leaving such nice comments. This has been a great way to share what I am doing and has also served as a travel journal for our trip!
We had a wonderful time on Tuesday! We found a shady spot on the beach in the morning and spent a little time working on our tans. The bus picked us up at 12pm for the drive to the Polynesian Cultural Center. After lunch, we watched the Rainbows of Paradise Parade of Boats which had floating canoes and everyone in full costume, with boats from New Zealand (Aotearoa in Maori), Hawaii, Fiji, Marquesas, Tahiti, Samoa, and Tonga. We then went to the Samoan part of the center and watched this guy climb a coconut tree and display their traditional fire knife dancing.
After watching an IMAX movie, we went to the evening luau. We were at a table of 80 and 90-year-olds, including a 90-year-old couple celebrating their 70TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! We had a feast of food, including traditional Hawaiian food of poi (boiled root dish...yuck!), poke (raw marinated tuna...yum!), and pipi kaula (beef jerky...yum!). I am going to post a picture of my plate that I took because it was so colorful! I found out later that everything is purple due to the taro root floor used in the poi.
The highlight of the evening was the Horizons evening show, which was a show performed by people from each of the cultures represented within the center. It was beautiful!
The most interesting thing about the center was that about 95% of the employees/dancers are students/alumni of BYU Hawaii. All of the proceeds from the center go towards scholarship funds and education of the BYU students. They did not serve any caffeinated beverages unless requested because everyone is Mormon!
Wednesday morning we finished our packing and went to a surfing lesson. Surfing was much more work than I realized. After a brief lesson, we paddled out for about thirty minutes until the instructors dropped a buoy line for us to hold onto while we waited our turn. They took about two of us at a time and helped us catch waves. My first two times I failed miserably (went splat in the water!) but the second two times I actually stayed on my board and surfed until the wave went out. If you guys have never surfed (I had never before this time!), you lay on your board, which is tethered to your ankle, and as the wave first hits you, you get up on your knees, then in a squat, and then stand in a hunched position in the center of the board. I looked down my first two times, which is why I think I ended up wiping out very quickly! It was a lot of fun once I got the hang of it because you move very fast in the wave. Because you have to move up and down on your board, both Paula and I ended up with a pretty nasty "board burn" on the fronts of our legs that felt like a bad sunburn. Luckily, we had a protective top, so we didn't hurt our stomach. The instructors were so good (it was so fun to watch the real surfers!) and were able to tow us back and forth by paddling their board and placing one foot on our board! It was amazing!
After surfing and lunch (we were starving!), we made it to the airport and waited for our flight. Unfortunately, within the US, American Airlines does not provide meals, but we were able to buy something in the airport. Neither one of us slept very well on the plane because it wasn't very late Hawaii time. We connected through Dallas and arrived back in Nashville around 8:30am on Thursday.
I received none of my luggage and Paula got one of her suitcases and we quickly found out that none of the luggage made the connecting flight for the 7 passengers who had flown from Honolulu to Nashvillle. Once I arrived home, I had a shower and gave my family their gifts. I couldn't quite go to sleep until about 1am and then slept until about 11am Friday morning. My luggage arrived while I was still sleeping on Friday morning and I began the ardous job of about 6 loads of laundry. Unfortunately, we somehow both broke out with poison ivy and a bunch of mosquito bites while in Hawaii, so I washed most of my clothes twice so I wouldn't reinfect myself!
Now back in Oak Ridge, I have finally adjusted back to EST, only to go back to Memphis on Monday to CST. We graduate this Friday from pharmacy school! I think it will take us both awhile to recover from jet lag, after going from 14 hours ahead, to 6 hours behind, to EST, then to CST!
Tomorrow, I will post my final set of pictures from Hawaii!
We had a wonderful time on Tuesday! We found a shady spot on the beach in the morning and spent a little time working on our tans. The bus picked us up at 12pm for the drive to the Polynesian Cultural Center. After lunch, we watched the Rainbows of Paradise Parade of Boats which had floating canoes and everyone in full costume, with boats from New Zealand (Aotearoa in Maori), Hawaii, Fiji, Marquesas, Tahiti, Samoa, and Tonga. We then went to the Samoan part of the center and watched this guy climb a coconut tree and display their traditional fire knife dancing.
After watching an IMAX movie, we went to the evening luau. We were at a table of 80 and 90-year-olds, including a 90-year-old couple celebrating their 70TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! We had a feast of food, including traditional Hawaiian food of poi (boiled root dish...yuck!), poke (raw marinated tuna...yum!), and pipi kaula (beef jerky...yum!). I am going to post a picture of my plate that I took because it was so colorful! I found out later that everything is purple due to the taro root floor used in the poi.
The highlight of the evening was the Horizons evening show, which was a show performed by people from each of the cultures represented within the center. It was beautiful!
The most interesting thing about the center was that about 95% of the employees/dancers are students/alumni of BYU Hawaii. All of the proceeds from the center go towards scholarship funds and education of the BYU students. They did not serve any caffeinated beverages unless requested because everyone is Mormon!
Wednesday morning we finished our packing and went to a surfing lesson. Surfing was much more work than I realized. After a brief lesson, we paddled out for about thirty minutes until the instructors dropped a buoy line for us to hold onto while we waited our turn. They took about two of us at a time and helped us catch waves. My first two times I failed miserably (went splat in the water!) but the second two times I actually stayed on my board and surfed until the wave went out. If you guys have never surfed (I had never before this time!), you lay on your board, which is tethered to your ankle, and as the wave first hits you, you get up on your knees, then in a squat, and then stand in a hunched position in the center of the board. I looked down my first two times, which is why I think I ended up wiping out very quickly! It was a lot of fun once I got the hang of it because you move very fast in the wave. Because you have to move up and down on your board, both Paula and I ended up with a pretty nasty "board burn" on the fronts of our legs that felt like a bad sunburn. Luckily, we had a protective top, so we didn't hurt our stomach. The instructors were so good (it was so fun to watch the real surfers!) and were able to tow us back and forth by paddling their board and placing one foot on our board! It was amazing!
After surfing and lunch (we were starving!), we made it to the airport and waited for our flight. Unfortunately, within the US, American Airlines does not provide meals, but we were able to buy something in the airport. Neither one of us slept very well on the plane because it wasn't very late Hawaii time. We connected through Dallas and arrived back in Nashville around 8:30am on Thursday.
I received none of my luggage and Paula got one of her suitcases and we quickly found out that none of the luggage made the connecting flight for the 7 passengers who had flown from Honolulu to Nashvillle. Once I arrived home, I had a shower and gave my family their gifts. I couldn't quite go to sleep until about 1am and then slept until about 11am Friday morning. My luggage arrived while I was still sleeping on Friday morning and I began the ardous job of about 6 loads of laundry. Unfortunately, we somehow both broke out with poison ivy and a bunch of mosquito bites while in Hawaii, so I washed most of my clothes twice so I wouldn't reinfect myself!
Now back in Oak Ridge, I have finally adjusted back to EST, only to go back to Memphis on Monday to CST. We graduate this Friday from pharmacy school! I think it will take us both awhile to recover from jet lag, after going from 14 hours ahead, to 6 hours behind, to EST, then to CST!
Tomorrow, I will post my final set of pictures from Hawaii!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Hawaii Pictures
Oil leaking from the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor
The steps leading up to the top of the Diamondhead lookout
Beautiful picture taken by Paula at the USS Arizona Memorial
Paula and I in front of the Hawaiian Hilton
Waikiki Beach
Honolulu and Waikiki Beach
Us with a view of Honolulu in the background
Paula and I at Diamondhead Crater lookout
Lighthouse below Diamondhead Crater
Remains of the USS Arizona
Remains of the USS Arizona
USS Arizona Memorial
USS Arizona Memorial
View from Diamonhead Crater (can you see the reef below?)
Me in front of the Hawaiian Hilton
Actual warhead dropped by the Japanese on December 7, 1941
Pearl Harbor
USS Arizona Memorial and Pearl Harbor
Remains of the USS ArizonaHawaii
Paula and I have had a wonderful day today. We mastered the bus system and made our way from Waikiki to the USS Arizona and Pearl Harbor. It was absolutely amazing. Have any of you ever been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC? When you received your ticket to enter the area, there was a a person affected by Dec. 7, 1941, on the back of your ticket. Mine was a women who was a nurse and who took care of many of the casualties after the bombings.
Pearl Harbor is on the bottom of Oahu and right next to the city of Honolulu. We heard several planes flying overhead from the Honolulu Airport and I tried to imagine what it must have been like to be there on that day. The USS Arizona was completely sunk and 1177 men on board were lost. You can still see parts of the ship sticking up from under the water. I think one of the most amazing things is that about 1.5 pints of oil leak every day from the ship. There were something like 40 million gallons that were in the machine of the ship when it sunk and they continue to leak.
After visiting Pearl Harbor, we were able to take a bus over to Diamond Head Crater, which is a dormant volcano that used to be used as a battallion to protect the island. We climbed 200 something stairs to the top for gorgeous views of the city. While hiking, we also met a group of people from Nashville, TN, on a school trip. It was quite ironic!
This evening, we relaxed and did some shopping and had a nice dinner! Tomorrow, we are going to the beach in the morning and are leaving for the Polynesian Cultural Center for a full day around 12pm. There, we will learn about local cultural and go to a luau and a full buffet in the evening. Wednesday morning, we are going to have a surfing lesson and give it a try!
Luckily, Honolulu has the best service to the airport. They have an option where you can drop off your bags at two locations (luckily, across one is right across the street from us at the Hilton), and they can remotely check you in and and transfer your bags for you and deliver them to the airport! That way, we won't have to see our luggage again until Nashville!
I hope you all are doing well!
Pearl Harbor is on the bottom of Oahu and right next to the city of Honolulu. We heard several planes flying overhead from the Honolulu Airport and I tried to imagine what it must have been like to be there on that day. The USS Arizona was completely sunk and 1177 men on board were lost. You can still see parts of the ship sticking up from under the water. I think one of the most amazing things is that about 1.5 pints of oil leak every day from the ship. There were something like 40 million gallons that were in the machine of the ship when it sunk and they continue to leak.
After visiting Pearl Harbor, we were able to take a bus over to Diamond Head Crater, which is a dormant volcano that used to be used as a battallion to protect the island. We climbed 200 something stairs to the top for gorgeous views of the city. While hiking, we also met a group of people from Nashville, TN, on a school trip. It was quite ironic!
This evening, we relaxed and did some shopping and had a nice dinner! Tomorrow, we are going to the beach in the morning and are leaving for the Polynesian Cultural Center for a full day around 12pm. There, we will learn about local cultural and go to a luau and a full buffet in the evening. Wednesday morning, we are going to have a surfing lesson and give it a try!
Luckily, Honolulu has the best service to the airport. They have an option where you can drop off your bags at two locations (luckily, across one is right across the street from us at the Hilton), and they can remotely check you in and and transfer your bags for you and deliver them to the airport! That way, we won't have to see our luggage again until Nashville!
I hope you all are doing well!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Aloha!
A quick hello before Paula and I crash...we have had kind of a long day! We arrived this morning in Honolulu at about 9:30 after a pretty uneventful flight. After dinner on the plane last night, I crashed. I don't remember anyone taking my tray away and I missed the ice cream and Cadbury hot chocolate. Next thing I knew, it was morning and time for breakfast! :)
We weren't able to check in right away when we arrived, so we stowed all of our suitcases and headed to the beach and shopping. I wish I could twinkle my nose and all of our luggage would make its way back to Tennessee without us having to transport it! We have quite a bit of stuff because we had to pack for rotation, winter, and summer weather!
We went to the cinema and caught a movie and then headed back to the hotel to freshen up. Our hotel is really nice and is in the Waikiki Beach area, right across the street from the beach. After unpacking a bit, we made dinner reservations for Kobe Japanese Steakhouse and shopped in Waikiki and spent some time on the beach.
Tomorrow morning, we are going to the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor and to Diamondhead, which is a dormant volcano that you can climb into.
Hope everyone is well and aloha!
We weren't able to check in right away when we arrived, so we stowed all of our suitcases and headed to the beach and shopping. I wish I could twinkle my nose and all of our luggage would make its way back to Tennessee without us having to transport it! We have quite a bit of stuff because we had to pack for rotation, winter, and summer weather!
We went to the cinema and caught a movie and then headed back to the hotel to freshen up. Our hotel is really nice and is in the Waikiki Beach area, right across the street from the beach. After unpacking a bit, we made dinner reservations for Kobe Japanese Steakhouse and shopped in Waikiki and spent some time on the beach.
Tomorrow morning, we are going to the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor and to Diamondhead, which is a dormant volcano that you can climb into.
Hope everyone is well and aloha!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Tail end of journey
Hi everyone! We are back in Melbourne before we fly out this afternoon. Wish us luck as we try to pack everything before we leave.
We had a wonderful rest of the time in New Zealand. Friday morning, we drove from the Fox Glacier to the Franz Josef Glacier and up to Greymouth, where we caught the Tranz Alpine Train from Greymouth back to Christchurch. It was a picturesque ride through the Southern Alps, Arthur's Pass, and back to the Christchurch on the East Coast. Our tour group who we had gotten to know over the past 5 days was so nice and we all sat together on the train. There were Marie and Carmel from Sydney, Fred and Veronica from Hong Kong, and Harel and her parents from India. The train rolled through the mountains and it was nice to sit on a train for a change instead of riding in coach buses. Fred had us laughing with stories about things from Hong Kong. He knew all of the old folk songs, like "Ole Susannah" and "You are my sunshine" because of the American GI's who had been in Hong Kong years ago! :)
While on the train, we also met a nice couple, Barbara and Bob from California. They had not spent much time in Christchurch and asked for a recommendation on a restaurant. We told them about a yummy gourmet pizza place that we had happened upon and gave them the name and address in case they were interested.
Once we returned to Christchurch and had gotten settled in a bit, we also decided to go to the same restaurant. It has about the most delicious pizza you would ever taste. I think there were over 40 different types on the menu! When we were being seated, Barbara and Bob walked in and we were able to share dinner together. I got the Spanish style, with salami, capsicum (bell peppers), and herbs! As we were leaving the restaurant and parting ways, they paid for our dinner! We insisted that they not people, but they would not hear anything else. It was very nice of them!
We left VERY early (6am) from Christchurch and found out that our connecting flight from Sydney to Melbourne had been cancelled for some reason. Thank goodness our flight was 30 minutes early and Paula and I used our Southern charm to get the last two seats on an earlier flight so we could make it make to Melbourne earlier. We were in kind of a rush because the pharmacy in Clayton closed at 2pm and we had to make it down there to pick up our extra bag that we had been storing before the pharmacy closed.
When we arrived to Clayton, we had a lunch with the French girls and had many good-byes from the pharmacy staff. We also went over to the residence hall and said bye to one of our friends there.
As Paula and I had left so early, we did not shower Saturday morning, so once we made it back to our hotel near the airport, we got ready for dinner. We went out to a FABULOUS Indian restaurant last night with Aude and Christelle (the French girls), Sophie (one of their friends), and Brodie and Amy, who are a pharmacist and a pharmacy student from Monash. We ordered the banquet style and got tons and tons of Indian dishes to share. Paula and I were starving as we didn't eat until about 9:30pm, but it was delicious! Amy dropped us back by the train station and we headed back up to our hotel last night around 12pm.
Thank goodness our hotel has wireless access and free pick-up from the airport! All said, we went to the Melbourne airport three times yesterday! :)
We fly out this afternoon for Honolulu and arrive there the same day at 9:30am, due to the time change. We are really looking forward to our Qantas flight to catch up on movies and sleep!
I hope everyone is well and I will post again soon!
We had a wonderful rest of the time in New Zealand. Friday morning, we drove from the Fox Glacier to the Franz Josef Glacier and up to Greymouth, where we caught the Tranz Alpine Train from Greymouth back to Christchurch. It was a picturesque ride through the Southern Alps, Arthur's Pass, and back to the Christchurch on the East Coast. Our tour group who we had gotten to know over the past 5 days was so nice and we all sat together on the train. There were Marie and Carmel from Sydney, Fred and Veronica from Hong Kong, and Harel and her parents from India. The train rolled through the mountains and it was nice to sit on a train for a change instead of riding in coach buses. Fred had us laughing with stories about things from Hong Kong. He knew all of the old folk songs, like "Ole Susannah" and "You are my sunshine" because of the American GI's who had been in Hong Kong years ago! :)
While on the train, we also met a nice couple, Barbara and Bob from California. They had not spent much time in Christchurch and asked for a recommendation on a restaurant. We told them about a yummy gourmet pizza place that we had happened upon and gave them the name and address in case they were interested.
Once we returned to Christchurch and had gotten settled in a bit, we also decided to go to the same restaurant. It has about the most delicious pizza you would ever taste. I think there were over 40 different types on the menu! When we were being seated, Barbara and Bob walked in and we were able to share dinner together. I got the Spanish style, with salami, capsicum (bell peppers), and herbs! As we were leaving the restaurant and parting ways, they paid for our dinner! We insisted that they not people, but they would not hear anything else. It was very nice of them!
We left VERY early (6am) from Christchurch and found out that our connecting flight from Sydney to Melbourne had been cancelled for some reason. Thank goodness our flight was 30 minutes early and Paula and I used our Southern charm to get the last two seats on an earlier flight so we could make it make to Melbourne earlier. We were in kind of a rush because the pharmacy in Clayton closed at 2pm and we had to make it down there to pick up our extra bag that we had been storing before the pharmacy closed.
When we arrived to Clayton, we had a lunch with the French girls and had many good-byes from the pharmacy staff. We also went over to the residence hall and said bye to one of our friends there.
As Paula and I had left so early, we did not shower Saturday morning, so once we made it back to our hotel near the airport, we got ready for dinner. We went out to a FABULOUS Indian restaurant last night with Aude and Christelle (the French girls), Sophie (one of their friends), and Brodie and Amy, who are a pharmacist and a pharmacy student from Monash. We ordered the banquet style and got tons and tons of Indian dishes to share. Paula and I were starving as we didn't eat until about 9:30pm, but it was delicious! Amy dropped us back by the train station and we headed back up to our hotel last night around 12pm.
Thank goodness our hotel has wireless access and free pick-up from the airport! All said, we went to the Melbourne airport three times yesterday! :)
We fly out this afternoon for Honolulu and arrive there the same day at 9:30am, due to the time change. We are really looking forward to our Qantas flight to catch up on movies and sleep!
I hope everyone is well and I will post again soon!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Milford Sound, Glaciers, and Bungee
Where the glaciers flow into the sea...
Can you see the rainbow?
Before our bungee...my smile may look nice, but I am very nervous!
Strapped in, ready to go!
What we jumped into...
Fox Glacier
Fox Glacier
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