Merrie Monarch!

This is only slightly (2 weeks) late, but the Merrie Monarch festival was this month in Hilo! It's a huge hula competition, and although many of my fellow students were blissfully ignorant of the whole thing, the Hawaiian college was quite involved.

There they are!

That was the Merrie Monarch parade, which was the only day I actually got to attend. I was supposed to be IN it, but didn't think I was eligible until too late. Oh well. I had a lot of fun watching!

Two of the riders from Oʻahu

I loved the paʻu riders and was watching for all the islands... except Lānaʻi. Which was disappointing, since my roommate's from Lānaʻi. There were a lot of floats and music, and it reminded me of Picnic Day in Davis, which I missed last weekend and didn't feel quite as put out about.

We also headed to one of the craft fairs afterwards - not the biggest one, unfortunately, as it required more walking than we were quite willing to put up with. I did locate one of my classmate's stands with amazing earrings, and won a ten-minute massage with absolutely no effort on my part. It's interesting to see all the tourists and locals mixing together, especially for the parade. The streets were packed!

And of course... the hula! I watched the live broadcasts on TV, which was terribly distracting from homework and worth it. They had Miss Aloha Hula, which I missed, hula kahiko (ancient) and hula 'auana (modern). My class teaches only 'auana, but kahiko is much more powerful and apparently more popular, at least among people I've talked to. I found it easier to follow the chanting than the songs, too. Lots of Pele.

Linguistics is amazing and one of my favorite things in the world, but it doesn't let you get out and about as much as, say, Geology. Although I'm not really longing to stroll across lava every day, it is really nice to do something fun! I even got extra-credit in Hawaiian. :) I'm not sure why more people here don't take Hawaiian classes. Maybe it's just me.


One of the swing dancers, a very enthusiastic exchange students, when I asked him why he was so happy, said "I just gave up a party with alcohol and silly people to go dancing and I'm SO HAPPY!" I feel like that a lot. People can be quite silly in college, even if I love them and their silliness. It's nice to have fun without extra pressure about what kind of 'fun' to have.


Yesterday we had an outdoor event that featured a bounce house, water guns and a giant inflatable water slide. I haven't seen a happier bunch of college students in a very long time.


Back to research! I have of course not been procrastinating one bit... this week is the last week of classes and then FINALS!!! I don't know where that came from at all!