Bula!

Fiji is awesome. We arrived Saturday morning, went to breakfast where they had so much fruit to eat (on top of also having cereal, toast, etc). I took a shower after breakfast and made my way to the lounge where there is internet. Way too many people were using it though and it wouldn't work for me. Sad. Around 10:30 we had a "orientation briefing" where we found out that every island we are going to this weekend is giving us free everything. Free food, free transportation, free alcohol, free free free. Soon after the meeting let out a huge group of us went to "town". We took a city bus which cost 1 Fiji Dollar (about 55 american cents) and that ended up being an experience in itself. Number one, usually the bus doesn't spot for you unless there are more then one getting on. They literally just slow down and expect you to JUMP in. The door remains open the entire time and he floors it once your on, leaving you unbalanced. Back to explaining "town"... I wish there was an american equivalence. But words can not describe this place (don't worry I took tons of pictures). They had a HUGE fresh food market and while we were walking through everyone was so nice to us! Pretty much everyone says "Bula" when they see you which means "greetings" or "best wishes". It a fun thing to see all the citizens just embrace people of another culture.

Anyways, after we made it through the market we went to these little stands where people had jewelry (some handmade, some not). Kind of like 1 Monday, or a "trade-days" type thing. We decided to meet back in 15 minutes but I was talking to a women who owned a store and the next time I turned around everyone was gone. I started freaking out a little bit since I was in another country all by myself and completely clueless as to where the busses were but after a few minutes I saw my roommate and I ran to her side. We were kind of about being left by the group but we found tons of stuff to do and forgot about it soon after. We asked this guy to show us where the busses were and he took us to his hut/store (which was close to the busses) and he said he wanted to do a Fijian Ceremony for us. So we took off our shoes, entered his hut and he said some words in his native tongue. Then we had to clap a few times, and he said some words of encouragement and wished us a good journey. He started mixing together water and this herb that all natural called Kava (you should look it up here, Kava). We politely declined since we can't drink the water here and even though he was a little upset he understood. After that adventure we found our way back on a bus, came back to the hotel and hung out until dinner. We also found out a bunch of other people were stopped and asked to try Kava, regardless it was still a cool experience.

After dinner we decided to go out to celebrate my roommates 21st birthday! We went to this club called "Lou Lous" and I had a cosmo! My first legal alcoholic beverage! We met these New Zealand people who were around our age and they were awesome! Told us what to look out for and where to visit. The bar we were at was on an island where all the resorts were so it was very americanized and when they closed the bartenders/workers told us they wanted to take us to a "real club". It was a hot mess. They made it seem that they were going to be driving us there but we had to get a cab. Then they made it seem like they were going to pay for the cab but when we got to the club we had to pay the $25 ourselves! While waiting to get in they asked if one of us would pay for them to get in which was $5 so (since they made it seem like they were going to buy us drinks) we spotted them the money. We get inside and Rocco (one of the other students who was pretty drunk from the first bar) opened a tab and before we knew it they were putting things on his tab and then giving us the drinks making it seem like they were buying us the drinks. We got a little tired of it...plus it smelled horrible (like armpits) so we decided to get a cab back to the hotel around 2 am. Rocco tried to close his tab and pay for it when he found out that it was going to be around $400! He asked the bartender how much that was in American dollars and they said $400! He then asked how much that was in Fiji dollars and we found out it was around $900! He card was declined (since it was so much in a foreign country) so they let him pay $100 cash. Regardless it was a mess. We couldn't believe how used we got by the locals!

Sasha (my roommate) and I finally went to bed around 3 am to get to sleep for the next day.

We woke up and had breakfast in the hotel, which was disgusting, but then we got on a bus to head to our own ISLAND. It was out-of-control-incredible. The island was very small and we could do whatever we wanted! We went on a glass bottom boat and saw some underwater life that cameras couldn't capture. The alcohol on the island was free so I had a small glass of wine with my lunch. We played a little volleyball but then Rocco and I decided to go Kayaking! I had a lot of wine left in my glass but we had to go right then so naturally I chugged it. (oops!) We get out life jackets on and headed out into the ocean! After a few minutes I wanted to make sure Rocco knew what we were doing so I asked him what we were suppose to do next. To my surprise he had never kayaked before. So now I'm a little buzzed, never been on a kayak with another pretty buzzed person who'd never been on a kayak. We say this guy who looked like Gin from LOST on a kayak pretty far away who was very good at kayaking so we thought we'd try to catch up with him. We changed our minds and tried to make it to this boat where some of our friends were diving off but when we looked back at the island we realized we were really far away. Too far. Both of us started freaking out so much. We tried to turn around but since neither one of us had ever been in a kayak it was a mess of a situation. We finally get a stride going back to the island and to my horror I hear Rocco shout "WE'RE SINKING". I look behind me and half of the kayak is under water. We try cupping the water with our hands and splashing it our with our hands but nothing seemed to be working. We finally saw shore and rowed as fast as we could. We ended up rowing right into rocks and got really stuck.We were walking distance from the island but there was coral all over the rocks and we couldn't just walk on the coral. We started screaming for help but everyone was just laughing at us. It was very traumatic. Oh and we saw a baby shark. Finally someone came out and saved us. Apparently throughout the day the kayak-insides had filled with water which caused to to sink. It started raining (like it does everyday) and we played with my waterproof camera.

We went back to the mainland and got ready then took a taxi to Hard Rock cafe to get REAL food and had another birthday celebration for my roommate. All in all, good day.