When caught by a wave, one feels like a doll, tumbling uncontrollably through the salt water with no indication of up and down besides the occasional scrape on the rocky sand. Yet upon finding footing and breaking through the surface for that great swallow of air, one is met by a sense of triumph and a surge of energy through the veins.
   There is nothing quite like night swimming in Hawaii, where the water is lukewarm and the breeze perfumed with salt.  On Saturday I drove to Pounders with four new guy friends, and we had an absolute blast {asides from when we got distracted talking about Pirates of the Caribbean and then turned around and realized one of our friends was gone and started screaming his name because we thought he had been bashed into the rocks and drowned.  Luckily not.} Last weekend also including meeting hilarious drunk couples at Turtle Bay, helping rebuild the traditional ocean fishpond for a fieldtrip, turnin' it up at a dance party, driving around the city where hundreds of people honked horns/waved flags/shouted victory for the victorious high school football team, and getting soaked to the bone in the pouring rain as we started splashing each other in puddles.  
   I feel like I'm changing.  I don't know if making new friends is making me more outgoing or the other way around, but I'm enjoying this college life so much-- even if I feel a little bit like I'm in a bubble.  Literally every aspect of my life aside from family can be reached by walking: my girlfriends are downstairs, my guyfriends are next door, my education and food are reached from the opposite side of the sidewalk, the temple is a little walk that way, and the beach just across the street from that.