So last night, me and some girls went to a hands percussion team performance in the CAC. It was amazing! It was like a percussionist team from Malaysia and they like had these huge chinese drums and they were like dancing and playing them and jumping over them and like shouting but it was so cool and sounded so good! It was also a bonus for me to go to this, cause wheneve I go to concerts or performances, I can get extra credit for my theory class! And a ticket for a student was only 2.50$!! I was really sad I didnt bring my camera, I didnt even think about it! And I'm all settled into my schedule, and except for having tons and tons of homework, all my classes are going really well!!! And if anyone wants to send me mail, feel free!! I have a little box in the mailroom and I would love getting letters!! oh and girls on our section recently introduced me and jenny to oreos and peanut butter!! And we have been hooked ever since! Also peanut butter on ritz bitz is good, and peanut butter spread on chocolate chip cookies, mmmm!!! But I'm off to the beach now because I don't have a class til 3:40!

Before church on sunday, right outside our dorm!

pearl harbor!!!

fresh mango at the swap meet!!

at the buddhist temple!

the circle island tour!

also i forgot, on saturday me and jenny went on the circle island tour! it was just a bunch of buses, and it was 10$ a ticket, mostly for freshmen!! Our stops were a buddhist temple, the swap meet (a bunch of stands outside selling cheap souveniers and jewellery, really good for presents for people and it was super fun to look at everything!!), pearl harbor (which was really sad, but interesting, we got to go on a boat out to the Arizona memorial), walmart (cause lots of students still needed to buy a few things, like i got a waterproof mascara, watershoes, glodfishand binders) and then this shaved ice place (which is supposed to have the best shaved ice on oahu, but i think the stuff by where we live is way better!!)!!

no time for fun!

so these past few days have just been sooooo stressful!!! I am now trying to change my major to just general!! ahh!! and i had to drop hula because i dont have time for it, you had to attend the PCC 10-15 times, do assignments, powerpoints, writings, tests, group projects and it was only 1 credit and i still think it would be way fun to take,but i just might do it next semester cause i dont have time this one! and my english class is super hard too!! we have homework everynight! but i love my religion class!! its like a missionary who teaches it (his wife works in the honor code department) and he is just the sweetest old man, his name is Elder Olson, and religion is awesome i feel like i am already getting to know my scriptures so well, cause every time after class (which is 2 times a week) we have like study questions we have to do, and then we have a little 5 question quiz on them at the beginning of each class!! And then choir is fun, its just super chill with no stress or homework which is nice, but what kinda sucks is it goes til 4:40 every day which is super late but oh well!! and then i have theory 102 which is just kinda an intro to theory which is nice, its a good refresher course, and i think i will learn lots in it! and then i am going to yah change my major, and hopefully i can get into a child development class or something, so if i  ever take over my moms music for young children business, i will have some knowledge about that!! but i have an appointment with my academic advisor or 7:45am tomorrow morning, so im really, really, really hoping that it will all work out!! And i love how close the temple is!! and it looks so beautiful at night when its all lit up!and if there is enough room, we might be able to volunteer at the temple open house which i think would be so neat, and even if we dont get to do that, we can still go through the open house as often as we want and also our ward has a temple cleaning night (cause it wont be dedicated yet) and hopefully we will be able to go to the dedication as well!! i am super excited! And Amy is coming to visit me october 22 which i am super excited about, cause its been kinda hard being away from family!! but yah i have been so busy lately, i have only been to the beach once, and i have classes from early til lat everyday and its just been really rather stressful!! like right now, i have to go do homework!! i will write more later!!

shaved ice!!

so i experienced my first shved ice here in hawaii!!! and maybe part of the reason it tasted so good was because i had just waited for 2 hours to try to get a phone!!! but so the small they had was HUGE!!! i was going to take a picture, but i forgot my camera, and i could wait to get it cause it tasted so delicious!!! so theres tons of flavours to choose from and you can get any 3!! i got mango, coconut & cottoncandy, which all seem like they dont go together but it was like the best thing ever!!! and for 75 extra cents they add condensed milk(which sounds gross but was SO good!) and whipped cream!! I'm sure i will be going back there much much much more!!! also i got a mailbox, so if anyone wants to write me or send me anything (please do, i LOVE getting mail!!!!!) my adress is
Mary Burtenshaw
BYUH#1154
55-220 Kulanui St.
Laie, Hawaii 96762
and its the same price to send things to hawaii as it is to any other state, is just takes a little longer!!
and i also got a cell phone!! the number is 808-636-8563 , and i have free texting to canada and the u.s. and unlimited calling to anyone in the in states, and then i will just be using my calling card to call canada!!!!

First day driving around Hawaii!!

I can't believe I live in Hawaii!!!!

So a little update on my grand adventure!!!  We got into the airport about 8:00pm Hawaii time & 12:00am Edmonton time and as soon as we walked off the plane we were just hit with a wave of humidity!!!! It took a while to get our 8 suitcases onto the airport hotel shuttle, but we finally did it, and stayed at the airport hotel that night. The next morning we woke up about 6am, got the rental car, ate at the hotel diner (I got a belgian waffle smothered in whipped butter and coconut syrup! it was delicious!!) and then drove to Laie!! The drive there was breathtaking!! It was slightly misty over the mountains and it was so green and lush and palm trees everywhere(some with tons of coconuts) & the ocean was clear and blue, and there were tropical flowers and trees dangling over the highway, it was gorgeous!!!! Then we finally got to BYUH campus!! I had to run to the health centre as soon as we got there and get pricked for TB testing, then we came & looked at our dorm room which consists of 2 beds, 2 closets, 2 desks, 2 chairs and one dresser!!! Then we got our mailboxes & adresses ( haha if anyone wants to mail me anything, its the same as sending it from state to state!!!) Then we moved in all of our stuff and unpacked!!! (we have TONS of stuff to buy at walmart tomorrow!!!!) Then we went to the cafeteria and got out first meal of the meal plan!! It was huli-huli chicken with rice, veggies, a noodle stirfry, and white macedamia nut cookies & a sponge cake with caramel sauce for dessert! Then we went bowling at the games centre with some new found friends and then walked down to the temple and popped over to temple beach! It was dark so I couldnt really tell if it was a nice beach or not, but the sand was soft and the stars looked absolutely amazing!! But i still cant believe I am going to be living here or the next 8 months!! and sorry theres no pictures yet i will put some up soon!!!!! haha not that like anyone is going to be reading this anyways!!!! but if you do, pictures are soon to come!!!