So, What Now?

Well, you know all about life onboard Mama Seamans, but perhaps you're wondering what we're doing now! It's not terribly exciting, but I am still in Hawai'i, and will be until next week. We turned in all our papers this afternoon after two days of sitting in a classroom from 9-4 working on them. Feels good! (It also feels good to be a gangster, or so I hear.)
This week has been fairly chill, no giant waves breaking over our heads or mahimahi tugging on our fishing lines, but it's been eventful just the same. The first day we were on land I got ice cream and ice cubes, the two things I was craving most on board. I didn't think I even liked ice cream all the much, but there it is. Last night I took the bus with some people to Waikiki, on the advice of several people who've been here before. We were walking behind this guy who said, "There's so many people here, it's hard to be here" and we said, "Oh, you don't even know". We walked down the strip, which is full of store after store after store, down to the beach and to a Mexican restaurant called La Cucaracha where I envisioned us having to get on our backs on the floor and wave our arms and legs about in the air, but luckily that wasn't the case. Instead, we ordered daiquiris and enjoyed the cool breeze coming off the ocean.
Interestingly enough, it's rather difficult readjusting to land. Not to the earth, but the things that go along with land. I left everything behind for 2 months and then in one day I was ambushed with it all again and it was overwhelming, having to jump back into job searching, schedules, keeping up with everyone, finishing papers, and figuring out next year. I'm not complaining exactly, but I didn't expect that. There are things I'm realizing I want to change about my life that being at sea has given me the opportunity to realize. Now, I need to figure out what to do with these realizations, and what the best approach is.
This coming week holds camping and time on the beach in Maui with a bunch of my shipmates until Thursday when I fly home. I'm excited to show anyone who is interested all of my pictures, though I'm still trying to come up with something to say when people ask me, "how was it?" Drew and Whitney asked me that when I skyped them and I had no idea what to say. So don't expect an elegant, comprehensive response. There's no way to compress the past 3 months into a nice elevator speech. I'll try my best to regal you with stories that aren't too exaggerated.
Ah, and if you're looking for pictures, there won't be anymore :( I no longer have a camera as mine is broken, but you got to see the important part of the trip!