FIJI

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!
Guess What... im coming home this year;-)

All is well. Loving the 30 degree weather--CELSIUS:-) I got back from Fiji a few days ago and Wow, was it amazing. For those that dont know the entire story about mike and I, here we go...

basically a friend accidentally put me into a blackberry message chat room with him last june. My friend jordan was like "sorry shelbs, i didnt mean to add you". Mike (the boy) was in europe and they were catching up. WELL i was leaving in 4 days to travel in Europe...ALONE. So jordan told me to message mike but like any other girl, i said "ehh he can message me". HE DID.... We tried to meet up in europe and talked all of the time. when i was on the trains alone, we would chat (thought nothing of it....i was moving across the world) we talked for two months straight and figured we owed it to one another to meet. His two bff are guys i went to school with so I knew he was legit. I went to New York the week after I returned from Europe to see some school friends and go to the hamptons so we planned to meet up then. The next night he asked me to dinner and I guess the rest is history.

We had planned to go to fiji during his trip to Australia in May but spontaneously planned this excursion.
I arrived Christmas evening and still couldnt believe we were there. The mainland was ok but it was the Islands and being with eachother that was unreal.
The first day we went to port and took a big ferry into the middle of the water where small boats from the surrounding islands would come and pick us up. NO CARS! (talk about paradise)
BEACH COMBER- a true "backpacker" paradise. They had drinking games for the whole island and really "Americanized" themselves... or more like Europeanized... I dont know.. I think you know what I mean. We went snorkeling and saw some amazing coral and fishies. We tried Kava (a powder made from Roots that is made into a drink to make you feel at ease and relaxed). We met a bunch of people and had a great time.
CORAL VIEW- our next Island was more family run. We were greeted on the beach and listened to the songs of the Fijian natives. We hung out on hammocks and relaxed. The next day was sunday so we decided to go on the Church Excursion. We went over to another island and got a tour of the village. Then we sat for the church service which may have been a bit more interesting had it been in english. We were getting bored and antsy when suddenly, the kids came back from sunday school and started singing and dancing for us. A definite highlight!
Enjoyed the afternoon in the water and the evening with some activites.
WANA TAKI- Our next destination was on a wana taki cruise. Basically a 24 person dorm and 3 doubles occupied the inside of this little vessel. The top deck was where the bar and food was. We got on and headed out for a snorkeling trip. I finally have an appreciation for snorkeling. The Carribean is NOTHING. That night they had a crab racing game and we all were hanging out on deck. The next morning we woke up and headed to Manta Ray Island for our private Scuba diving excursion:-) WOW!!! My second time and we saw two sharks...yes I freaked but the guide made me feel really safe and in my head, I was talking to all of the fishies (we saw about 3 nemos). That was a true highlight. That night, more drinking games and bonding occured on deck. We woke up the final day on the boat, did some kayaking and more snorkeling before the vessel picked us up.
KUATA- another fijian village, this was our destination for New Years. It was cool because there is ONE main vessel that takes people to the islands so you see alot of the same people through the week. By then, we knew people and were excited to ring in the new year. The island had a bonfire and we were all on the beach. A very memorable start to what is going to be an amazing year.
We woke up the next day, hung out on the hammocks and waited for our ride back to the main land
NADI- we went into town but not much excitement. Our last night we headed to the Sheraton which has just been redone. it was GORGEOUS. We met up with a couple that we became very friendly with after being on coral view and the wana taki with them. Had dinner and some drinks and made our way back to our place.
The last day we went to the port, walked around, had lunch, hung out in denial and headed to the airport. Hung out there for a while because we didnt want to see this come to an end. It was of course so sad and hard to say goodbye so instead we said "see you soon".....

Since ive been back the weather has been AMAZING! I have the beginning of the week off except for a 10am class so I am enjoying the sunshine. Last night I went bowling with my friend joel that I met through erica roth and his friends and tonight im going with Michelle Streimer to someones birthday get together (whom I actually know) so that should be fun.

I just got back from meeting our new flatmate. An Italian girl from Milan (jess I told her about you straight away:-) She is a personal shopper, an Ivy member and I think we will get along very well. It will be nice to live with someone experiencing a similar life experience.
Mommy and Steve-O come in 24 days:-) and I am living it up with this adventure.

PLEASE email me with updates in your lives. Jobs, Home, Family, Guys/Girls, Anything and Everything. I MISS U HEAPS

CHEERS