Possibly the craziest thing I've ever done...
I'm going to Hawaii.
No, really, I'm going to Hawaii, over Christmas break, with some of my Tango friends.
To be fair, we've been talking about going since basically the beginning of the summer... and I originally thought it would be impossible for me to pay for a trip to Hawaii. But, I started saving money. I cut back on eating out (like, I've been maybe 4 times all semester-- when it was absolutely necessary). Newman has no dinner on Sunday night, but instead of buying food, I'd take extra food at brunch and save it for later. A few times when friends went out to eat, instead of buying a lunch, I brought mine with me.
I've had somewhat of an income this semester because my room and board was covered from my work at Newman in the summer, my tuition is covered by my TA position, and I get a stipend too. The only thing I've had to pay for is books/fees and gas money... and I don't drive much.
Beyond that, though, I had some "additional" funding sources... See, I hate dealing with money. I hate thinking about it, and I really hate talking about it, especially if someone owes me money... I hate being the bad guy. However, there were a couple of jobs that I had in the past that I had not yet gotten paid from... One was my own stupid fault, because I never turned in some hours... and then I felt like it was "too late." The other was from a job I had Summer 2007, that the restaurant went out of business... Knowing that I needed money if I REALLY wanted to go on this trip, I decided to FINALLY take action about these situations and get the money that I had worked for. As of now, it's one down and one in the process. YAY!! I did it!
This calls for a celebration... perhaps in Hawaii :)
Justification to myself for allowing myself to go on this trip:
*I may be a poor college student, but I'm already so far up to my neck in loans, but what's another little bit going to hurt?
*It's a once-in-a-lifetime trip
*I'm going with a group of friends, to whom I'm very grateful for-- because they helped me find and cultivate my passion for dance
*I'll be helping a growing Tango community
*I'll be at home ALL of next semester and working VERY hard student teaching-- I want to get as much dancing in while I can
*I hate to say it, but living at home is hard. I don't want to get sick of my family, so taking a vacation mid/late break will help me refresh my mind before I spend the next semester-- and next few years-- living at home.
*An early graduation present to myself.
*Hawaii has cool biology (11/13 biomes), geology (lava, amazing valleys, beaches...), and astronomy (one of the biggest optical telescopes!)
*I can say I've been to Hawaii
And, I can honestly say that I have talked about it with both my counselor and my spiritual director on numerous occasions... and they both advised me that if I could to pay for the trip, it might be a good experience.
And so, I'm going to Hawaii.
My students next semster are probably going to wonder how I got so tan... I guess I can just tell them an influx of certain wavelengths of electromagnetic waves from our solar system's star triggered the production melanin in my epedermis, causing the pigmentation in my skin to darken. :-P