When we're not in class......

I know I just told you how academically demanding it is here but I left out the fact that we have gone to some of the worlds most beautiful places. One of my favorites was a natural swimming hole right off the coast and connected to a cave. It was nice to be in fresh water again (lake girl at heart). It was undoubtedly one of the most amazing places I've ever been to. It's located at the Theological college. We had an amazing lecture about Samoan religion and the influence of Colonialism. Christianity is essentially the only religion here. Europeans also brought Samoan written language. There's still a strong foundation in oral story telling though. The only book you could read for a long time was the bible. This played a large part in education as well because the schools were missionary schools so if you wanted an education it meant that you have to be a christian. It's really an interesting balance here. But after that lecture (that we had in a fale on the beach) we go to swim!

i was trying to be a mermaid........ it was worth a shot

everything's just so ugly here.

the colors are unreal. When you swim into the cave your bodie glows a bright blue.

school can just be so hard. This is meg and quinn!

The swimming hole was on the ocean so we got to swim in both.

trying to rock the lavalava dress

We've been a few other cool places too. On an off afternoon a bunch of us went to sliding rocks. Its exactly what it sounds like,a river with small waterfalls you can ride like waterslides. It's so removed from other things and is like a small sanctuary. it's awesome. I was too chicken to slide but I had a great time!

not too shabby eh?

the internet is starting to slow down so i'm going to stop while i'm ahead but i hope you guys like samoa so far! i sure do. :)