Quote:
Originally Posted by mattiets
For my first two years I will be attending community college, then I plan to transfer into BYUH. I am Mormon. Preferably, I'd like to live near Laie or somewhere on the North Shore
|
Forget La'ie until you're at BYUH.
Seriously. FORGET LA'IE UNTIL YOU'RE AT BYUH.
Unless you are a BYUH student, missionary or either called or employed by the Church, there is no housing and no job for you. The students have saturated the area, enough so that some of the jobs at PCC are little more than make-work to support the freshman scholarship students.
This, of course, makes the town the PERFECT location for BYUH students, especially those from other countries, providing a high level of safety and nicer neighbors than in most places around the world. But it dries up opportunities for other people in your age group. That goes double for the kind of job you're after -- some Filipina or Polynesian coed is already doing it, and when she leaves another will take her place, because the employers know that she needs it more, will be a better worker, is more motivated to keep the job, can talk to more of the customers in their own language, knows more of the customers, and will be following the Honor Code.
I would also not go to Hawai'i at all until you're accepted to BYUH. Stay on the mainland and save up money, or send in your papers for a mission. You will enjoy BYUH more. There is also no advantage to having an O'ahu address when you apply, if your home is on the mainland.
Going to your questions, and assuming that you are 1), still going to O'ahu, and 2), living on the city side of the island:
It is not hard to get service jobs, but locals will get priority in hiring simply because they're locals and already part of the community. They won't have to learn how to not sound like tourists, they can give directions, etc. Check craigslist, and email jobs that you think might be a match. Tell them that you're planning to move to the island, so you're looking for general information on their business, pay rates, etc.
People are like anywhere else. Most are friendly, some should be thrown into the volcano.
The Church is the fifth-largest non-government/non-family landowner in the islands. There is no shortage of Saints. You can check the Church website for ward locations and match that up to a map to see where you will find more.
Plan on NOT buying a car until you've been on O'ahu long enough to know that you need one. The Bus (aka "Fasi's Limo") is a lot cheaper and a lot more convenient for most people, especially if you're on a budget. When you look for work and for housing, pay attention to the bus stops and routes.
La'ie is about as far as you can get from Honolulu and still be on the island. Traffic sucks. If you're going to school and/or working in the city side, you need to live in the city side. If you live Windward, you will find it much more difficult to get a service job city side, simply because the employers know that you will often be late and will pretty soon decide that a $9 job isn't worth a 90-minute commute.
La'ie poses a special problem when trying to find a job, in that potential employers will figure that you're only looking for a temp job until the end of the class session, when you will either go home or something will open up there for you.
All of the above said, I'm glad that you want to attend the REAL BYU (as opposed to that school in Utah that has a similar name, but is commonly known as the University of California at Provo). If BYHU has the degree program for you, you will find that you get a better education in many ways than anywhere else in the world, and not just academically. La'ie is a unique environment -- a small town in Paradise, complete with Temple, residents from around the world and a living laboratory of Polynesia, close to a major city yet protected from it, where you will be in the minority (mainlander), where your Bishop will be wearing a lava-lava and sandals, and where you will be more likely to get your B.S. than your Mrs. You will learn pieces of half a dozen languages, and your best friend may never have seen a Big Mac until a week before you met her, but can teach you how to tell next week's weather from last night's sunset. Walking through the housing on your way to the Temple, you will hear Girls' Generation from one window and a General Conference replay from the next one, then walking back through they will have swapped CDs. You will learn to tell the difference between good poi and bad poi. You will MAKE good poi and bad poi.
You will learn that Heavenly Father lives Windward -- and for proof, He put the Ko'olau between there and the city!
And in your SECOND week there . . .
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have a few questions about living in Oahu and if you could give me any advice that would be super nice!
