Notre Dame arrived jet-lagged and exhausted from its 4,000-mile flight but didn't take long to warm up to the islands.

"I love it. I'm still not sure I'm going to go back yet. I'm still debating," receiver Golden Tate said today after the Fighting Irish's first practice at Aloha Stadium for the Hawaii Bowl. "The weather is nice. The people are awesome and the ocean is beautiful."

After a grueling week of finals, the team endured a two-hour, weather-related delay getting out of South Bend, another hour during a refueling stop in Los Angeles and nearly 10 hours of total flight time before finally arriving in Honolulu at 1 a.m. Saturday.

Notre Dame reached its oceanside Waikiki hotel at 2 a.m., just as South Bend was waking up, and had to report to breakfast five hours later. No one seemed to mind.

"Back in South Bend it was snowing. Out here it's 80 degrees," quarterback Jimmy Clausen said with a wide grin.

The Fighting Irish (6-6), seeking to snap their NCAA-record nine-game bowl losing streak Wednesday against Hawaii (7-6), still held morning meetings and put in a full practice that left several players winded.

"Guys are tired from the flight and Coach (Charlie) Weis thought it was best to get our legs back even though it was a tough day out here, being the first day in the hot weather, but it was good for us," Clausen said.

Notre Dame's 105 players arrived on Oahu the same day as President-elect Barack Obama. Obama, who was born and raised here, is starting a 12-day holiday vacation.

After practice, the team went across the street and toured the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

In addition to enjoying the tropics, there's no question that Notre Dame wants to end a losing streak that dates to its 41-24 loss to Colorado in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl.

"Our goal is to win the game. That's why we came out here. We want to have fun out here, but the ultimate goal is to win the game," Clausen said.

There was one player who was unfazed by the heat and humidity.

"Actually, it's not affecting me," tailback Armando Allen said. "I'm from Miami."

Allen said he was amazed by the ocean views from his hotel.

"You kind of get that in Miami, but it's nothing like Hawaii," he said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Not many people get to come over here, so it's real important to embrace the atmosphere."

The Warriors, meanwhile, are also staying in Waikiki and enjoying the sights, but perhaps not as much as during their last postseason experience when they were routed by Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

"It's all about business and the fun part is actually winning," Warriors linebacker Solomon Elimimian said. "That's something we learned from last year.

"We were kind of a young team. A lot of guys went out and partied and did a lot of different things. Now, we're a lot more mature," he said. "Even though Coach isn't giving us curfew, a lot of guys aren't going out because we know the game is first and we have to win."

First-year Hawaii coach Greg McMackin said his team knows what they have to do.

"I've treated them as pros and men and they've reacted that way, so I have no worries about these guys," he said.

Hawaii, which is making its fifth appearance in its hometown bowl in seven years, doesn't expect Notre Dame to show any signs of jet lag by game day.

"They're going to have three, four days," Elimimian said. "On Wednesday, we have to strap it up and all that other stuff is going out the door."