For two parents who have lived in Louisiana their whole lives, the thought of their 20-year-old daughter living thousands of miles away was completely out of the question. But, my heart was set on studying at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, and I was going to do anything possible to convince my parents. I became an aggravating gnat to them, and they began to avoid my phone calls. I made an extravagant presentation spending countless hours with a glue stick and scissors, and finally my good ol’ folks came around. Victory never felt so sweet!
So, here I am wearing flip-flops in the middle of January and pinching myself constantly. It is more spectacular than I could ever have imagined. Climbing 300-foot waterfalls and going to sleep with reggae music seeping through my windows has become part of my everyday life. Living without the luxuries of a TV or air conditioner, items I once thought were necessities, has been surprisingly painless. Everything is finally starting to feel more familiar, although the initial shock was difficult.
After living in airports for 36 hours, I was anxious to arrive in Hilo. My first observation when I stepped off of the plane was the brilliant warm weather. As I gazed at my surroundings, the snow-capped volcano Mauna Kea caught my eye. Green wildlife and palm trees escaping into the sky made me question reality.
On the taxicab ride to my on-campus apartment, I tried to get a feel for the small, quaint town. The names of the gas stations were Aloha instead of EZ Serve or Circle K. Many of the houses had lovely Japanese gardens with tangerine trees in their yards. The cab driver was amused by my effort to say the virtually unpronounceable Hawaiian street names.
As I entered the UHH campus, I couldn’t bear to wait any longer to see my on-campus apartment. It put quite a damper on my fantastic adventure when my apartment was crawling with ants and spiders. After endless hours of scrubbing my new home and draping Hawaiian print fabric over the windows, my humble abode finally seemed to be shaping up.
Hilo has a laid-back atmosphere. No one is ever in a rush, and restaurants stay open no later than 9 p.m.
I found it to be quite humorous that the locals really do say words like “gnarly” and “stoked.” There is no such thing as waving hello or goodbye, it’s all about the shaka hand sign.
One of the highlights of my time here was my visit to Waipio Valley, where the final scenes of the motion picture “Water World” were filmed.
When we reached the black sand beach at the bottom, it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Wild horses were running through freshwater streams, and a 300-foot waterfall was cascading down the side of a mountain. One of my local friends forced me to climb up that waterfall, and it was truly one of the most thrilling moments in my entire life. Hopefully this is just the beginning to many more exciting adventures!