Hawaii changed my life in a lot of positive ways and made me realize so many things about not only myself, but different cultures as well. When I first heard about this trip I was very excited to go but I did not know what to expect, considering I had never even been on a plane before. The fact that I had never been on a plane also meant that I had no idea what life was like outside of the continental United States. I did not know much about any of the things I learned before this trip. I didn’t know much about flying or travelling in general and I did not know too much about Hawaii either. I learned so many things on this trip including things about Hawaii’s culture, biology, and geology.
The culture of the Hawaiian people was something that I had never seen before. It was very inspiring to see how passionate people were. On our first day with Marques, I witnessed a lot of things. I first noticed how much everything meant to him and how much he cared about chanting and doing all of the different things that he did. It was obvious how meaningful everything was to him by the way that he spoke about anything and everything. I am very glad we got to meet him and spend a whole day with him. Seeing the Hawaiian culture through his eyes was truly incredible.
The biology that was present in Hawaii was very unique. The things that caught my eye was the wildlife, including the birds and the animals that roamed and the plant life that was there. The types of flowers were ones that I had never seen before. I pressed a few of them in my journal. We learned a lot about the O’hia trees and the rapid o’hia death that was going around. It made a lot of sense that none of the plant life on Hawaii was not present anywhere else in the world. Being able to see these things in person was such an amazing opportunity. There were so many different species of birds that inhabited the islands as well. I saw so many different types of birds. One thing that was new to me was seeing wild chickens roaming around. I have never been anywhere that has wild chickens. This was a new experience for me.
The geology in Hawaii is very different from the geology in Pennsylvania, which is obvious. Something that stood out to me was the mountain forms in Hawaii and how they compared to the mountain ranges that I see at home, in central Pennsylvania. Many of these mountain ranges look similar but a lot of them looked very unique. This is because most of these are mountain ranges are volcanic mountains that are formed from dormant shield volcanoes. The coral was very different from what I have ever seen before. There were many types of coral that I saw while swimming in the ocean. On the big island, I saw the most obvious and most unique forms of geology. The different lava flows, pahoehoe and a’a, were almost everywhere we went. We even got to walk on some of the pahoehoe lava forms and take pictures on it as well. When we went to Volcanoes National Park, we saw a large crater that had sunk even further down. I had seen pictures of these craters but to see them in person was a surreal feeling. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. One morning I woke up at 5 am, along with other students, and we caught the bus to Diamond Head. We hiked the whole way to the top. The view at the top, and the feeling of being inside of a crater was beautiful.
To conclude, Hawaii changed my perspective on many things including the culture, biology, and geology. The cultural day that we had was one of my favorite days because of all of the things that we learned and experienced that day. The whole trip was filled with the amazing and unique biology of the islands. The geology of the islands was truly the most incredible thing I have seen and experienced in my life. This trip made me realize how many things I have not experienced yet, in the best way possible. Overall I think I was challenged emotionally, physically, and socially. I was challenged emotionally by experiencing new things and taking appreciation for things. I was challenged physically by the hiking and walking that we did because I am not very active. I was challenged socially by meeting new people and having to be with these people for two weeks. I am so glad I got to go on this trip and experience everything and learn so many things. These are things that I will take with me for the rest of my life.
Sea Views!
This was at Volcanoes National Park. Our first day at the park, we learned about the different types of lava flows and the volcanoes and craters.
Recovering
This was on top of Mauna Kea. I needed oxygen at the top because I was feeling slightly light headed.