So this will be my first ever contribution to the
blogosphere, so I’m going to probably learn and maybe figure out some kind of
style as I go, but this will be my first attempt at it. Also, I’m trying to
start early because I feel like writing one entry is kind of a commitment to
the whole thing. It would be pretty stupid if I had my own blog page with only
one entry on it. So here it goes…
I’m technically in Day 3 of the program, but my adventure
really started when I flew out of Atlanta on Wednesday into LAX. A couple
months ago when I found that the initial flight was from LA, I decided it would
be pretty cool if I could see LA for a couple days. Everything all clicked
together when I ran into a friend from home who went to UCLA over break in
Buckhead (on my birthday actually). We followed up and ultimately I made a plan
to stay with him a couple nights before departing on the actual program. He
made my life really easy by picking me up at the airport right when I flew in
and we spent a few hours that afternoon seeing the city. I got to see Bel-Air,
Beverly Hills, and cruise down Sunset Blvd into Hollywood. We also went out a
couple nights in Westwood, where UCLA is (contrary to popular belief that UCLA
is in Pasadena) is definitely different from my normal stomping grounds in
Athens, but a really cool place nonetheless. It was a great experience
expanding my horizons and seeing a place I hadn’t seen before and it was also
really great to catch up with an old friend.
So anyway, the story continues on Friday when I was dropped
off at the airport in the afternoon to catch my five-hour flight to Hilo, HI.
I’m not much of a plane-sleeper, but I had no problem falling asleep for a
couple hours, as I was exhausted from the previous events in LA. We landed at
8:45 PM, local time in Hilo (five hour time difference from Atlanta) and were
received by our group leader and rode a bus to the Hilo Seaside Hotel. We had a little pool-side pizza dinner
and promptly passed out thereafter in our hotel room. As one of two guys on the
trip (and 12 girls), we quickly hit it off and found out that we have a lot in
common. After completing my daily end-of-the-day ESPN ritual, I passed out in
preparation for an early morning.
The next day we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel
(excellent food for a hotel) to fuel up for the day ahead. We spent the morning
having an orientation in the conference center (and by conference center, I
mean about a 10 x 15 ft room). We got a little bit better idea of the trip, and
especially the academic side of it. After orientation, we went into the town of
Hilo for the afternoon where there were some pretty cool shops and farmer’s
markets and such. We ate lunch there and convened with the rest of the group at
the Lyman Museum. We learned all about volcanoes, lava, the settlement of Hilo,
and some of the Hawaiian culture. It was all pretty interesting, but like any
two hours in a museum, it got slightly boring. After the museum, we sauntered
back to the hotel for dinner, where again the food was pretty good. After
dinner, we had a 70 page reading for International Affairs class in the
morning, so reading was how I spent the rest of the night.
The next morning, which brings me to today (hopefully,
you’re not bored yet if you’re taking the to read this), we woke up for
breakfast and a three-hour lecture for the morning portion of the day. It
sounds bad, but the class was entirely a discussion format and surprisingly I
held my attention span the entire time. It was actually pretty interesting
subject matter, as we talked all about the reasons as to why some civilizations
had so much “cargo” as it was called in the reading (guns, metal tools,
writing, etc.) and why others didn’t. The point is to help us why civilizations
are able to conquer others aka Americans and Europeans over Polynesia and
Hawaii or Europeans in North and South America.
After class, we had free time for lunch and then departed by
bus for a geological tour. We got to see Cape Kumukahi and its lava fields
(which are black rock, not liquid fire) right on the coast, black sand beaches
(where we had dinner) and then a nighttime viewing of the Kalapana lava fields.
We saw an amazing sunset over steaming gaps in the earth’s crust, and as it got
dark, a very reddish hue was visible in an area at a distance where lava was
actually coming from the ground. We also saw the moon rise and then saw an
incredible starry sky as we stood outside for about an hour. We then had about
an hour-long bus ride to Kilauea Military Camp (our accommodations for tonight
and tomorrow night) where I sit right now. Not bad accommodations as myself and
the other lone male on the trip have our own three bunk-dorm room. This place
actually reminds me a lot of good ole Camp High Harbour at Lake Allatoona,
which kind of makes sense since Lake A used to be the same sort of thing.
I’m about to pass out, but three days in, I can already tell
that I’m incredibly blessed to be able to be participating in this experience
and I cannot wait to see what adventures and personal growth God has in store
for me. If you read all the way to the end, thanks for reading all 1025 words
and stay tuned for more. Like I said earlier, it would be pretty lame to only
have a one-entry blog, so this is my showing of good will.
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| Me standing by the water on the first full day in Hawaii |
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| View From the Hotel in Hilo |
