Submitted by Blair Files on the 2017 winter session program in Hawaii sponsored by the Department of Biological Sciences…
After now having spent one week in on Oahu, the second largest Hawaiian isle, I cannot decide if this place confirms or totally abolishes everything I have ever heard about it. We arrived in the mid-afternoon at our hotel in Waikiki. Having window seats during both flights, I was unprepared for the view of the mountains out of my hotel window. As far as first impressions go, I was not surprised by a sea of ists and glittery high rises, those were all I really knew of this mythical place. Everyone else wants to see this place as much as I do, too. What I did not expect was that Hawaii really is as stunning as the post cards. White sand beaches, palm fronds waving to the sea, the dense emerald folds of the mountains rise impossibly tall and sudden against the city. Seeing so many epic movies and shows filmed here, had numbed me to the fact that there truly is a place that looks like that. I sleep at night with the sliding door of our balcony cracked so I can hear the wind and waves and sounds of Honolulu as it sparkles below me and I wake up to the dwarfing beauty just outside our hotel window.
Like any tourist attraction, there is the poverty stricken side no one puts in a blockbuster movie. While driving to and from class excursions and hiking ventures, we pass through the neighborhoods of chipped paint, boarded windows, and sagging chain link fences. However, If I have noticed anything about Hawaiian life is that it seems to carry on despite the set backs of being the most isolated land mass in the world. Yes, milk is $6 a gallon and the public school system is a mess, which probably brings the community pain that I just have yet to witness, but the culture here seems to be deeply rooted in something else. Hawaii is a land of elements and life here is the result of it. The peoples’ history, religion, and way of life revolves around the immense and rugged landscape. They make sure the tourist population understands the value of what they come here to see and enjoy. The snorkeling excursions and many hikes I have already been on since arriving have given me quite literally a different view on this land which is so new to me and how I, who live half a world away, can also love my land like a Hawaiian.