Aloha Kakou!

"Hello everyone, welcome!" My name is Julia Simpson and I'm from Hallowell, Maine. This "city" of 2,000 is known for being very liberal and creative, with a high population of musicians, painters, and writers, all of whom I know, because in a city of 2,000 everybody knows something about everybody. Hallowell covers just 5 square miles, with landscapes from waterfronts to farmlands.
While spending my entire life in the Hall-Dale School District, I built close relationships in primary school that lasted until high school graduation in 2008. I could count the number of non-white students I met during my time at Hall-Dale on one hand. This was something that bothered me a lot. I hoped to attend a university with more diversity after experiencing close to zero growing up. Then I ended up at the University of Vermont. Yes, I came to the state that flipflops with Maine as the whitest state in the nation. I knew to survive my four years in Burlington, I'd need an escape.

So, during the spring of my Sophomore year, I applied to a program called A Semester Almost Abroad (ASAA) at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. This would give me the opportunity to experience much more racial and environmental diversity than anything I had encountered on the East Coast. With a Nature, Culture, and Justice concentration in Environmental Studies, I would be able to learn an amazing amount while studying in Honolulu, on an island with the most jaw-dropping physical features I'd ever seen. The photo to the right is one I took of the view from my dorm room. Diamond Head is a crater created after a volcanic eruption over 300,000 years ago, an example of the island's astonishing geology.

I went from being in the majority to the minority overnight. I was often the only white person on the bus (which I took to get everywhere and anywhere), in my classes, or in a business. It was eye-opening.

During my time at UH, I was able to take classes that would be unavailable to me otherwise, such as The History of the Hawaiian Islands, in which I had to memorize (and be able to pronounce) the entire Hawaiian genealogy, and Geology of the Hawaiian Islands, in which we took field trips around O'ahu to study different volcanic features around the island.

Other things I did during my four month stay included going to the beach, hiking, dancing, and sailing (the picture at the top of the post was taken by my sister on a sailing trip last October), as well as an occasional UH football game. The video above depicts the traditional Haka, performed before Rainbow Warrior's games to intimidate the opposing team. You can see my cylindrical dorm in the background of the clip. I recognize a few players from my classes as well. As you can imagine, the six foot, 280 pound men were pretty intimidating to sit next to during a lecture. I will miss being able to take part in these activities in such a gorgeous location and will never take my traveling for granted. I hope to be able to return to Hawai'i soon!