Online School.. on Mars
When the announcement was first made that fall term was going to be online, I started talking to friends and looking for places to live. We were debating locations around the country: California, Florida, New York, etc.. there were plenty of options. Then it suddenly hit me, what is stopping us from going to Hawaii, covid numbers were better and a two week quarentine would ensure that numbers stayed down… I proposed this to my friend and we agreed it would be an amazing experience, but we didn’t want to get out hopes up. A month or so later we still haven’t decided where to live, Hawaii seemed too far and too difficult to plan. But we couldn’t get the idea out of our heads. We spent some time looking into plane tickets, places to stay, etc… and it actually didn’t seem so impossible after all. A couple weeks later and we were arriving here on the big island!
So online school is of course not really on Mars, but I thought that picture looked a lot like it! That photo is actually from the world’s tallest mountain: Mauna Kea. Yes, Mauna Kea is the world’s tallest mountain, Everest is the world’s highest mountain. Everest is 29032 feet above sea level while Mauna Kea is only 13803 feet above sea level, however Mauna Kea from bottom to peak is over 32800 feet tall (compared to Everest’s 29000 feet from bottom to peak). With school being online, a couple of my friends and I packed our bags and moved to Hawaii for fall term!
We have:
Explored caves created by flowing lava!
Seen some pretty amazing waterfalls!
Swam with huge (8 foot+) manta rays!
And more! Overall, I have had an amazing experience here in Hawaii.
While I miss Caltech dearly, this opportunity to go explore Hawaii with my friends is an unforgettable and amazing experience!
Overall, the decision to come to Hawaii was a very sudden and spur of the moment choice, something I usually don’t do! Yet this has become one of the most amazing experiences of my life! Have you experienced any “good accidents”? Let me know in the comments!
