School in Hawaii(+/-s)

Today I've decided I'll write about some of the pluses and minuses of attending school in Hawaii. Here goes...

+ Tropical Paradise
Hawaii, in case you didn't know, is tropical. The temperature is pretty much around 85 every day, except in the "winter", when it's like 5 degrees cooler and rains. As Steve called and reminded me, many people come to Hawaii for vacations, because the weather is so nice, and there are many beaches.

- Tropical Paradise
It's sometimes too warm and humid for me here. Not a minus at all if I had a car, but since I walk everywhere it's really hot, especially with my backpack on. It's gross because I get way sweaty. Also, It can become a distraction when you're trying to do schoolwork when the beach is less than 2 miles from your house.

+ Diversity
I guess UH is the most ethnically diverse campus in the US. At least that's what everyone keeps saying. So that means there are lots of different kinds of food to eat, and people to meet. Very cool.

-Bugs
Okay, there are tons of freakin bugs here. If you try to walk anywhere once the sun's started to go down and it's started getting cool, (you know, when it doesn't suck to walk places because it's too hot) you will invariably almost step on about a million cockaroaches(read it like Tony Montana). This is disgusting, and definitely a minus. On the other hand, there are almost as many lil' lizards, which are fun to try and catch.

+ Asian stuff
I'm an Asian studies major, so this is pretty cool for me. I posted pics of the Center for Korean studies last week, but there are much more cool things here than just that. For example-

East West Center- The East West center is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific and the US. There are a lot of seminars and other pretty cool stuff that goes on there.

Thai Royal Sala(pavilion)- This was given by the King of Thailand earlier this year to replace one given in 1967 or 68. It has the royal seal( I assume that's what I took a picture of in the bootom right) and was reassembled on site by some Thai dudes. As you can see from the picture in the bottom right in particular,it is very detailed. Pretty cool, no?



Japanese Garden- There also happens to be a very beatiful Japanese style garden and tea house on campus. Check it out.




You get the picture I'm sure; I'm digging all the cool asian stuff.

-Cost of living
I'm definitely not digging the cost of living here. I pay 600 bucks a month for a room in a crummy apartment. Luckily I only signed a lease that's through the end of the year. Food is a lot more too. Even dollar menus at Jack in the Box and Mcdonald's are considerably smaller, beacause a lot of the typical value menu stuff is a bit pricier here.

Overall though, the pluses outweigh the minuses, and I am happy to be here.