The sun sets, the stars rise

Sitting on top of the world
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I didn't go on any housing trips last Saturday, but on Sunday I had an amazing night at the observatory visitors center on Mona Kea. About 20 of us met on campus, climbed into vans, and drove up the mountain until we hit the visitors' center. There, we stopped to view the silversword plant, a spiky little thing that has silver fuzz all over it. At one point they were all over the dry mountains, but cattle wrecked most of them when settlers invaded the island.

We climbed to a point on the mountain that juts out enough so that you can take pictures that are nearly panoramic. We were sitting on top of the clouds, watching the sun set and cracking jokes with eachother, and I realized how crazy I am about the folks I'm here with. My friends from the university are hysterical and easy to be with, and my fellow exchangers always understand the situations I find myself in as a "new kid"... I don't really feel like a newcomer these days, mostly because this school is so small that it's hard to walk into a room and not see a familiar face. This is a little disconcerting after UMASS, where it's simultaneously comforting and lonely to have plenty of anonymity/space among throngs of thousands upon thousands of students.

We were sitting on top of the clouds...

A group of friends, together on Mona Kea
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On Mona Kea, I really got some thinking time... I began a series of thoughts that pervaded my consciousness throughout the week. I am so much more relaxed here, especially on gorgeous days. Students here are laid back, don't care about fashion or money, and are very hospitable and generous. The classes are pretty fun, my professors are stimulating, and the campus is cozy. It will be an emotional departure in May, that's for sure.

So I began thinking, do I HAVE to go back to UMASS in the fall? Couldn't I stay here for just one more semester? It's possible for some exchange students, why not myself? By now, looking at all the things I want to get accomplished academically, I'm fairly sure it would be stupid to stay here rather than UMASS. I have WAY more fun in a typical day here than at home, but that means I study way less and don't work as much. Every day isn't a vacation, but after putting my nose to the grind throughout high school and college, this sudden change in pace and workload is really working for me.

The road up to the visitor's center
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Mona Kea really worked for me in getting all of those thoughts going. I sat there photographing friends and laughing about silly things, and watched the sun set over the clouds. Later, when it got dark and cold and we'd all walked down to the visitors' center, we cuddled together under the stars drinking soup and hot chocolate as a guide gave us a tour of the constellations and Whitney, who is a future guide in training, tried to repeat everything he was saying....

Interesting fact: Over the past few weeks, I've been pretty annoyed by the street lights here in Hilo. They're yellow and the light makes me feel like I live in a seedy part of town that can't even illuminate its streetways properly. Well it turns out that the lights are deliberately yellow because before, they were normal lights and the accumulated effect of all that extra whiteness down on Earth made the scientists on Mona Kea have to work harder to try to spot stars. So the county installed new lights that don't interfere with the work of the scientists- and now I feel all knowledgable when I walk around at night and look up at the yellow aura that makes the night air look a little sickly... we can afford to look like we have jaundice for the sake of science I suppose.

The view from Mona Kea, warped a bit by the sun
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All in all it was a great night. I can't wait to take my family up there when they come here in March!