Project: Freshman

So today I woke up bright and early at 7:30 am to meet up with some class mates to work on a project for my Hawaiian Studies class.  We are required to do a learning service project where we volunteer our time and do a Hawaiian cultural activity.  Some examples would be working in a fish pond, or cleaning invasive plants out of a forest. Today, we went over to Kahana Valley on the opposite side of the island and worked in a Lo'i.  A Lo'i is a place where the plant Taro is grown.  Taro was a staple crop to ancient Hawaiians.  We had to go into the mud pit where the plant is grown and pull them out.  The work was rigorous and DIRRTTYYYY!!!! But at the same time it was a total blast and I am so glad that I did it!  We were in the middle of a valley between two beautiful mountain peaks and I truly felt at one with nature.  It was really neat to see the sorts of things that the Hawaiians did in their every day lives before foreigners came in and robbed them of their culture, land, and ways. It was a beautiful experience and I know that i could only get it at The University of Hawai'i.