Camera roll – Volume I

I want to share a handful of photos from my first 18 days in Hawaii! Most are from weekend day trips, as the bulk of time during the week is spent in class — which is far less visually interesting.

P.S. Many thanks to my friend Karen for incessantly documenting our lives. Half of these photos (the better ones) are from her.

Thursday, September 29 — Emma is a friend from church who is also in Kona this fall. We flew together from CVG > PHX > KOA. Praise God for easy travels!

Most meeting spaces on campus (including our cafeteria pictured here) are tents or large open-air structures. This would *never* work in Ohio or Michigan!

Friday, September 30 — Our first full day on campus opened with a formal protocol ceremony and concluded with an Aloha welcome gathering featuring hula dancers, a fire dancer, and a parade of flags (see below).

The 700-some students on campus this quarter represent 36 nations. Like an Olympics opening ceremony, a student from each country was chosen as a flag bearer as we celebrated the opportunity to be together this fall.

Because Kailua-Kona is on the west side of the island, we get to see beautiful sunsets like this nearly every evening. This shot is from a campus building near the bottom of the hill.

Thursday, October 6 — Our class volunteered at the women’s Ironman World Championships. After only two and a half weeks, I can genuinely say they are a wonderful bunch!

My friend Karen and I were assigned the access control team near the bike-run transition. Our area was overstaffed for the amount of foot traffic at that time, so we just cheering for athletes. Much to absolutely no one’s surprise, the emcee publicly recognized our enthusiastic (read: wild and excessive) dancing.

Toward the end of our shift, I was reassigned to check wristbands at the stairs leading up to the media platform. Five minutes before the pro women’s finish, I came to my senses and asked my supervisor, “Would it be too presumptuous to ask if I can check wristbands at the *top* of the stairs instead of the bottom?” “Go for it,” he said. If you look closely at this photo, you can see the champ Chelsea Sodaro wearing her wreath crown.

Saturday, October 8 — Until it happened, I didn’t know I wanted to be adopted by a British family. They invited Karen and me to go snorkeling. Let’s just say I’m a bit out of practice and should have brushed up in a less choppy area.

Friday, October 14 — Six of us piled into a minivan for a truly American excursion: the inaugural Costco visit for a British friend and a Norwegian friend.

Saturday, October 16 — Our British friends invited Karen and me on another outing. En route to our final destination, we stopped at the southernmost point of the U.S.

Our actual destination was Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It was like a hybrid of the Grand Canyon (except much smaller and shallower) and Yellowstone with sulfuric steam pouring out of vents across the landscape. Oddly enough, one of the highlights of the trip was the cooler temps. It was wonderful to wear a jacket!

Welcome to the eruption zone!

Sunday, October 16 — After my weekly pickleball outing, Karen and I went to lunch with two classmates from… drumroll, please… Columbus, Ohio! They then took us to Kona Joe, a coffee farm 20 minutes from campus.

Despite not drinking coffee, I could appreciate the beautiful landscape. It reminded me of a northern Michigan winery — but with an ocean view.

We also stopped at a smaller local coffee farm to learn more about the farming process. As we left, the owner invited to pick fresh avocados that had dropped from a *massive* tree. Karen and I ended up with two softball-sized avocados (one pictured in my left hand).