When I tell people that I am from Hawaii, the first thing they say to me is normally something along the lines of "You live in HAWAII? Why on God's Almighty Green-And-Brown-And-Blue Earth would you choose to come to the Midwest???"
And you know, on paper the arguments seem to stack against this decision. The school I'm at now was the only place in the Midwest that I applied to, and the only school that I auditioned at live. They didn't give me very much scholarship money, and I could have easily gone to school at home for about $5,000 a year...
So why this school? Why would I choose to put myself in debt for a majority of my life for a school that is a twelve-hour plane ride away from a place that I can even remotely call home?
I have always told myself that I was a fairly independent person. I have told myself for the last few years or so that I wanted to "get off the rock," as people say at home, and explore the vast world out there. And on some level it's true.
HOWEVER. I think on some level, perhaps subconsciously, perhaps Flying-Spaghetti-Monster-induced, I knew that I wasn't very happy at home. I was an awkward duck. And I mean SCHMAWKWARD (disclaimer! This doesn't mean that I'm not awkward now - I have my moments... Ok, a lot of moments). I knew that a change of pace would really do me good. It would get me away from my parents, who I love to death, but will talk about maybe in another blog post, as well as take me out of the "Hawaiian-style" mindset.
Now, this is not saying anything against local people. This is one of those "It's not you, it's me" type of situations. I simply do not think that I have a "local kine" mindset. Everything seemed so contrived, and so, like, falsely chill (if I can coin a term); at least at my high school. It was likke no one was there to learn anything, and I think I picked it up at a fairly early age... I did not try in school, I hated doing homework, I still pulled slightly-above-average grades... People were just stupid.
*Now I realize that this is probably a similar situation to a lot of people out there, but let me have my say! :P*
I think actually the addition of pidgin helped it, if I'm being completely honest. At least the pidgin that I was exposed to. And no, not this kind:
Hawaiian pidgin originally started when the immigrants from all different countries started coming to work in the pineapple fields and the like. In order to understand each other, they mixed and mingled their languages to form what is know as pidgin today.
Now, some pidgin can be intelligent, when people actually do mix the languages. That is of no problem for me... The problem lies within these (VERY) often white-boys that simply think "Ho bah, we go beech o' wat" is pidgin.
These are the people that get confused by words such as 'intelligent,' and it kind of drives me nuts.
These are just some things I think about.
And I'm not saying that by moving to the mainland everything is fixed and everyone is happy. No, there are still gripes I have, but on the whole, being in this academic (and social... very social... VERY social) enviornment has really changed me for the better.
Well I've had dinner and the writing mood has worn off, so I think I'll end it here.
Thanks, and bye!
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