Now that it has been almost an entire month since the 40+ hour travel home from Samoa, I have had time to stop and think about how my life changed in the past four months and what I experienced. On one of my flights home, I decided to make a list of only a few…
Author: duhl@rollins.edu
The final countdown
“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, like you’ll not only miss the people you love, but you’ll also miss the person you are now at this time and place because you’ll never be this way again.” Our last night in Samoa is here. I knew that this day was…
Fiji, Our Final Excursion
Our very last group excursion has come and gone, and with only one month left in the program, I really don’t know where the time has gone. This last Sunday, we boarded Fiji Airways, ready to take on Fiji with the very few words we knew. “Bula” “Vinaka” “Moce” were as far as my vocabulary…
Adventure #3: American Samoa
This past week, our group flew in an 18 seater Polynesian Airlines plane to American Samoa. Going in to another home stay, I was hesitant thinking there was no way I would get so lucky with my families twice in a row. I, once again, was in for a wonderful surprise. We were greeted by…
Excursion #2: Savai’i
Following our week in the village of Lotofaga and a week back on campus at USP, we found ourselves unable to get too comfortable before we left again for Savai’i. Savai’i is the other major island in Samoa and is the larger of the two. One of the most vivid memories from the trip was…
Lotofaga: Village Stay
After two weeks in Apia on USP’s campus where we were all finally adjusting, we packed up our things and were sent off to Lotofaga. Lotofaga is one of the 300+ villages in Samoa, on the southern coast of the island where it is very rural. When we arrived, us “palagis” were welcomed with a…
Week One in Samoa
Our first week in Samoa has been busy and adventurous enough to last the whole month. When we first arrived, we all received leis as a welcome and ate a traditional Sammoan breakfast with bananas, breadfruit, bread with peanuts, coconuts, and a local orange juice. I met my roommate for the semester, Ashauna, a indo-Fijian…
Destination #1: Honolulu
Today marks day 1 of travels with two days to go before orientation begins. After traveling about 11 hours to arrive in Honolulu, we have made it to our hostel. Having a few days to get adjusted to the time change and settle in, it did not really feel like leaving when I left. Also…