Jan Term in Hawaii (Jennifer Polm)

I have had the time of my life spending Jan Term in Hawaii!! Initially I signed up for this class simply to have a chance to get away from the snow! However, I ended up learning a lot from Professor Tanas (plus I got a great tan). The material that we covered in this class was really interesting, and we got to learn a lot about the ancient Hawaiian people. Each day we took field trips to different "culturally important" locations around the island. One of my favorite trips was when we went to Shangri La; the home of the famous tobacco heiress, Doris Duke. We visited Ms. Duke's home to learn more about her huge collection of Islamic art. Her home was absolutely amazing! This field trip left me wanting to learn as much as possible about her art collection, and her life in general. Along with Shangri La, a few of my other favorite field trips were the Polynesian Cultural Center, Pearl Harbor, and all of the hikes we were able to participate in while taking this class. We hiked the famous Diamond Head crater as a class, and I did three other hikes with a few classmates; one of these hikes ended in a waterfall with a cliff to jump into the water! My favorite experience from the whole trip was skydiving!!! I went with six other classmates, and it was the most fun I've ever had in my entire life! I would do this again in a heartbeat! I learned so much in this class and had such a great time... Thank you Professor Tanas!