Do you hate camping? Well, I definitely do considering that I don’t have my cellular phone with me and I can’t go to McDonald’s for lunch.  However, for school my classmates and I were required to go camping for 3 days at a beach park.  Normally, I would be crying because I have to get out of the house and sleep in a tent, but this trip turned out actually amazing!  I live in Hawaii and the whole purpose of this camping trip was for my classmates and I to make a better connection to our Hawaiian ancestors.  It was fun/different because it was on the other side of the island so I got to explore that side and learn more about the city there.

On this trip, I learned so many new things about my culture.  Such as, how our ancestors used the stars for navigation, how they were great astronomers without telescopes, how they studied the stars etc.  We also prepared our own traditional Hawaiian food.  We prepared poi, laulau and pig for us to eat!  It was very delicious and it gave me an idea of how to cook for my future children.  Not only have I learned many new things about my ancestors but I also learned some life skills.  Such as fishing, we were camping at a beach full of fish so it was the perfect time to fish for our food.  I am not going to lie, I hate fish but maybe my kids will like it or a friend might like it so I now know how to prepare a fish meal.  Never had I thought that a camping trip could be full of such learning, I thought that was what school was for.  However, I learned that you can learn anything from anywhere if you have an open mind. 

Besides all the learning I had on this trip, I also had a lot of fun.  For example, this trip was a great way to get out of the house and have a closer bond with my classmates.  This trip was also fun because we got to celebrate one of our teachers’ birthday and we all had ice cream and surprised him.  We also made some amazing memories on this trip that I will cherish forever.  It is amazing how you can learn and have fun at the same time.  It is actually nice to be off my phone for once and explore the outside and what nature has to offer. 

The camping trip still had some negatives such as when we had free time to swim at the beach, a lot of girls got wana or sea urchins stuck in their feet and they had to treat it well and couldn’t participate in some activities.  Another negative is that when it was night time a couple of girls thought it would be fun to start drama and scare the other girls by saying there was a black shadowy figure in the window of a close by abandoned hotel.  I am NOT a fan of drama especially when we are all trying to have fun and avoid the nonsense drama.  Besides the drama on the trip being a negative, the side of the island we were on was beyond temperate and very hot, I had to drink water every 10 minutes to avoid dehydration from the hot weather!

All in all, the camping trip was a success I really enjoyed the cultural connections I made on the trip and also the fun I had learning!  I feel like everyone can benefit from putting down technology for a bit and exploring their culture or a different one.  Both are very fun to gain knowledge from especially if you can make connections and document them to share to the world your amazing experiences.  I love learning about my culture and many others, what about you?