Hawai'i Semester | Carpe Diem Education Gap Year

I just came back from the hawai’i aloha spring semester 2023. Fricking amazing. I wanted a program that I would be able to camp, learn about the environment, learn some sustainable solutions for the planet, go to a cool place, and make friends. I did all of that and more. I grew so much on this program (emotionally). We had a rough start because of weather, however I felt the instructors did a great job with keeping us safe, happy, and having a good time. We got to work with so many contacts carrying in race, philosophy, goal, gender,…. I learned life lessons, made some of the best memories of my life, snorkeled in some of the clearest waters of my life (saw 2 sharks!), did an awesome hike, visited multiple national parks, and grew to absolutely love working with dirt even though I wasn’t a fan before. Even though I definitely had my struggles on the program, went through rough patches and struggled, I came through to be a new person with a new perspective on the world. Thank you carpe diem for helping me figure out a little bit of what I want to do and who I want to be! Recommend!!!!

I loved every second of Hawai'i! There was some living situations that were difficult, such as there was a lot of wind that ended up breaking people's tents and causing people to loose a ton of sleep. If you do send your kid in the spring, make sure they have a tent that can withstand wind and rain really well as the spring is the rainy and windy season.

Though Hawaii is technically a state of America it should be recognized as its own country. I’m from the East Coast of the states and I can say confidentially that Hawaii is nothing of the normal. I got used to sleeping in a tent in just a few weeks and actually preferred to sleep in a tent rather than the hostel we were staying in. I got to speak with experts ranging from tsunami, archaeology, and marine biology about the impact me and my peers have on the future of our planet. My group including Overseas Educators was a total of 9 and at first it was a lot of pressure to get along with people but after just 6 weeks I can call everyone here my family and they all teach me things about myself I would have never realized if not coming on this trip. It’s been really hard being so far away from home but it’s going to be just as hard leaving my family in Hawaii. I would recommend this trip to everyone who is looking to get out of their comfort zone.