Home from college? Here are must-dos
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer
When my niece, Mariel Downes, returned from her first year of college at Notre Dame in (brrrr) Indiana, she was buzzing with things she couldn't wait to do.
The Sacred Hearts graduate, who also was an editor for her school newspaper, came up with ...
Top 10 things Hawai'i college students do upon returning home:
- Breathe. There's nothing like fresh island air, especially after living with Mainland pollution.
- Stop at Zippy's on the way home from the airport for artery-clogging chicken katsu, and don't forget the mac salad. Or maybe saimin. And hamburger steak ...
- Ignore the "Wow, you came white, yah?" comments, or ...
- Go to the beach, even if you didn't go regularly before. Your favorite sandy spot beckoned you all year, and it's a quick way to regain some of that lost color.
- Visit family. Coming home to Grandma and Grandpa, talking story with a favorite auntie or uncle and playing with little cousins, nieces and nephews — you know you missed it.
- Sleep. Your own room, your own bed, no early morning classes. Enough said.
- Catch up with old friends, those buddies from high school who stayed home, or friends who went to a different Mainland college. Instant messaging or not, you are severely behind in the gossip arena.
- Act like a tourist. Why is it being away for months instills a sudden desire to go to the Bishop Museum, Waikiki Aquarium and those places you haven't seen since that fifth-grade field trip?
- Go cruising. Heaven is being able to jump in a car and go, well, anywhere.
- Enjoy Hawai'i, because wherever you were, grass just wasn't as green, and the flowers just weren't as pretty. (For many, it's great to see mountains or the ocean again.)
