She is 4,028 miles from home, but paradise is precisely where Catherine Fowler wants to be at this point in her life, and volleyball career.

Fowler transferred to the University of Hawai'i after playing her first two years at the University of Arkansas, 117 miles from her home in Conway — just outside Little Rock. She is among five candidates for the two starting middle blocking positions as the Rainbow Wahine head toward next week's season-opener. She has the most experience of all five.

Amber Kaufman has the inside track, starting most of last season for UH after switching from the right side. Nickie Thomas would have started the past two years for UH, but lost both seasons to injury. Underclassmen Amber Simmons (sophomore) and Brittany Hewitt (freshman) have yet to start a college match.

Fowler started all but five of 122 games last season for Arkansas, averaging 1.52 kills and 1.22 blocks and helping the LadyBacks to an upset of then-fifth-ranked Florida. It was the highlight of a 12-19 season that left her wanting much more, culturally and athletically.

She researched the top teams, looking for schools that would encourage her interest in international business, coaches that could help her play overseas after graduation and an atmosphere that was the antithesis of where she happily grew up, and verbally committed to the "home" school before fully realizing how much she wanted to see the world.

"All my friends stayed at home or went just a few hours away," said Fowler, 26th on www.prepvolleyball.com's Senior Aces list coming out of high school. "I've always had a passion for traveling and other cultures, I just enjoy it. I was the exception.

"The south is just so different. It's conservative, not as culturally diverse. You have white and black, that's pretty much it. Things kinda don't change a lot, they are always set in tradition. It's nice, real slow and chill. It's chill here in Hawai'i, too, but you also have the city and beach."

And a Rainbow Wahine team with an immediate need for experience in the middle after the graduation of Juliana Sanders and Kari Gregory. The Hawai'i coaches, initially unimpressed with Fowler's offensive statistics, tracked down more video and saw potential in her quick armswing, long and lean look and good jump.

"It's like (former All-America transfer Victoria) Prince," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "On paper she wasn't that good offensively, but she's tall and lean and jumps well. She's right in the mix. She has the experience. She's been out there before. She's not going to be overwhelmed."

Not by opponents or Hawai'i's unique attributes, although Fowler has yet to see the crowds of 7,000 or so that frequent Stan Sheriff Center. Arkansas averaged 10 percent of that.

That doesn't concern Shoji either. Fowler is a worldly 20-year-old despite growing up in a southern city of 26,000. She has been to Europe and Central America and hopes to leave Hawai'i with a degree in international business and marketing, with a minor in Spanish. She is "almost" fluent in her second language, which she pursued because she saw the job possibilities early on.

Her dream would be to play professionally in Spain or South America, then go on to a diplomatic career. But that's all after her time in Hawai'i, a place where she felt settled midway through the spring semester, after the initial culture shock when she moved here in January.

"When I first got here it felt almost like a tropical Asia," Fowler said. "That was different for me. And all the rice was overwhelming. I need some bread and biscuits, with honey butter. I put butter on my meat and people think that's crazy, but it's very common in the South."

"Now I like Korean food because I like meat. I'm not a picky eater so that part is easy. It's just missing what you're used to. I felt fully settled halfway through the semester and coming back (in summer) was even better."

Her goal on the court is to get "better, stronger, faster" and feel more comfortable constantly playing at a high level, and learning the finer points of ball control and channeling the ball to defenders on the block. It was a new experience in the spring and the level has leapt up since, but for Fowler there is no place like home — and that's Hawai'i for the foreseeable future.