As I compose this, I sit under a tarp as the rain pours around me turning the soil to mud. It doesn’t rain often this time of the year but when it does rain, it is best to run for cover. Currently, I am working at the Makauwahi Cave Reserve on the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Island chain. I landed at the airport with fellow classmate Melissa Rudie. It became clear as soon as we landed that we were here for a new, challenging experience. As we stood at baggage claim awaiting the arrival of our luggage, watching others bags circle the room, a million thoughts began to swirl in my head as I attempted to figure out what brought me to this island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I had never given this much thought before, but now it was all I could think about. We grabbed our bags and were picked up by our boss, Lida Pigott Burney. Then, she took us out to lunch so we could discuss how we would spend the next three months. …show more content…
I found myself searching the room for something familiar, but I couldn’t find anything. I tried to focus, but I was having trouble because I had so much on my mind at the time. We talked about the day-to-day operations and how we would fit in to the daily tasks. From this point on we were referred to simply as, “the interns”. At the end of the conversation, we were told to read the book “Back to the Future in the Caves of Kauai” by David Burney, one of the reserve founders. The first sentence of the book stood out to me the most and set me on a path of discovery for the rest of this journey, “Visitors come to Hawaii seeking paradise. But the truth is, these islands have become a kind of living hell for nature. The place is a microcosm of the world condition, where the role of humans in transforming nature stands out in high relief.” (1 ). These words set the stage and allowed me to begin the process of proposing questions and finding