The University of Hawaii - Hilo

Date: Nov 15 2004
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
I had not been utterly convenced about the dismal conditions of the University of Hawaii - Hilo until tonight. During the weekend, there is a brunch in the morning, and dinner at 5 pm, but other than that, there are no on campus food resources. Having only 7 meals a week (dinner every night), I did not attend brunch. I was looking forward to pretty much any food at all, but then I was presented with a plate of discolored pork, and brown rice. I went to take a bite of my rice and noticed something strange. There was dirt throughout the rice. Little specks of dirt everywhere. This could be considered the straw that broke the camels back. I did not complain about the moldy fruit and vegetables. I did not complain about the strange slime covering my cucumbers. I did not even complain about the pieces of plastic I have found in my sandwiches, but once I start finding dirt in my food, that means it is time to draw the line. It may not be significant to some, but the company that provides the food service here, is the same one that provides food service to many prisons across the United States.

Besides the food, the dorms are in poor, poor condition. I would recommend UH Hilo to anyone that enjoys living in the company of: cockroaches, geckos, ants, earwigs, beetles, fruit flies, crickets, FLEAS, and several other species of bugs I am yet to identify. My dorm room appears as though it has not been cleaned in years. There are smears of dirt and graffiti on my walls. There are no covers on the florescent lights, and the only light that does have a cover is filled disgustingly with piles upon piles of dead bugs and geckos. Few of the items provided in the dorm rooms work. The surface of my dresser is horribly stained orange, the light on my desk does not work, and the closet only locks from time to time. Many of the sections of my window have been broken off and never replaced. I would say I have only about half the panels I am supposed to. This is especially lovely in the rainy season when a puddle collects around the bottom of the windows. The screens are duct taped on in several places, and in many others, they are torn open, allowing bugs easy access. Many of the blinds used to cover the tall windows are broken off, leaving one window fully exposed with no way to cover it. They are not particularly responsive to repairing these problems either. In a room down the hall from mine, the hinges were ripping off the doorframe, making it nearly impossible to pull the door open. When asked to repair it, this resident was told to stick some paper in the gap. That is just the dorm rooms. The bathrooms are a whole different story. Mold is rampant. I’m not a doctor, but I have a feeling if the bathrooms were cleaned sufficiently from time to time, people would not be getting sick constantly.

If you are going to college looking for a good time, lots of parties and the like, stay away from this campus. I attended a few parties at the start of the year, hoping that maybe they would be good. After two, I was done for the semester. The flaw with these parties is that you see the same exact people you see all day, every day. The first party I attended it cost $5 to get in, but everything was provided. The second party I went to cost the same $5, and nothing was provided. The cops soon arrived kicking everyone out. I later found out that people hosting these parties, call the cops themselves to get everyone out of the house. I might understand that, but to have them come at 12 seems a bit ridiculous for a party. The town is old and incomplete. It is as if they started building a town, then decided it was too much work, and gave up. If you are living in Hilo, it is a lot like living ten years in the past. There is just nothing up to date. Wal-Mart will pretty much own you in Hilo. That is the only place to get most of the resources.

I could continue ranting on and on, because there are many, many more things I am dissatisfied with at this school, but I’ll be lucky if there is still anyone reading my review at this point. I want to close with the academics. I wouldn’t consider myself to be any sort of genius, but the work here is very easy. A lot of busy work. The teachers are not bad, most I have had are nice and try to be helpful, even if they cannot do much to assist you. There are some teachers that speak poor English, which makes a class from them very confusing. I would say of the five classes I am taking, two of the five have teachers not entirely proficient in the English language. The one bright note about this school is the library. There are lots of good resources in this library, including computers and DVD’s. It is also one of the few places to go that is nicely air conditioned.

I would not recommend UH Hilo to anyone, except someone that does not really care about their living conditions, food, or social/night life, but just wants to pick up and easy degree. I have a feeling that would be simple to do here, but I am not sticking around to find out.