Prathithi Nellaiappan Week #16: Summer!


My last day in Hawaii!

My summer memories are flooding me as the weather warms up, and I am excited to enjoy a break from school. 


Last summer, I went to Hawaii with my family and had a lot of fun exploring different tourist locations. Our rented room had a beach right next to it so one of my most memorable moments on the trip was walking down the beach with my parents during sunset and talking until it became dark. There were also really unique flowers on every street. When walking back from the beach afterward, I remember seeing these beautiful plumeria flowers that were scattered all over the sidewalk. They had white rounded petals and a saturated yellow gradient on the inside. I also remember visiting a populated beach to go snorkeling. It was one of my favorite experiences of all time. I remember seeing about 2-3 turtles in the water and I even saw a humuhumu fish or a triggerfish which is a black and gray fish that has two bright yellow strips its back. This fish is famous for having human-like teeth that can pinch you if you come close. The reason I remember this so vividly is because I remember seeing this fish charging at me and flailing my arms to swim in the opposite direction as fast as possible. The fish itself was only the size of my palm but it definitely scared me a little 😭.


Last summer was pretty unique as I typically do not go to vacation spots over the summer. Instead, I use the time to visit my family in India. After an extremely long trip in an airplane, my uncle picks me up from the airport and we travel to my grandparents’ house. I remember all my cousins waiting for me xeagerly and me rushing to go hug them as soon as I arrived. Of course, in the next couple days, I always sleep to recover from jetlag. But as soon as I adjust to the time difference, I am able to hang out with my cousins the whole day. It was extremely nice to forget about my busy life in Fremont and escape to what seemed like a peaceful and happy place in my grandparents’ house. I am not quite sure how I will spend this year’s summer but reflecting on the past couple of summers makes me extremely excited! I can’t wait to make more memories with the people I love while I have a break from my busy school schedule.

Me meeting my cousins at the airport!

Comments

  1. Jessica HungMay 20, 2024 at 6:23 PM

    Hi Prathithi! I am very excited for summer as well! I don’t have any plans yet, but I might go to the east coast of the United States for the first time. If I have enough money in the future, a place that I hope to visit one day is Hawaii. All the pictures of Hawaii that I see online look so fabulous, and your descriptive memories of your time there makes me want to see the beaches of Hawaii even more. The humuhumu fish seems like an interesting creature; the article you added helps with the visual image of the fish I’m creating in my head. Last summer, I did not go to many places, but I got to visit my grandparents in Taiwan for a month. I ate good food and got to see my mom’s side of the family. Also, I attended my very first wedding of a relative. Unfortunately, I did struggle to recover from the jetlag. I think it took me about three days to adjust to the time change. I hope that you will have an amazing summer this year!

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  2. AmritaMay 20, 2024 at 11:31 PM

    Hi Prathithi! Your trip to Hawaii last summer sounds like it was amazing. I've never been but have always wanted to go and experience the culture. I'm going to Seattle and India this summer! Similar to you, whenever I go to India, I always spend time around my home-city and only visit family. The difference for me is that I only go to India once every four or five years, so each time I go feels very exciting. I'm from Chennai, so usually whenever my family goes, we stay around there and spend time with our family but I've always wanted to visit other parts of India and experience the different cultures India has to offer, and this year, we finally are, so I'm really looking forward to that. To be honest, I usually never really go anywhere (other than local areas) over the summer, so leaving the state and country sounds really fun to me. Like you said, going on trips like this serve as an escape from the stresses of life, and what better time to do that than the end of junior year. It's kind of like a reward. I hope you spend your summer in a fun, rewarding way too! Thank you for all your blogs!

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  3. Pradhi WaghrayMay 21, 2024 at 10:56 AM

    Hi Prathithi! I am also extremely excited for this summer! Just like you, my family generally tends to take trips out to India at least once a year to visit our extended family, so naturally, I have a homely feeling there similar to what you described in your blog. However, last summer was different for me too. As opposed to spending time in India, my family and I took a road trip up North to the American River, where I got the opportunity to go white water rafting for the first time in my life. It was probably one of the most fun outdoor experiences of my life, and I certainly miss it a lot! Although I am not sure what I am doing this summer, it is safe to say I am glad to finally have junior year out of the way so I can enjoy my last summer of high school.

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  4. Mansi MittalMay 22, 2024 at 12:50 PM

    Hi Prathithi! I love the feeling of weather changing—I feel like the seasons are so perfectly timed that as soon as the excitement of one season starts to die off, the next season is already rolling around and I’m excited for that one. I totally agree that it’s starting to feel like summer, especially “as the weather warms up!” In fact, as I’m writing this I’m sitting in the brown portables with the door to my fourth period class wide open. There are so many people working outside in the warm sun, and the splashing of the swimmers in the pool with the frequent blow of a whistle is screaming nothing but summer.

    Your vivid descriptions of the flora and fauna of Hawaii has made me put Hawaii on my vacationing bucket list—hopefully I can see a humuhumu fish at least once in my life! I think that story of your near-death experience with the fish is pretty comical and a sweet and funny memory to look back on (though I can see how traumatizing it would’ve been in the moment). I also really enjoyed the pictures of yourself that you added to compliment your blog, as I think it makes your love for summer and vacationing extremely apparent! I hope you enjoy this summer and many more to come, and thank you for your blog!☀️🏝️

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  5. Daniel ChenMay 22, 2024 at 9:16 PM

    First of all Prathithi, I will seriously miss you so much over the summer. This year has been one of my favorite years, even though it was super stressful with everything going on. I really appreciate you for all the jokes you've cracked this year and all the times we've stressed out about APENG together :( but you were always there and smiling and ready to talk to me and everyone else around you. Second, I'm super jealous that you have actual summer plans, this year I literally have not planned anything, so I'll probably just rot away at home and sit there and think about all the random stuff I could be doing instead of laying in bed for 24 hours a day 7 days a week until the next school year starts. Hopefully I will find some time to hang out with you though, since I really enjoy being around you and being able to talk about whatever. Next year hopefully we'll have some classes together and maybe we will slay the senioritis and get into Stanford with a full ride. I mean we can dream, but I seriously hope that both of us make it to our dream schools. Anyways toodles and time to go prepare my bed for all the rotting I'll be doing and also for the crying that will come when I start college apps.

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