Meet Theresa - the Hawai'i bound Dane

Meet Theresa!

I had the change to sit down with Theresa Woldbye on a sunny afternoon in September. I met Theresa shortly after arriving to Hawai’i in August, and I am now lucky enough to call her not only my friend but also my roommate. So, I figured it was appropriate to sit down and get to know her a little better!

Theresa’s full name is actual Theresa Woldbye Fehrenkamp, she’s twenty-seven years old and study TV and Media production at the School of Journalism in Denmark. Now she has come all the way to study one semester at Hawai’i Pacific University here at Oahu. Even though Theresa is only at HPU for the Fall 2017 semester, you might recognize her; because this is not her first time walking the streets of the HPU campus.

In 2015 Theresa made the decision to do a semester abroad but it was a coincidence that she ended up at HPU; “It was not until last minute that I made the decision about going abroad, so I had to find a school that would still accept students at that time of the year”. HPU was one of these school and because of a friend, who had already been to Hawai’i, it wasn’t a hard decision, that this was the place, she wanted to go.

When I asked her, why she decided to go back to HPU this fall there was no doubt; “Because I loved it here and it feels like home, so I simply had to come back”. Besides the obvious reason concerning the amazing weather all year around, one of the reasons that Theresa loves Hawaii is the Hawaiian culture, which is very different from what she knows from home.

“In Denmark people would almost never talk with strangers in the bus for example, and here I had a stranger inviting me over for Halloween with her family, just because we started talking in the bus. I love that people are so open”.

Theresa also enjoys the Hawaiian nature. Denmark is completely flat and the chance for rain is almost always sky high. This is one of the reasons, why Hawaii is an attractive destination to Theresa as well as having beautiful mountains right in your backyard doesn’t hurt much either. “I love hiking. To be outside and to be able to enjoy nature makes me happy”. The nature is important and even though she has visited the Hawaiian Islands before, one of the things she is looking forward to the most during this semester is doing it all over again.

“I am looking forward to go and visit all the other islands. This time I chose to stay in Hawaii over Christmas, so that I would have time to travel when the semester ends. And I am looking forward to showing this beautiful place, that I call my second home, to my boyfriend, who hasn’t been here before”.

When Theresa goes back to Denmark in January, she will finish of her degree and graduate in the summer of 2018. Afterwards she will be producing interesting national TV to the Danes, and who knows, probably be going back to Hawai’i someday.

#interview #wdm #hpu