I’ve recently been talking to my friends and family in Hawai’i and they were telling me that it’s cold outside! What’s cold to them? 64 degrees. Pfft. I’d run out to the beach in a bikini in that kind of weather. My mom reassures me that everyone is in sweats and sweaters, all bundled up.

I remember when that was cold to me too. Ever since I moved to New Jersey, when I’d go home on winter break, I would never feel cold, at night, camping right on the beach, I never needed to cover up.

But you’d be surprised how well you adapt to tropical weather. If I moved back home it would take less than a year for 60 degrees to be cold again.

I’m not too sure how mainland weather adaptation works, though. I guess I’m used to the extreme cold and extreme heat. I don’t love it and just go on living like everyone else. Wearing gloves, hats and heavy winter coats. Knowing that it’s freezing outside. I wish it snowed more in New Jersey. The past three winters I’ve spent here have been mild at best. It’s been cold enough to snow, but there were no clouds in the sky. When it snows, the next day it’s usually 40 degrees outside.

Growing up in Hawai’i, on the island of O’ahu where the weather ranges from the low to mid 60s to the mid to high 80s doesn’t prepare you for…well anything. For a long time, I couldn’t even fathom how a place that can get so cold, cold enough to snow, can get so hot in the summer, hot enough to require air conditioning or death. It definitely makes me appreciate Hawai’i and how lucky I was to grow up in such a perfect place.