International Exchange Programs

The Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated outpost of Western civilization on Earth — about 3,700 kilometers from the nearest mainland (the U.S.). They’re also among the most isolated places in the world. Maybe that’s why Hawaii has the highest life expectancy in the U.S.: 82 years. In Mississippi, by contrast, you might live just as well, but for a much shorter time — only 75 years.

Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain on the planet if measured from its base (10,203 meters), not from sea level (4,205 meters). That’s because most of the volcano sits underwater. And Mount Waialeale is the wettest place on Earth — it gets an average of 11,684 mm of precipitation a year, and the record in 1992 was 16,916 mm. For comparison, Riga’s average annual precipitation is just under 700 mm.

Nearby is the largest active volcano on Earth, Mauna Loa — its summit is only 36 meters lower than Mauna Kea. On the night of Sunday, November 27, 2022, the volcano erupted for the first time since 1984, filling the bowl-shaped caldera at its summit with lava. On November 28, lava fountains began erupting along fissures; most reached a few meters high, but the tallest reached 30–60 meters.

Did you know the person on the American $100 bill was never a U.S. president? It’s Benjamin Franklin, one of the leaders of the American Revolution and the only Founding Father to sign all three key documents that shaped the United States as an independent nation: the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Treaty of Paris (1783).

Тауматауакатангиангакоауауотаматеатурипукакапикимаунгахоронукупокануэнуакитанатаху (Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu) is the name of a low hill on the North Island of New Zealand, and it’s one of the longest place names in the world.

The name can be translated from Māori as ‘The summit where Tamatea, the man with big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains — known as the land-eater — played his nose flute for his beloved.’ The word has 85 letters and is listed in the Guinness World Records. Locals often just call the hill ‘Taumata’.

Here are a few curious laws, some over a century old, that still exist in certain U.S. states. Years have passed, but the laws remain… Men in Colorado are forbidden from kissing sleeping women. In Wisconsin, men are prohibited from shooting women while they’re having an orgasm. In some states, for example Arizona, Indiana, and New York, an erection visible through clothing in public is considered illegal.

You can be fined for that — and sent to jail. Meanwhile, in one city in Oregon, men are forbidden to swear while making love…

In Death Valley, the driest and hottest place on Earth, you’ll find more than 15 bird species, 40 mammal species, 44 reptile species, 12 amphibian species, 13 fish species, and 545 plant species.

450 years before the Spaniard Christopher Columbus discovered America, the 11th-century Central Asian scholar and encyclopedist Abu Rayhan al-Biruni confidently predicted the continent’s existence.

Out of 18 million Australians, over 4 million have moved to the country in the past half-century.