The earthquake in Japan caused problems all over the world, even for vacationers trying to get away from the cold. The monstrous earthquake caused a tsunami that traveled around the whole world. In a matter of hours the tsunami traveled to Australia, Hawaii, California and even Africa. The wave from the tsunami damaged beaches all over the world. Many small harbors in California were completely destroyed and beaches in Hawaii were just slightly damaged. However, nothing compared to the damage in Japan where so much water was displaced it caused boats to float through the middle of small towns just like you would see in movies. The disaster caused rumors to spread like wildfire. Americans were bombarded with rumors that the tsunami was going to destroy all of Hawaii. Melissa Taylor, a junior, said “I found out about the tsunami warnings from my friends back in Alaska.” Taylor didn’t even hear about it on the Hawaiian TV news or radio until after she got the texts. Matthew Wilson, a senior, had a similar experiences Social networking and texting proved to be fastest of news transfer, even for worldwide news. The actual news, like radio and television, seemed to be the secondary method of learning about currents issues. After hearing the news on Hawaiian television, Taylor and Wilson, who happened to be staying at the same condo complex, learned that they were to be evacuated to a hotel that was located at a higher elevation. “I was evacuated at midnight,” says Wilson, who spent the night in the hotel parking lot. He and his family bought a blow-up mattress and placed it in the back of their rental van and slept there. This seemed to be a better idea than fighting the crowded hotel that had no vacancies left. Taylor, on the other hand, spent the night in an oversized poolside chair with her best friend Jennie Martens. They were not alone; in fact, the pool was an extremely popular place to be. The hotel was packed because it was the evacuation spot for many other vacationers. Taylor said “every chair next to the pool was taken.” When Taylor was asked if she was scared she answered, “I wasn’t scared, and neither were other people except for this one man.” This man seemed to be pacing back and forth in the hallways. He was also asking an overwhelming amount of questions about the tsunami to everyone that walked by. Neither Wilson or Taylor were able to see the tsunami hit the beach, although they “kinda wanted to.” It is something that you will never normally get to see, and they missed the opportunity. Wilson says, “I hear it is just like the bore tides at home, so I wasn’t worried.” The morning after the tsunami they were able to go to the beach to see the damage, which was minuscule. There was no damage done to either Taylor’s or Wilson’s condos. This experience was tedious and annoying to vacationers considering no damage occurred. They were also forced out of their condo and had no good living situations. They were thankful for their friends in Alaska that warned them about the upcoming situation. If it weren’t for texting, the news would have been startling. They were able to continue on with a peaceful time in sunny Hawaii after the startling natural disaster, both coming back incredibly tan.