International exchange programs

The most isolated outpost of Western civilization on Earth is the Hawaiian Islands — 3,700 kilometers from the nearest mainland (U.S. territory). One of the most remote places in the world overall. Maybe that’s why Hawai‘i has the longest life expectancy in the U.S. — 82 years. In Mississippi, by contrast, people may live just as comfortably but for a much shorter time — only about 75 years.

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

Nearby is Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano on Earth — its height is only 36 meters less than Mauna Kea. On the night of Sunday, November 27, 2022, the volcano erupted for the first time since 1984, flooding the bowl-shaped caldera at its summit. On November 28, lava fountains began erupting along fissures; most reached several meters in height, while the tallest reached 30–60 m.

Did you know the person on the U.S. $100 bill was never a 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 helped form the United States as an independent nation: the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu — the name of a low hill on New Zealand’s North Island — is 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 to his loved one.” The word has 85 letters and is listed in the Guinness World Records. Locals often shorten it to “Taumata.”

Here are a few curious, century-old laws still on the books in some U.S. states. Years have passed, but the laws remain… In Colorado, men are forbidden to kiss sleeping women. In Wisconsin, men are prohibited from shooting women during orgasm. In several states — for example, Arizona, Indiana, and New York — a visible erection through clothing in public places is illegal.

You can be fined — and even jailed — for it. In one city in Oregon, men are even prohibited from swearing while making love…

Death Valley, the driest and hottest place on Earth, is home to more than 15 bird species, 40 mammal species, 44 reptile species, 12 amphibian species, 13 fish species, and 545 plant species.

Some 450 years before Christopher Columbus “discovered” America, the Central Asian scholar and encyclopedist Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī, who lived in the 11th century, confidently predicted the existence of this continent.

Of Australia’s 18 million people, more than 4 million arrived in the country in the last half-century.