And so it begins

After having a weeklong orientation, classes have finally started. My first class of the semester? Econ on Thursday nights from 6-9. So unlucky, but I guess it's good that it's only for half a semester. My program has module classes that meet for half semesters (module I at the beginning, module II at the middle of the semester) alongside a few full semester classes. So what am I taking?

Monday
Rights-based Development (mod I)
Monitoring and Evaluation (mod II)

Tuesday
Sustainable Energy (mod II)
Ecology (mod I)
Gender & Development (mod II)

Wednesday
Framework for Development (full)
Planning & Implementation (full)

Thursday
Masculinity & Gender (mod II)
Economics (mod I)

Written out like that... it doesn't seem like this semester is going to be too bad. I'm trying to get most of my required courses out of the way so I can take fun classes next semester. It's hard to pack it all in to one year because there are SO many interesting classes. I'd like to take as many gender and ecology classes as I can because those are the most interesting to me.

Orientation was a little frustrating... but just because it was so long. I thought it would be a week of name games, but it wasn't too bad on the forced togetherness. I'm a little tired of the "what is your name? where are you from?" conversation, but I'm sure I'll get to know more people in my classes. I've met some really cool people so far and it's great to know that there are people out there that are somewhat similar to me. Working at the PR firm before was like hitting a wall - wanting to do good, but not being able to because it's not the bottom line.

In the middle of orientation, I celebrated my 26th birthday. I went out with some new friends and caught up with an old friend. :) I don't really do birthdays, so it was nice to keep it low key. Looking back, 25 was a pretty good year. Different, but good. I don't like to stay around too long in one place, so it's nice to have my 26th year in a brand new place with all new people.

Maine really is the way life should be...

So about 8 years ago, I went up to Maine to meet up with some friends I had met on my Europe trip. My parents drove me up from North Carolina on a 16 hour roadtrip. It was me and 3 other girls (Katie, Stephanie, and Amanda) meeting up in Stephanie's hometown for a small reunion of sorts.

This past weekend, I went back up to Maine because now that I'm living in Massachusetts, it's only 2 hours away. The great thing I've learned about New England is that EVERYTHING is in driving distance. If you decide to go one place, why not drive a little farther to see something else while you're at it. In the case of my last roadtrip, I decided to drive all the way up to Acadia National Park and stop in to see my friend Stephanie on my way back down.

I love national parks. I think it's one of the best things about the United States and I wanted to finally visit the first national park east of the Mississippi (true fact, the NPS says so). I have to say that Acadia NP may be my second favorite national park - second, of course, to Glacier National Park in Montana. Maine is a lot like Montana... except it's got that rocky coastline putting one both at the beach and at the mountains at the same time. After rushing to the park to get a nonreservable campsite (yes, Mom, I camped by myself!) and setting up my camp hurriedly so I could get back to exploring... I drove along the Park Loop road and stopped along the way to check out some of the sights. Park Loop road is like GNP's Going-to-the-Sun road, except not as scary and not high. I went up to the top of Cadillac Mountain for a great afternoon view of Bar Harbor (you kind of have to use a Maine/Boston accent when you say it) and the Frenchman Bay. I devoted the rest of the day to driving the loop more than a few times and stopping to see Thunder Hole (a cool inlet that at the right time sounds like a thunderstorm when the waves crash), Sand Beach (the only sandy beach in the area - the rest are rocky!), and the Bass Harbor Head lighthouse.

After camping in the rain (no worries, my tent was dry thanks to my rain fly), I got up at 4:00 to drive up to the top of Cadillac Mountain again... this time to see the sunrise. It was densely foggy and windy when I got to the top. Luckily, the fog cleared for a good 20 minutes as I watched the sunrise over Bar Harbor and the Frenchman Bay. This is the first place to see the sunrise in the United States!

Since I was up, I thought I'd drive along and hit the cool spots again, though it was like I had the whole park to myself since it was so freakin' early. I stopped by Thunder Hole again to see if I would finally get to hear it sound. It did. :)

After packing up my campsite, I started on my hike on the Bear Brook trail to the summit of Champlain Mountain. It was a great hike... though I must say that hiking, while it's fun by myself, it's more fun hiking with a friend (Katie!). Besides, how many self portraits can you take... well, I took many.Made a quick stop in Bar Harbor - for an hour because parking was a highway robbery total of $5/hour! Then I headed down to Poland, ME to stay with Stephanie and her new family! Poland, ME... yes, where Poland Springs water is from. Cool fact: Stephanie has Poland Springs water straight from the tap!!! Awesome.

Stephanie, her husband Rick, and their cute little boy Andrew brought me to the Auburn/Lewiston Hot Air Balloon festival. It was really cool getting to see the the balloons and the hot air at night, though I think Andrew was a little overwhelmed. :)

The next day, Stephanie, Rick, and Andrew set off to Old Port - the historic part of Portland. It was super cute with lots of cool shops and restaurants. I think I could live in Portland... or at least outside of Portland since it's expensive there. They also brought me to Ocean Park to the beach and then back to Auburn to a family party. It was great hanging out with Stephanie and her family (her parents and sister are great!!). Later on, we went to a driving range and played miniature golf in the dark. :) Since it was the last roadtrip of the summer... why not take a more scenic route and go through the White Mountains in New Hampshire. I drove to the top of Mount Washington - a stop on the Appalachian Trail and the home of the highest recorded winds (213 mph in 1934) - where it was snowing, foggy, windy, and cold. It was great! Middle of August and I got to see snow and ice... and almost blow off a mountain! After coming back down, I saw a moose that had just caused a motorcycle accident on the roadway. crazy.

All in all... a great roadtrip and a great way to end the summer. Seeing Stephanie was great! And since Portland is only 2 hours away, I know I'll be seeing her soon. :) School starts next Thursday... and orientation starts this Friday. Here's hoping I get excited somewhere along the way...