Over Labor Day weekend, my wife and I dropped our youngest daughter at the University of Maine at Fort Kent to start her first year in their nursing program. Now, six weeks in, we have another three day weekend, and figured it was a good opportunity to see how campus life was treating her. So after work on Friday, we headed north for a five hour drive to Maine's St. John's Valley. Mid October is about the best time for a road trip in Maine, and until the sun set at about 6:15, we enjoyed some amazing foliage. For the last hour and a half or so, we were on back roads, and the trip wasn't as pleasurable: we were driving in dark, forested areas where towns are few and far between. At one point we came upon a pickup truck that had hit and killed a moose. The driver was fine, and help was coming, so we continued, but I drove a bit slower after that.
We arrived at U Maine Fort Kent around 9:30, and went to Rose's suite. Although a Freshman, she somehow won the housing jackpot and was assigned a suite rather than a dorm room. She and three other girls share two bedrooms, a living room, bathroom and kitchenette. We met Cass, one of her suitemates, but the other two were home for the long weekend. As cliché as it sounds, Rose has grown up so much in only six weeks of college. She's confident, independent, and it was kind of cute watching her try to be our hostess for the evening. We caught up on all the chitchat in their Livingroom before Sue and I went to our hotel for the night.
Our hotel was right across from the border crossing into Canada; right at mile 0 of US route 1. While I wouldn't say I could have thrown a stone into Canada from there, I'm confident Tom Brady could have. Virtually every parking space at the Northern Door Inn was occupied not with cars or even pickups, but mud covered ATVs. Apparently there are hundreds of miles of trails in the area, and this was the home away from home for ATV enthusiasts in the summer and fall and snowmobilers in the winter.
We reconnected with Rose the next morning and brought her to the town of Madawaska to shop at Marden's discount store. This is the part of Maine that borders western New Brunswick and eastern Quebec, and the French Canadian influence was evident by towns with names like "Frenchville" and "St. Agnes", to say nothing of the accents of the locals. We followed the St. John River for half an hour, and this allowed Rose to fill us in on all the stories of college life: the guy who, on his first day as a nursing major learned he'd have to bathe old people so he immediately switched majors; the group of UMFK students who went skinny dipping in the St. John and got picked up by border patrol; which professors were interesting, and which were dull; and how she was the only Freshman to get a 100 on the first nursing exam. That's my girl!
Rose started her work study job later that day; she is part of the team who video sporting events. Apparently her job is to do the live online updates. Her first assignment was a soccer game that afternoon, so Sue and I attended. After double overtime, the game ended in a 1 to 1 tie. And people say baseball is boring. Saturday ended with lots of laughs as we attended a live stage hypnotist in the student center.
The highlight, though, was Sunday morning when Rose brought us to her church, the Fort Kent Bible Church. It was clearly important to her for us to visit there,, and equally clear that she was well on her way to being part of this small faith community. The pastor knew her by name, and gave us a hearty welcome. The advisor for UMFK Christian fellowship also goes to this church and came right over to meet us. Normally a couple of guys from campus also attend there (usually they are Rose's ride) but they were, like so many others, home for the long weekend.
We had to leave after church, and Rose had two soccer games and a volleyball game to cover before her Sunday was over, so we bought her lunch and headed south. The last time we left her at UMFK there were plenty of tears and fears for her, but this time we left confident that she was in the right place and making the most of her college experience.