Porches, Beaches, and Farms: A Day in the Life

The semester was coming to an end and I hadn’t yet found housing to stay in Maine for the summer. This was a problem since my home is in Kentucky and I needed to be close to campus to finish working on last minute preparations for this fall’s AESOP. So, I went to a dean’s office and begged for help. Only at a school like Bates is something like this at all possible. The dean heard my plea and hired me as a research assistant for Short Term which gave me the luxury of keeping my on campus room and let me stay on the meal plan. These days I am making my own hours and finishing up all the reservations, liability forms, and brochures for AESOP.

But when I am not doing that I spread my time between three places: porches, beaches, and The Farm.

All up and down Frye St there are small campus owned houses for students. Most of them are populated by the artsy-outdoorsy-activist kids. But the baseball team also lives in one of the houses, and last year the lax boys had a house on Frye St too. Over Short Term, kids put their couches out on the porch and enjoy the warm weather. It feels like almost every night one of the houses is putting out a grill and cooking up some food supplied by Commons.

Other than that, I am officially taking up surfing as a past time. All my buddies are really into it and this past week the swells have been amazing. Good surfing is at most a 45 minute drive away. And even on cold flat days, it can be fun to go for a swim in your wet suit.

But if you are not interested in a rowdy day trying to catch a wave, a lazy after noon at “The Farm” (ie Nezinscot Farm). At Nezinscot, you can catch a tastey breakfast or just stroll the place soaking in the feel of rural Maine.

-Graham

Here are some of my friends off the Maine coast about to find out that there might not be any good waves today.