Back to class.

After spending three bittersweet months in Massachusetts, I have now returned to Pennsylvania for my junior year of college. This semester I will be living with three other friends in a "quad" dorm room. Our room is really large! As you can see, we bunked all four beds and pushed them up against the walls to create lots of floor space. By the way, my courses for this semester include...

Composition, Theory and Pedagogy
(English)Medieval Renaissance Drama
Educational Psychology
Problems in Philosophy
Introduction to Theology

"Where the mountains meet the sea"

One of my end-of-summer adventures included a camping trip to Maine with my parents, sisters, brother-in-laws and close college friend, Elena (my cousin Tristan joined us for a portion of the trip as well!) We camped along the coast of Casco Bay at our favorite campground, Recompense Shores. Recompense Shores is located in Freeport, Maine on an organic beef farm (Wolfe's Neck Farm). Fortunately the cow pasture was far enough away from our own campsite for us to smell the cows in our sleep! However, it was neat to visit the animals when we were closer to the barn - other than cows, Wolfe's Neck is home to chickens, roosters, goats, sheep, turkeys, rabbits and more! (http://www.wolfesneckfarm.org/)

One of the highlights of our stay in Maine was a visit we made to the town of Camden, which is home to Mount Battie. We drove our cars up to the top of the mountain so that we could soak in the breath-taking view of the Maine landscape provided from its peak. Above is a picture of Camden harbor (Penebscot Bay) as seen from the top of the mountain.

Another trip highlight was my visit to Bath, ME with my parents and Elena. On the final morning of our stay, my parents took Elena and I out to breakfast at a very quirky little cafe in Bath called the Twilight Cafe. Elena, a blueberry muffin lover, ordered a blueberry muffin served grilled! I, of course, ordered a scone! In addition to finding a great place to eat in Bath, we also came upon some interesting antique bookstores. My mom discovered a copy of the "Collected Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay," our favorite Maine poet! A portion of her beautiful poem, Renascence is printed on a plaque which stands on the top of Mt. Battie.

Here is the first stanza of Renascence written on the plaque:

"All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked another way,
And saw three islands in a bay.
So with my eyes I traced the line
Of the horizon, thin and fine,
Straight around till I was come
Back to where I'd started from;
And all I saw from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood."

Camden, ME is often referred to as the city "where the mountains meet the sea," - a reference made to Renascence!