Goodbye to a Great Friend

If you haven't heard yet, I had to say goodbye to my car Baxter last week. He made it as far as Ontario, Canada before he couldn't go any further. Fortunately I was able to make it to a mechanic just outside of Ottowa who was extremely helpful and nice in my time of tragedy. There were too many things needing to be fixed to make Baxter drivable again, and I couldn't afford it so I made the decision to let my dear travel partner stay in Canada as his final resting place. He will be missed immensely.

Just like the last time I had car trouble (back in Pennsylvania) I got to witness that this world still does have truly, genuinely nice people. The Canadians were wonderful! While I was stopped on the side of the road I had two people stop and offer help, then the help I received from the people at the garage I took my car to went above and beyond their job description. The owner and his entire staff helped me make phone calls, try to find a new way to get home and even tried to help me find a new car to buy in Canada and figure out what the laws would be about getting it over the border. In the end my equally amazing friends in Maine rescued me by offering to come get me and bring me back to Maine so I could put myself back together and figure something out. After I decided that would be best, the owner of the garage offered to find me a hotel and drove me there. He also offered to take my car so I wouldn't have to have it towed anywhere and he said he'd give me $100 for it (a fair deal I think, as far as workable parts) but after he'd spent hours of his day helping me find a way home I said he could just take it for free. I don't even think that begins to be sufficient thanks to him and his staff. So here's my plug for them, as I feel it's completely necessary to advertise for him: If you are ever in Ontario, Canada and need someone to help with a car problem contact Phil Roy's Service Station! They are unbelievable people, especially Phil! Also thanks to my mom, Colin, Will, Kathy, Zach, Jess and Ben for your help in my predicament! Getting stranded and car-less in Canada was, of course, just the epic adventure that Baxter's final day deserved. What a story to tell, about the giving up of my first car to a Canadian mechanic in some small town in Ontario and then getting a ride back to Maine.

Speaking of being back in Maine, here I am once again with all my stuff minus a car. I've decided to take a train home for several reasons. First, it will still be somewhat of an epic adventure, taking a train across the country! Second, they allow up to six pieces of luggage with the first three being free and the next three being only $10 each! So I leave Maine again on Saturday, and I will arrive in Denver on Monday morning. In the meantime, it's great to have a couple more days to spend with all these amazing Maine people :-)

Do You Speak Facebook?

How do I know that Facebook has infiltrated every corner of the world? Because I am in a hostel dorm room in Canada, uploading photos onto Facebook while my German and Australian roommates do the same. Weird.

Anyways....Montreal! What a fun city!! I wandered around downtown today. I talked myself into taking the subway (even though I had no map, speak very limited French, and have never ridden a subway all by myself before!) But get this...I got exactly where I wanted to go on the first try! Yay me! The Montreal subway system is actually quite easy to figure out, but let's not allow that to lessen my victory :-) So I took the subway into the middle of downtown and proceeded to walk north along Rue Sainte Catherine where there are all kinds of shops and restaurants. This kept me occupied for several hours, then I walked a few blocks south into Old Montreal which was VERY cool! Cobblestone streets, cute little shops, restaurants...kind of the same as the rest of the city except way cooler architecture, all very old and European looking...or what I imagine Europe to look like, since I haven't been there yet! As I was walking through Old Montreal it started raining so I sat under a tree for a while and waited for the rain to stop.

Come to think of it, I did have two small mishaps involving the subway. But they don't really count. First was when I tried to buy a ticket. I don't see why all subway systems can't have the same ticket-buying system too?! I know how it works in Shanghai, Tokyo, New York and Boston...each city having different systems, and of course Montreal also had its own way of doing things. So I got a little confused at the ticket-buying machine and had to ask the little man behind the window to help me and fortunately he took pity on me and spoke English to me. The second mishap which was more hilarious than anything was getting off the subway and somehow finding my way into the middle of a university! Apparently it was orientation day at "Subway U" and I was suddenly surrounded by college freshmen speaking an interesting mix of 'Frenglish' I'm not sure which university this actually was, but how random to have the entrance to it sneakily disguised as the subway exit! (My newest French word is sortie, which means exit)

I've been fascinated by the linguistic culture of Montreal. It's definitely a bilingual city although I think the preferred language in most parts is French. There are several universities in downtown Montreal and therefore lots of Enligsh-speaking students. My interactions and people-watching so far lead me to conclude this: people first speak French to a stranger, then depending on the person's response they either continue in French or immediately switch to English. I like using the little French I know, but this probably breaks the language flow in interaction norms because when a store clerk or someone starts out speaking to me in French I can get as far as "hello, how are you, I'm well thank you" before I have to admit I don't know any more French and we should continue this conversation in English now.

Well tomorrow I drive 8.5 hours to get to a KOA kampsite in Ontario. It's going to be a very long day of driving. So...wish me luck! :-)

More blogs soon!
<3

Bonjour de Montréal!

That's a bit of my very limited French that I've gotten to use so far while in CANADA!!! Woohoo! A new country to check off my list of countries to go to :-) I said goodbye to Vermont and the awesome people who live there, and headed north! Crossing the border in my car was fairly quick and easy, I was just asked lots of questions. The woman asked me what I was doing in Canada (being a tourist of course!) where I came from (Maine) where I live (Colorado...I guess?) if I had any weapons in my car (nope) what was I doing in Maine (sitting on the beach...oh, and working at a camp) how long I'd be in Canada (um. Maybe...a few days? No more than a week?) when I'd be crossing back into the USA (uhhh what's today? Um maybe a week from today, no later than a week. I think...) And what border point I'd be crossing back over (hmm maybe Montana? Or maybe North Dakota..) I suppose the border guard lady must have thought I was an unprepared idiot but she let me through anyways :-) She might say unprepared, I say spontaneous...hopefully! Anyways, yes, I have somewhat of a plan. I'm staying in a hostel here in Montreal tonight and tomorrow night, then I will be stayingat various KOA kampgrounds across Ontario -which is, as it turns out, pretty huge! Then I will stay somewhere in Winnipeg...probably a hotel. Then I will cross back into the US, probably through North Dakota. Then make my way southwest until I find myself surrounded by those gorgeous rocky mountains again!!! YAY!

So here I am in Canada. It's been a while since I've been so surrounded by a language other than English. It seems that French is the primary language of everywhere in the province of Quebec, including Montreal, so it's already been an adventure figuring things out using the little French I know. I mean sure pretty much everyone here also speaks English but they'll think more of me if I try to speak French....? Hard to say. Anyways, I suppose as I travel farther west the Canadians will speak more English and less French.

Today has been my day of driving, border-crossing, getting only slightly lost (which is better than I was hoping for!), and wandering around the neighborhood where my hostel is located. For some reason I can hardly keep my eyes open right now as I type so I think it will be an early night going to bed. But tomorrow I plan to explore Montreal a bit and see what I can find! My hostel is pretty nice, and the girls in my room are great. One is German, one is Australian, and I'm not sure where the third is from because I haven't heard her speak yet (staying in hostels helps me perfect my accent-detection skills).

So I think it's time for bed. Hope you all are doing well! If you are in the Boulder area...I'll see you soon! If you're somewhere else...I miss you already!

On The Road Again

Jennie's road trip part two has begun! Yesterday I said goodbye to Maine and all the amazing people there, loaded up my car again and started heading back west. I am taking a different route than on my way to Maine. I am currently visiting Kristene, a friend from Semester at Sea, in Vermont and then I plan to head up into Canada to see what those silly neighbors to the north are all about!

My last few days in Maine were bittersweet, but not for the normal reasons. It was great seeing everyone one more time before leaving, and I got to do a few more fun things, but sadly a friend of mine was also in an accident last Friday, causing some worry. But fortunately he survived and is now working on the long road of recovery. I was sad to leave him in that state, but I know he'll get through this. Besides the accident, though, I did get to go on a cocktail cruise around the Maine coast for an hour with Meg which was really fun! It was a great summer and I will miss Maine and everyone there dearly...but of course, I'll be back :-)

So after loading my car up to the point of, once again, riding rather low to the ground and moving the drivers seat forward to make room for stuff to fit in the back so that I am awkwardly close to the steering wheel, I took off and headed north/west to Vermont. This, folks, is where I made a strange and wonderful discovery. Boulder has a twin....and it's name is Burlington, VT! I'm not sure if any of you have ever experienced this strange phenomenon of entering a city and it looks and feels exactly like the city you grew up in...but let me tell you, it's kind of fun when you'd been away from that home city for 3 months! It was fun to see mountains and hills again as I drove further and further into Vermont. Maine does, as I have explained before, have mountains but they're very sneaky mountains that don't appear until you're RIGHT there in them...so as I drove through Vermont and saw gorgeous hills and mountains in the distance it already felt like home. But THEN.....I drove into Burlington and the first thing I saw was a college campus, young people wandering around, some skateboarders making an amateur video of their "skills", a guy riding by on a unicycle, a family riding bikes, and a town and architecture that was scarily similar to Boulder. I saw the equivalent to Mapleton road, and then I saw a street with the name of....that's right, Pearl St! :-) Needless to say I instantly decided I liked Burlington, and Vermont in general and everyone who says it's similar to Colorado is totally right. And I wonder, was anyone else aware that Burlington is just like Boulder? Im sure someone has discovered that too.

Well, now I get to hang out with Kristene for the day and either tomorrow or Thursday I will head up to Canada!!! This will be my first time in Canada and my first time driving through a border. But fear not, I've got my passport all ready! Although it sounds like it's really not necessary to get into Canada, it's coming back to the United States where I'll need to prove I'm American. Oh what a silly country we are...to say the least. In any case, I think it's going to be a fun trip west through Canada. That reminds me, I should start planning out where I'm going to stay while I'm there. I'm hoping to do some camping along the way as a cheaper and more adventurous alternative to hotels. I will also be visitng Montreal though, where I think I will try to get a room in a hostel or hotel.

Speaking of travels, my awesome friend Bethany, also from Semester at Sea, will be spending 10 months in China teaching english and she leaves Friday! So I wish her happy and safe travels, and lots of fun! Goodbye Bethany!!!!! You will be missed while you're gone! :-)

The Greatest Thing Since Kevin Bacon

I'm back to enjoying ample free time and wondering about money. My job at the rec ended on Monday, and I leave the great land of Maine next Monday. Currently I am sitting in my pajamas listening to the Eat, Pray, Love soundtrack, eating rice pudding, and blogging away! Well let's catch up and discuss last week. As you may recall, last week was my last camping trip with the rec and we went to Acadia National Park!!!!! WHAT an incredible place! We also spent an evening in Bar Harbor, an equally incredible and fun place. We left Tuesday for Acadia and drove for a good 4 hours. That was quite a long journey and an exhausting job for me, driving a 15-passenger van full of middle school kids. The good news is I saw a car with a big CU sticker in their back window - needless to say I let out a "wooooo!!!! Go BUFFS!" :-) By the time I felt we must be in Canada we finally arrived at our KOA "kampsite" right smack in Acadia Natnl Park which is, of course, completely gorgeous. We set up our tents and ate dinner (burgers, and veggie burgers for me! Yum!) Then we piled the kids back in the vans and drove a few minutes down the road to a hilarious lumberjack show! I've done a lot of things in Maine, and I am SO proud to say that attending a lumberjack show is one of them. Then it started pouring rain so we drove back to our "kampsite" and crammed all 27 of us into the back of our rental cargo truck (picture a 14 ft. U Haul truck size, housing 23 semi-adults and 4 counselors) and played a game of "counselor jeopardy". One of the questions was what does Jennie's car's license plate say and one team of kids guessed "Hippie" bless them. After jeopardy we all went back to our respective tents for the night where I got to test out the waterproofness of my tent again - fortunately it passed again! Wednesday was the day of hiking in Acadia that I'd been anxiously anticipating with excitement for weeks! The "mountain" we climbed was fairly small, definitely a hill by Colorado standards, but that didn't take away from the intenseness of the hike or the incredible view of the ocean from the top. The one thing Maine mountains have that Colorado ones do not is a view of the ocean from the top. The first time I experienced that kind of view was on the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa and I thought it was probably the most incredible view in the world. Quite possibly it is, although I plan to see many more views in my life so you never know! In any case there's something completely stunning about standing on a mountain and seeing the ocean all blue and infinite below you.

After our short but amazing hike in Acadia we headed back to our kampsite where we ate dinner and then had quite an epic lipsync production put on by the kids and featuring a special little diddy by the 4 of us counselors. The kids were in 4 teams and each team had to prepare a lipsync-type performance. We had some pretty hilarious performances with songs by Michael Jackson, Eminem, Will Smith (Fresh Prince, of course!), and Good Charlotte...which was quite a contrast to the performances last session with songs by Alvin and the Chipmunks, Journey, and Miley Cyrus. Hmmm. Then the 4 counselors performed a thrown-together-in-20-minutes performance of awesomeness to the song Footloose sporting, of course, our most awesome neon 80s clothes! I think it was probably the greatest thing since Kevin Bacon.

After an evening of dancing around like fools, we took the kids into Bar Harbor to test out their responsibility level as 12, 13, and 14 year olds. I was glad to discover they could handle it. We gave them 2 hours to hang out, walk around, and shop in Bar Harbor before we met up at a designated meeting spot to head back to the kampsite. They did a great job and didn't cause too much chaos so we were proud of all 23 of our crazy little pre-teens. Also, as per request by the kids, we counselors wore our 80s costumes into Bar Harbor and yes we did spend the entire time our wearing neon and spandex! If anyone ever asks me "have you ever worn neon spandex in public?" I can say "why yes, actually, I wore a complete 80s ensemble for an entire evening in Bar Harbor!" By the way, the Obamas vacationed in Bar Harbor earlier this summer....too bad they weren't there while we were there. Meeting the president while dressed like a fool? YES PLEASE! :-)

In case you couldn't already tell, I had a totally amazing time in Acadia and Bar Harbor last week. Then, to top it off we woke up Thursday morning at 3:30am (and when I say woke up, I mean most of the kids were still awake from the night before and I got a total of about 1.5 hours of sleep) and drove up Cadillac mountain (hill?) to watch the sun rise over Bar Harbor. There are many things about that which made it incredible. First of all is that the spot at which we were is the most eastern point in the USA and therefore, last Thursday we were the very first people in the US to see the sun! How cool is that?! It was also a just totally incredible view, and the sunrise was gorgeous! And it was so much fun to share that moment with the other 26 people on our trip as well as maybe 200 other people who were up there also watching the sun rise. Everyone was all bundled up and barely awake but when the sun started coming up above the ocean and it was bright, deep red everyone woke up, got quiet, and watched in awe. SO COOL! Then we drove back down the mountain and while I drove all 13 of the kids in my van fell asleep and it was one of those peaceful moments in life where you just can't think of anything better. We did, however, have to make a mandatory coffee stop for those of us doing the driving.

After having so many ridiculously cool Maine experiences, I got back from Acadia and still had more fun to come! Last weekend was Zach and Jess' birthdays so there was lots of birthdaytastic fun! Friday we had our girls' movie night and saw Eat Pray Love which was a great movie!! Then went out for drinks. Then Saturday we had a barbeque at Jess and Ben's house, and then Sunday we went to a lake and rented a jet ski and I had my very first (and second!) ride on a jet ski! SO MUCH FUN!! I also tried out a paddle board and did some kayaking. Then we finished the day with pizza and presents. Then on Monday....I had a very important first: my first lobster dinner! A real authentic Maine experience. The lobster was pretty good, but it sure was a lot of work getting to the actual meat! My god. But what an experience. I'm so glad I finally had my Maine lobster! Sadly most of the people eating with me were not fans of lobster which I think made the experience ever so slightly less fun, but I tried to ignore the comments and faces and concentrate on learning how to break off a lobster's legs and pull the meat out in peace! haha. I mean hey, lobster isn't for everyone, but I was determined to successfully eat at least one in my life. And I had a good teacher showing me what to do, and a great photographer documenting the whole experience! The past few days have been filled with packing, playing wii, and planning out my trip through Canada. I feel like I've really been neglecting the beach though so I think I'll take a bike ride down there for a little while today. Soon I'll be back in the landlocked west so I definitely need to enjoy the ocean as much as possible before I leave!

I'm off for now. Everyone take care!!

The Wild Ones

That would be me, in my 80s costume for the counselor lipsync at camp this week! We'll be performing "Footloose" and it's probably going to be amazing.

So here it is, the last week of camp. How crazy! My neon outfit is packed and so is everything else for the camping trip tomorrow. Then a barbeque Friday, and thus ends my summer at Wells Rec! Friday night I'm having a rare and much anticipated girls' night with some friends, we're going to see the new movie Eat, Pray, Love - based on the book which I conveniently just finished reading! Speaking of reading, I'm still working my way through Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughter House Five" which is proving to be just as weird as the rest of his books. Actually the only other one I've read by him was "Cat's Cradle" but that was definitely weird. I have a love-hate relationship with Vonnegut. His books are really awesome but I always seem to have a really hard time getting through them to the point of appreciation. Sigh. Oh well anyways as I was saying, Friday we're going to see Eat, Pray, Love which I'm very excited for! Then Saturday and Sunday will commence the birthday festivities to celebrate Zach and Jess' birthdays! Wooo! Next week will probably involve packing, planning, and seeing everyone one (or more) times before I leave. After that, I head up to Canada. My route and plans aren't final yet for that part yet, I'm still working on that. I've also got a list of things to do before I leave Maine. For my own purposes, I will put that list here so I can refer to it during the next 2 weeks and make sure I get them all done:
-80s lipsync to "Footloose" while camping in Acadia National Park
-see Eat, Pray, Love with all the lovely ladies of Wells, Maine
-eat a lobster
-go on a boat cruise with Meg and company
-master the art of surfing
-watch the sun rise over the ocean and, obviously, photograph it
-karaoke bar in Ogunquit


In other big news, and in the spirit of making me feel quite old, I just found out that my childhood best friend is engaged! So, congratulations to you Britta! We spent years of our childhood dreaming up our future husbands (one option being Leonardo DiCaprio) and she has been fortunate enough to find hers already! Mine's still out there, but I can't wait to meet him :-) In any case, I'm so happy for you Britta! Does this mean Leo DiCaprio's all mine?? Britta and I sometime around age 9

And finally, the famous Michael Marsh (aka Mikey Gigz) has, after a long time of denial, accepted his inner hippie and joined the Peace Corps. He has just arrived in Uganda this week, and his sarcasm and ridiculosity will be greatly missed while he's gone! Bon Voyage, Michael!

Where's the ocean gone? Sorry, I swallowed it

Me and my surf board about to venture into the waves!


Today I learned how to surf. I wasn't amazing but I got up onto my knees on the board. I really must try it again and stand all the way up! I was on my way to becoming a surfing master before one fall caused me to swallow about half the Atlantic Ocean so I had to take a break. I let the campers use the board again and sadly we ran out of time for me to give it another go. So no amazing surfing photos yet but here's one of me pre-surfing lesson. I'm hoping to go out again before I leave the east coast so maybe by the end of the summer I'll get a good picture of me standing on a surf board! In any case, it was a fun day. It was unbelievably hot (dare I say...wicked hot?!) so the freezing cold ocean felt good, as did the ice cream we got afterward. Mmmm.

Also, I forgot to mention before that while I was in Boulder last weekend I got to go see my photos on display in the Boulder Public Library! That's right, my photos on display!! First time ever that I can recall having my photos up somewhere public. Their summer reading program for kids has a theme involving "water" so two of my photos from Semester at Sea - one of surf boards in Hawaii and another of the view from my port hole on the ship - were used! Maybe this is just the beginning of my photos being publicly displayed...?! :-)
Me and my photos at the Boulder Public Library

Oh, and P.S., congratulations to California on overturning proposition 8 today! Let's hear it for equality! Wooooo!

Notes From Terminal C

I currently find myself sitting in an airport in Atlanta, GA for a couple hours so what better time to bust out an update on my life?! I am returning to Maine from a brief but nice weekend in Colorado for my mom’s wedding party. I caught my flight out of Denver at 6:10 this morning with just seconds to spare before they closed the doors. Yikes. Fortunately I made the flight with only minor inconveniences to my fellow passengers as I became “that person” arriving on the plane panting and sweaty from running. Then there was no overhead compartment room anywhere near my seat so my backpack and I were separated for the flight but hey, such is life. No big deal. So I got to Atlanta, and I’ve got a couple hours to kill while I wait for my flight into Portland.

It was nice to see the mountains again and hang out with family for a weekend. My flights to get into Denver on Friday were fairly uneventful with the exception of screaming babies and a hilarious pilot.

I now have two more weeks of camp in Maine which seems simultaneously to be a long and short amount of time. If you have ever had one of those moments in your life where you look at the situation you are in and marvel at how strange or funny it is and wonder how you got there, you know how I feel. On Thursday night of last week while on a camping trip with Wells Rec I was sitting in a campground in the middle of the Maine wilderness watching middle school kids lip sync to Journey and Miley Cyrus. It for some reason struck me as funny to be there at that moment. But it’s one more thing to say I’ve done and I am, of course, grateful for that. Last week involved a day of Frisbee golf on Tuesday and a camping trip in Bethel Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I tried out my brand new tent while on the trip and I am relieved to announce that it is water proof! It’s a Columbia tent I bought from Amazon for a ridiculous deal so I was skeptical but so far it’s a pretty awesome tent. Sadly one of the poles has gotten bent already but obviously that’s what duct tape was made for and my requirements for a tent are fairly minimal at this point – basically just that whole water proof thing and maybe the ability to keep the bugs out too.

Speaking of outdoor gear, I had a monumental shopping trip in my life: I visited THE L. L. Bean store in Freeport, Maine! As you may know, L. L. Bean’s origins lie in Maine and me growing up looking at the catalogs I had to visit the real thing while in Maine. The store was quite overwhelmingly huge and I had fun wandering around looking at all the things they had and of course having my picture taken with the giant boot outside the front door!

This week at camp we get to have surfing lessons, go mini golfing and a trip to ‘Funtown’ a small amusement park in one of the nearby towns. Next week is the last week of camp and we’re going camping in the one and only Acadia National Park and visiting Bar Harbor! It should be awesome!

While visiting with family this weekend the inevitable question arose: what will you do after Maine? Sigh. Who knows. Well, the basic plan is to drive north into Canada, then west through the land of…maple syrup? And then back down to Colorado. My travels have not taken me to Canada yet, so as long as my car holds out I’d like to visit it for a few days on my way back west. Then I suppose the future holds the task of job hunting in Boulder for a good enough, but not “real” job so that I can earn and save enough money to fund future travel plans. Right now I hope those future travels take me to Europe, another large land mass I have yet to visit! I’m looking into cheaper ways to see such a huge and expensive place such as volunteer working my way around the various places I want to see (including but not exclusive to England, Ireland, Estonia, Italy, Germany, France, Scotland, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic)

In the meantime, though, I think I’ll wander around terminal C at the Atlanta airport and see what kind of overpriced food I can find to eat!
*peace*