How does one spend their last weekend here in Maine? So many
things to do and not enough sunlight to do it. Does one explore something they
have never seen or spent time on those things they loved doing here? Well in my
last weekend here was a combination of everything.
The first step of having the best weekend spent here was
leaving work early. “But it’s the day before your poster are due?!?” You try looking at a computer screen for 12
hours and tell me which goes numb first, your buttocks or your eyeballs.
To justify my absence, I left work a little early and besides my mentor already
left for the day so it’s like sneaking out of your house after your parents
feel asleep. Does it really count if you don’t get caught? And I couldn’t take
another minutes looking at my poster. And most of it was already done.....probably
due to me being on yearbook for 5 years throughout middle school and high school
and having to pull out a layout out of
my butt being that one kid “forgot” to do it. Life advice: Don’t be THAT
kid…nobody likes THAT kid.
The sun was out, the tide was high and my running shoes were
calling my name. That’s probably one of my favorite things about this place. If
you get hot, you just jump into the ocean. It will cool you off real quick,
like real quick. After my run and jumping into the ocean I had to post it on instagram,
because if I don’t post about it, did it really happen? “I’ll take things white
girls say for 500 Alex.” I had this really cool idea to put my phone in my shoe
and just put it on timer and see what happens. What you saw on facebook or Instagram
was probably this picture with an amazing “white girl” captions. Nailed it.
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People told me not to fall in love while I was in Maine. Nobody ever warned me about falling in love WITH Maine. |
What you couldn’t see was that my brain could not process the whole jumping and timing thing, too complicated. So please enjoy this series of pictures I took trying to figure out what exactly I was trying to do..
Yep it’s was a glorious Free
Willy moment.
Friday was filled with just trying to get my poster done and
trying to live up to the standards that my mentors has for me. We probably went
back and forth trying to see if everything made sense, if ever figure was
perfect, everything lined up. My mother has ingrained in my brain the small
details of graphic arts, but gosh darn it this man could find the extra space
in between the mouse hairs. All in all I appreciated everything he did to get
the poster done. But of course as soon as it was printed, I noticed right away
the final version he gave me, one of my figures was up too high and covering
the text. It’s okay..it will only bug me for the rest of my life. Here it is all hung up. SO PRETTY! You'll have to wait to read the text till I get home.
Saturday rolled around and I rolled out of bed. That
northern sun was warming on my face and I was ready to start my day, unlike my
roommates who did not finish their posters. Luckily one of my roommates with a
car was finished enough to hang out with me. We went to Oveans mouth which is a
really pretty hike (or at least I think they call walking around hiking here). But
the tide was low and not ideal for swimming so we left to go back to Bigelow to
jump off the dock. We met up with the other interns who wanted to jump off the
dock as well. There is something special about the water off of Bigelow; the
devil himself could open the gates of hell underneath that water and it wouldn’t
change a degree. After the breath taking ice water had surrounded my body
probably for the last time we were sitting on the dock letting the scolding hot
concert burn our flesh alive (there is no winning).
We must have impeccable timing because just then this local intern
Andrew whom owns a lobster boat pulled up to the dock, he keeps a couple of
traps nearby. He asked if we wanted to climb in and see how lobstering, lobster
fishing, lobster trapping…one of those..is done. Without hesitation the four of
us got into the most authentic-looking boat I have ever seen. There was fish
guts EVERYWHERE, the floor looked like what you produce after having taco bell,
and the motor sounded also sounded like what you produce after having taco
bell. But off it speed into the river, and we watched Andrew and his fiancé work
a magical symphony. These two worked together like a well-oiled machine. One
pulling out the trap, checking the lobster size, checking to see if they are
egg-baring females, the other one baiting the trap, putting the rubber bands on
the claws, and then throwing the whole cage back in. That would be the perfect
way to see if a relationship would last. Spending every Saturday for the entire
summer out on a tiny boat that smells like fish guts for 10 hours. How romantic.
But was insanely cool seeing how it was done. We got to see baby lobsters that
we make dance before throwing them back in, thousands of eggs on a female, and little
star fish which we acted out scenes of Spongebob
with. After getting off the boat I felt like a true Maine residence.
After that we still wanted to go swimming but the sea was no
longer ideal. We packed up our fish smelling dignity and left for my favorite
place here, even the name is my favorite.
Lake KnickerBocker. Where the water is warm, fresh and there
is always at least one cute boy with his shirt off. We caught it right as the
sun was sinking and I started getting sentimental about leaving my new home.
That night we celebrated Evies Birthday with cake and the
rest of the fireworks my pryo of a mother bought us.
The next morning brought us more sunshine and more plans. After
the whole “I dunno know what do you wanna do?” We piled into the car, got some
snacks and headed to the beach. It was an hour drive plus another 40 minute “hike?”
to the beach,The hike was a brilliant. I don't know if you know the scence in Bruce Almighty where he meets God in the field. Well as I was walking through, I thought Morgan Freeman was going to pop out of the field any second.
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| Morgan Freeman.. What are you doing here? |
But as soon as the sand was in-between my toes it was all worth
it. My roommates got into the Ocean. It was the first time I’ve seen actual
waves on a beach here in Maine. I was hesitant to go in because of the usual excuses:
contacts, hair, sand everywhere, cold boobies..you name it. But Evie told me
one “I’ve never regretted jumping into a body of water.” So keeping that in mind I gritted my teeth and
joined my friends in the waves of ocean. You know what? It wasn’t horrible. The
water was cold but I could bare it. The waves crashed over our heads and body
surfing became a competition. After the waves became too cold to bare any
longer the warm sand greeted us open arms. Eventually the tide came to our
towels to say hello and the sun was saying goodbye so we packed up and left. I
could of done without the sand in-between my thighs making it feel like I was wearing
sandpaper underpants, but hey you can’t win every battle.
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| Crab graveyard RIP |
The warm shower was my relief and my pillow (pallow if your from Utah) was my saint.
I could only kiss my pillow before I remembered
that I promised my roommate I would help with a video project. So back to the
lab we went. The video was actually pretty fun but it was late. I was sad that I
couldn’t skype with my parents very much. I got to see my parents long enough
for my mother to comment on my “costume” that I was no longer wearing for the
film. She was referring to my lab coat I took off, but because of the many
years of training I’ve had in the art of sarcasm, I was quick to response with “yeah the porno filming went
well thanks for asking”. Gosh I can’t wait to be with my family again. I will
admit my sense of humor is weird but at least I have 7 more weirdos back at
home.
Don’t worry about me though, I’ll be home soon enough to see
my little weirdos but for now I’ll enjoy the rest of the time I have here.
Bitter sweet moments but all you can do is learn from your experiences.
When you’re brave
enough to say goodbye
Life will reward you
with a new hello.
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