Things I Have Learned About Maine, part 1

1) Cars are not cars. They are caahhhs. Bars are baaahhhs, and so forth. Most of the students at USM are from Maine, but very few have a Mainish accent. There are one or two though, especially the custodian for my building. It's a wonder to hear, even if it does take a minute for my head to translate it sometimes.

2) Everyone is very friendly. In England I can expect loud insults daily, occasionally minor violence and constant stares and glares. Since I have been in Maine - that'd be a month on Thursday) I have had one insult. No violence, and if there have been stares I haven't noticed them. In fact things are almost the opposite. I've had many many people compliment me on my clothes, which is just strange. At first I had flashbacks to high school, when compliments were sarcastic, and actually insults. I worried for a while that the compliments here were insults, but I'm pretty sure they aren't now. People are just friendly.

3) Public transport really is as bad as the guidebooks say. I can't get out of Gorham without a friend with a car. The university provides a shuttle bus from Gorham to Portland, but the last bus back is 10pm and there are none on Sundays. Even in Portland I think there are something like five bus routes. It's weird.

4) Everything is beautiful. The roads are lined with trees, but they aren't just lined, they're woods. Everything around here is so beautiful. I look out of my window and see a small tree, and beyond the carpark there are woods and woods and more woods, and a big mass of sky. I watched the sunset today and didn't get my camera because I didn't want to miss the changing colours.


5) Maine recieves the first rays of morning sun before any other part of the United States.

6) Maine is the only state in the USA with only one syllable in its name. Fun little factoid for you there.

7) They like using "Mainely" instead of "Mainly" in business names. I'm forever seeing companies like "Mainely Tours and Gifts" and "Mainely Tools and Plumbing."

8) MOOSE!! I love the Moose. It's everywhere. Postcards, keyrings, t-shirts. I have yet to see a real moose, but apparently there's a lifesized chocolate one in a candy store in Portland.

9) The mousetrap was invented in Maine. So were earmuffs. Bet ya didn't know that.

10) They don't appear to peel potatoes. Maybe it's just the university caterers, but the fries have skin on the end, the mash has skin in, the roast potatoes are just small potatoes roasted whole. I don't mind, I like the skin. I'm just saying. I have yet to see a peeled potato.

11) Heather is a really popular name.

12) The coast, as the crow flies, is 293 miles from top to bottom. But if you stretch all the nooks and crannies out, it measures 4568 miles.

13) Maine has 4617 islands. If you add their coastlines there are more than 7000 miles of coast in Maine. That's farther than from Boston to Tokyo, the long way round.)

14) The US Treasury, the New York Post Office, the columns at the Catherdral of St. John the Divine in New York, the Ellis Island administration building, the US House of Representatives, the New York Stock Exchange, the Library of Congress, the US Naval Academy, Brooklyn and George Washington bridges in NYC and the interior facings of the Washington Monument are ALL built from Maine granite and stone.

15) Tony Shalhoub (of Monk, Spy Kids, Men in Black, Thirteen Ghosts and Galaxy Quest fame) is a USM graduate. He got a bachelors in drama in 1977.

There ya go... just a few ramblings. Part 2 will be coming.