Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Stranded on an Island

Day 1: Stranded, lost, confused, and desperate for lunch! Boy was my Pre-Orientation group hungry. We arrived at an island a bit north of Bowdoin called North Haven through a ferry. For the next 4 or so days, our group was to face the most difficult challenge of all: community service. (Please note the exaggeration)

(The lunch was delicious, btw)

Yup, my Pre-O group was one of the community immersion groups. In short, we cleaned up a community center, had coffee with senior citizens, cleared weeds around a church, trimmed the thorny "devil plant," prepared dinner for middle schoolers, toured a new school under construction, de-weeded and cleared a pathway for a trail in a park, played too many card games, went lobstering, showered in a gym nearby, slept on almost hard floor, endured many mosquito bites, danced the lobster dance, almost got killed by a plane (not lying), encountered deadly snakes (lie), made awesome new friends, and bonded.

It was a fantastic four days.

What was more fantastic was that on the ride back, we went to a diner called, "Moody's." As we were about to pay the bills, an old lady from the table behind us came up and said, "I will pay the bills for you--tax and all." WOW. (the bill was about $72) Random acts of kindness is awesome. Time to pay it forward!

Speaking of which, I signed up for the Random Acts of Kindness Club today during the Student Activities Fair.

(Pre-O was about a week before Orientation started at Bowdoin)

3 comments:

Allison said...

Yeah for your new blog! I'm adding you to my list :) I'm so glad that you're enjoying Bowdoin--your Pre-O week sounds incredible! I hope that your classes go well, and your first few chem labs might not be 4 hours long...then again, they might. Take it easy.

Evvivan said...

But, but.....I thought community service really was the most difficult thing in the world! Anyway, it seems you had a lot of great experiences. I hope the rest of your first semester goes as well.

Tina said...

Oh, that sounds way fun! I'm glad that you're enjoying college! We miss you here Dan!~