My first football game and trips 🏈 🚗

September 19, 2017

My first football game and trips 🏈 🚗

Hey everyone!

Coming to the US also means to adjust to a different culture and that means FOOTBALL!

I have to admit that I know just a few things about the national sport in Germany (soccer) and literally nothing about football. After my first football game I still have no clue what is going on... A few really nice people around me tried to explain to me what was happening in the easiest way possible, so I kind of knew what was going on at some points... (the minority of time)

But what I really liked the whole atmosphere of the game. We have a really great prep band and cheerleaders who did a show for the entrance and during the halftime break. It was amazing seeing so many students coming to cheer for the team - I wished as many would come to track or cross country meets... Everyone was happy, there was food, and the weather was great - well, at least for the first 45 minutes. And I really look forward to the UMaine ice hockey games! Besides track this is one of my favorite sport and our team should be pretty good (that's what I've heard) - so something to look forward to in the winter.

The Maine weather is special - and you cannot dress properly for it. The sun might shine but it can also rain at the same time. Or there can be a beautiful rainbow on one side of the track and dark clouds and thunder at the other site. But until now I just saw the beauty of the Maine weather. While it was windy, cold, and rainy last week in Germany, the sun was shining the whole week and it were 25 - 28°C (around 80°F). But the winter will come fast...

Maine weather in one picture

My first two trips:

Portland

Portland is the biggest city of Maine with a population of 66,194 people (my hometown has a population of more than 100,000 people and is considered small).

I went to Portland with three other international girls and we spend a beautiful day there - 2 1/2 hours away from campus. We started shopping at the Maine Mall (yes, we are girls - fulfilling the cliche 😂) and went to the Old Port afterwards. I really fell in love with this place. It is really beautiful with all the ships and the local store - each store is special in its own way. And we ate seafood there (for everyone who knows me: I'm not really experimenting with food, especially not with seafood, so I really got out of my comfort zone there), and I ended up eating a Lobster Putin.

Here are some pictures I took of Portland:

My Lobster Putine

My "medium" ice cream

Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park

My university has different clubs that you can join, and I joined the Photography Club. I really love taking pictures and traveling and this club gives me the opportunity to do both: seeing different parts of Maine and taking pictures of beautiful places. I'm definitely not the best photographer, there are so many people who know more about photography and who take better pictures. But practice makes perfect right? So I'm just doing my best and enjoy the amazing landscapes and things I get to see.

For our trip we first stopped at Bar Harbor, a little town which has lots of cute shops and a view on the sea (which was limited while we were there because of fog) but it was magnificent nonetheless.

And I ate more lobster - who would have thought that? - definitely not me! This time a lobster roll (Lobster in a Hot Dog bun).

After that we went to Acadia National Park and drove up to Cadillac Mountain, saw Sand Beach and the Thunder Hole. The whole area around here is really stunning and I can't wait for fall when all leaves will turn and will dye everything in beautiful yellow-red colors.

Another thing I really love about Maine is that you can see the stars, and not just a few but lots of them.

So here are some of my favorite pictures: