My first night at UNE

The following entry is from my journal. I'm adding it here a few days after the fact.

I arrived at UNE for my orientation today (6-21-07). I'm really excited, but really nervous at the same time. I miss talking with my friends and my church. I don't knopw how I'll survive next year, I mean I've only been here for one day! I guess it will be easier with my cell phone and computer here! It seems that almost everyday I've been talking to Mrs. smith. I didn't realize how much that meant to me. I've missed talking with her.

Anyway, my guides are really cool and my roommate seems really nice. But, the other students on the trip don't seem like the type of people I would be friends with. However, this sense of "loneliness" may be heightened because I'm reading Thomas Merton's "THoughts in Solitude." I;m sure once we are off campus and on the trip I'll be able to bond better with my new classmates. I'm very different from them. They were all talking about parties, drinking, smoking, doing drugs, and camping with friends. Well I've never been camping, and the last time I went canoeing was last summer with Mrs. Ferry and the Blackstone Valley Rivers Project. The more I sit in silence the more I think about Smith, Ferry, and Nick. Nick, because he is one of my best friends. Also, I'm a little worried about him. He talked about homeschooling for next year earlier in the year, and most of his friends were in my class. So they graduated, and he is left with one more year. But, Smith and Ferry, because while I miss them dearly and wish I could be back in their classrooms, I know I can't. However, they have prepared me well. Now it is my turn to go forth and do great things. I'm now a Nor'easter part of Big Blue, but being a Mountie is still who I am.

It's funny tonight we watched the fireworks from a Franco-American celebration in Biddeford. How ironic I find myself in yet another French Canadian mill village! I wear my class ring with pride, and as the summer progresses my tan lines get darker. When I take my ring off you can see that something is missing. It's like when you look at me you can see I'm not a Mount student anymore, you can see that something is missing. The ring has left a mark on my hand, just like Mount has left a mark on my heart. While now I'm a Nor'easter on the outside, I will ALWAYS be a Mountie on the inside!