Before coming to Chewonki, I had heard about a few of the big highlights of the Maine Coast Semester experience like solos, field labs, and working on the farm. Those experiences have been absolutely amazing and have exceeded all of my expectations. But there are so many little things that make the Maine Coast Semester experience what it is. I’ve compiled a very incomplete list so that when my time here is up, there’s no way I’ll forget those not-so-little memories.

50 “little” things that feel pretty big:

1. Seeing a whole galaxy of stars every midnight bathroom run
2. Dancing to loud music with your cabin while doing dish crew
3. Having a picnic in the middle of Osprey Circle just ‘cause
4. Sitting in the laundry room and chatting with friends
5. Going for a walk to Ideal Point in the pouring rain and laying down in the soaking wet ascophyllum nodosum
6. Only calling seaweeds by their Latin names (AKA ascophyllum nodosum or fucus spiralis)
7. The sheep recognizing that I’m the one that feeds them and baa-ing even louder when I walk in the barn
8. Mastering the woodstove
9. Falling asleep on friends on the van rides to field labs
10. After Lunch League: basically a bunch of us who play basketball or football or any other sport in the time between lunch and class
11. The view of the sheep and cows on pasture with the rolling hills, water in the background, and the old red barn
12. Feeding chickens -> collecting & washing eggs -> eating those same eggs the next morning
13. Running back to the cabin from study hours in the pitch black trying to avoid rocks
14. Sitting by the woodstove doing homework while listening to my cabinmates’ days
15. Cooking Saturday night dinner and running around with friends trying to get a whole huge meal done in time
16. Having class literally in the hayloft with hay bales as chairs and horses as background noise
17. Getting excited every single time you hear what the next meal is because the food is so amazing
18. Walking/running down Chewonki Neck Road and watching the forest open up to the open field that makes you feel like you’re in the dramatic end credits of an indie movie
19. Dancing in the rain to no music and giggling like we’re five years old
20. Using a camping stove to make a failed birthday cake with my cabin
21. Running outside into the beautiful sunshine on the last day of classes to dance and celebrate in the quad
22. The routine – I literally love the fact that I find myself cutting seeding potatoes on a “normal” Thursday afternoon
23. Being able to recognize everyone in the semester across a field just by the way they walk
24. Being distracted in math class by the fact that I’m trying to identify the bird calls I can hear out the window
25. Playing tetherball outside of the cabin and absolutely destroying my friends
26. Having pages and pages of memories to write in my journal every single night
27. Doing yoga on the quad for an hour and then literally everyone falling fast asleep during savasana (when you’re supposed to be doing some meditative stuff)
28. Going from feeding sheep in the morning to spinning sheep wool into yarn to weaving that yarn into a blanket (all in one day)
29. The fact that the thing to do with your friends when you have free time is just go for a walk so we go on so many walks every day and they’re always fun
30. Planting squash seeds that next year’s semester students will eat
31. Playing tennis on sunny afternoons even though I’m awful
32. Singing in the shower in The Hilton (our communal bathroom, and I’m not joking when I say it’s one of my favorite places on campus)
33. Everyone getting legitimately excited and staying up late because it was “big night” when a bunch of frogs and salamanders are supposed to be making their way to vernal pools
34. Doing the polar plunge every week because I don’t want to miss out on a thing
35. Watching our semester struggle to make a circle even though that’s a skill you learn in kindergarten
36. Sitting around a campfire every morning to hear stories from my semester mates about their home lives
37. Sitting on the farmhouse porch to read on a lazy morning
38. Watching the campus come alive during spring and become unbelievably green
39. Snuggling with friends in the cabin on rainy days
40. Playing kickball in the dark before check-in, with lanterns lighting up the bases and a deflated soccer ball we can barely see
41. Running to get everywhere because it’s the fastest mode of transportation and you always want to be at your next exciting destination ASAP
42. Saturday night activities organized by each cabin:
    1. Harry Potter themed capture the flag
    2. Very spirited dodgeball
    3. Pictionary and fishbowl
    4. Prom!! (In the barn with fairy lights)
43. Friday night speakers where we hear from our teachers about beekeeping, campfire stories, glaciology, or through-hiking the Appalachian Trail (!!)
44. Making dandelion crowns in the field to wear to brunch for no reason
45. Working out at the waterfront
46. Hanging a hammock from our cabin rafters and having “guests” come overflow it
47. Becoming addicted to tea even though I always hated it simply because going to the tea bar is fun
48. Bedtime stories from teachers about swamping or crab races when they check us in before bed
49. Developing an emotional attachment to the most random places on campus like a random sprouting flower or a dead tree at my phenology spot
50. Calling Chewonki home when away on field labs or expeditions and having stuff like “we’re almost home” mean we’re almost back on campus

Maya Kelly, Lincoln School, Providence, RI