How is Maine?

[sheradi]

Is it better than you expected? What's a better environment Maine (USA!) or the Caymans (Beaches!) I'm sure all of ya'll are eager to study out there.

:shock:

[dallasdoll]

it is MUCH better than I had imagined... I was thinking teeny tiny town with nothing.. actually there is a big mall, starbucks, target, best buy... everything... right next door to the dorm... and the facility the school has obtained for classes is quite impressive... full gym, classrooms, labs, student lounge and cafeteria. I am very happy...

downtown portland is very cute. The Queen Mary was docked here and it is a tourist stop for cruise ships. I have a car so I can buzz around and I have been investigating the sites. I think the town is sweet.

what else... oh yeah, its cold today and i had to wear a light coat... glad i bought one at sam's yesterday.

like it so far tho.

[microphage]

it is MUCH better than I had imagined... I was thinking teeny tiny town with nothing.. actually there is a big mall, starbucks, target, best buy... everything... right next door to the dorm... and the facility the school has obtained for classes is quite impressive... full gym, classrooms, labs, student lounge and cafeteria. I am very happy...

downtown portland is very cute. The Queen Mary was docked here and it is a tourist stop for cruise ships. I have a car so I can buzz around and I have been investigating the sites. I think the town is sweet.

what else... oh yeah, its cold today and i had to wear a light coat... glad i bought one at sam's yesterday.

like it so far tho.

btw, I hate you guys.. I'm so jealous. :evil:

[charlottenian]

it is MUCH better than I had imagined... I was thinking teeny tiny town with nothing.. actually there is a big mall, starbucks, target, best buy... everything... right next door to the dorm... and the facility the school has obtained for classes is quite impressive... full gym, classrooms, labs, student lounge and cafeteria. I am very happy...

downtown portland is very cute. The Queen Mary was docked here and it is a tourist stop for cruise ships. I have a car so I can buzz around and I have been investigating the sites. I think the town is sweet.

what else... oh yeah, its cold today and i had to wear a light coat... glad i bought one at sam's yesterday.

like it so far tho.

I thought you said you were going to SGU in January?

[SMU_Information]

btw, I hate you guys.. I'm so jealous. :evil:

Ah,, but we have nothing but love for you, and all the rest of the valuemd regulars... :D

One more closer to ultimate!

[mdMDmd]

one word-- great

maine is great and smu has gone beyond the call of duty to help hte students out....to all the staff out there , thanks so much, stay safe if your still in grand cayman, and continue the hard work! you are all appreciated!

[mshah1]

Maine, Is definately nice because it has all the amenities associated with being in the states; and I"m soo happy to be able to continue school and not have to wait till jan to start back. However, let's not go as far as to say Maine is great it does have its draw backs like, oh lets say, if you are any other race other than caucasion well be prepared to be stared at...and even though i'm from the south and caught flack down there every now and then...no one ever had the nerve to say anything that really offended me. Well, the people from Maine have went so far as to point and stare. Other than the whole pointing and staring and a few racial slurs here and there; I think things are as good as can be expected. At least there is a Starbucks!! And at least school is continuing...what more can you ask for.

[MedSter]

Maine is definantly a very nice place, especially where we are, in the Portland area. Portland is the major city here, so everything you would find in other big cities...the restaurants, movies, car dealerships, malls, stores...u name it, its here.
The setup that SMU has done for us is amazing. I wouldnt mind having the campus we have here back there in Cayman!! It's pretty big. Lecture halls, student lounge, library (to come soon), cafetaria, even a GYM for us to work out in ($15/month...soon). Not to mention SMU has made the building a wireless internet building (they should have it completely up and running by week's end).
As far as being pointed out and stared over here if you're of a non-white color...I wouldnt go so far to say that. I'm not Caucasian and the majority of Mainers are white. But they never pointed or insulted myself or anybody that I know. I've had MANY interactions here with Mainers and never once felt like i was being discriminated against. There's many Asians here and also your handful of minorities. Mainers for the most part arent racist, I just think that many of them havent seen too many people from Latin America, India, Pakistan or the Middle East. After talking to them about our school and it's diverse student body, they seem quite impressed. They have no sterotypes here. The Mainers that I have met have been open to new cultures. Just the other day the front page of Portland's newspaper featured a Somali family here and I read that many Somali's and other Africans have been coming to Maine over the past decade.
So, in my 2 weeks here so far and MANY encounters with Mainers, I havent once felt discriminated against or pointed out or whatsoever. The local population here as been extremely friendly to the students I know (which include Arabs, Pakistani, Indian, African, Latino, Jamaican).
SMU and its students have been warmly welcomed by all of Portland. Portlands largest paper, the Portland Press, had a front page article on us last week and noted how welcome we are to the community. An NBC News crew was recording during one of our lectures last week as well.
Also just last week, Hillary Clinton and Martin Luther King's widow were on hand at an NAACP event here at the Marriot-Sable Oaks (where we first had our classes before the new building).

Maine is open and more than welcoming SMU's diverse student body. If there are cases of insults or whatever, that is the EXTREME minority of SMU's population, from what I've been seeing and hearing.

[sheradi]

It's really good to hear the set-up in Maine is sufficient. Sounds like SMU did a great job with the relocation.

Oh, and racism exists everywhere, even in the most diverse cities.

:shock: