Getting to where I am

I grew up in one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world, 55th biggest according to Wikipedia.  My entire life, I never lived more than 2 hours away from the Bay Area.  I graduated (soon to be twice) from the oldest college in the western United States, SJSU which also happens to be one of the most diverse schools in the nation. I got to go to play water polo and watch Olympians play at Stanford; I walked the famous Winchester Mystery house; visited pier 39 and the Orpheum and Curran (to see some of the original cast of Rent) theaters in San Francisco; I went to the historical Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (which still prompts me to hum the song) and beautiful Monterey, and lived on two major fault lines, Hayward and San Andreas. As far as I was concerned, the Bay Area, despite the housing market and expense of living, was the best place in the world to live.  Everything I could ever want to do was within a few hours drive (Napa, Tahoe, Disneyland), if it was not already close by.

My partner and I had just celebrated one year of marriage when he graduated from Fresno Pacific with a MA in Kinesiology.  We had started applying for jobs in California, but the job market is flooded with too many new athletic trainers, and not enough jobs to house them.  So the job search began to widen.  There was a school in Arizona, Colorado, New York and a little school in Castine, Maine.  Maine Maritime Academy was the only offer that Rich got, and so he packed up his car and drove across country, while I stayed behind to finish my thesis.  After 6 months, I finished my thesis and packed 3 suitcases to fly to Maine.  

 Castine is populated by 1300 people, and over half are students.  This blog aims to highlight and draw attention to the differences in culture, lifestyle, attitudes and common practices in the Bay Area and Castine.  This is partially because I am fearful of living 3300 miles away from my comfort zone and home of 30 years.  I hope that this blog will also serve to help me embrace a different life than I had ever expected for myself. So far, the experience has been amazing!