As some of you may have heard, Manhattan's new study abroad course is currently being held on the beautiful Georgetown Island, Maine. Today, myself and 11 other lucky students met up with Professor Philip Francis in Dewey Square, Boston. Before piling into a 13 passenger van, we grabbed a quick bite to eat in the square from some local unique food trucks. (Fun fact: Professor Francis owned his own food truck in Boston)
We first headed to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to visit the graves of famous writers and philosophers: Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
We then headed to Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. For the English and Philosophy majors out there, many of you may know that this is where Henry David Thoreau moved into the woods. The famous quote, which is the foundation of our trip is:
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberate, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not when I came to die, discover I had not lived."
We were then given books and journals in which we would read about Thoreau's experience, and document our own. Our goal was to pick something that we felt represented "the good life" and how we would achieve it through this time abroad.
After taking a refreshing dip in Walden Pond, we headed back on the road to Bath, Maine, where we took a lobster boat through the rivers to Georgetown Island during the sunset. We then had a nice welcoming cook-out with his family, and got settled into our humble cottages where we would all be staying.
As day one is coming to an end, we are eager to wake up tomorrow and see what it has in store for us. In the mean time, try taking a step back and thinking about what you think the meaning of "the good life" is, and how you can achieve it.
- Kristina Lama
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