Canadian-American Center

In early November (November 7-9, 2025), Dr. Mark McLaughlin and Dr. Hollie Adams co-led a group of fifteen participants on a Canadian Studies field trip across the border to the city of Fredericton, the provincial capital of New Brunswick. Offered through UMaine’s Canadian-American Center, the trip is an excellent opportunity for students to learn about Canada first-hand.

This year’s trip focused on Canadian past-times. UMaine students tried their hand at the sport of curling at the Capital Winter Club, receiving a one-hour lesson from a champion curler on how to throw a rock and sweep the ice. The students also enjoyed several games of candlepin bowling—an East Coast variant of the sport—at The Drome, a bowling alley that opened in 1961 and still requires bowlers to keep their own scores with paper and pencil. Trip participants also visited perennial favorites like the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, at which they were treated to a private tour of the gallery’s world-class collection of both Canadian and international art. Another notable stop was the Fredericton Boyce Farmers Market, consistently ranked as one of the top ten farmers’ markets in Canada, with more than 200 vendors showcasing Fredericton’s cultural and ethnic diversity.

The Canadian-American Center’s Canadian Studies field trip is an annual event, occurring each fall semester, and closely associated with the course CAN 101: Introduction to Canadian Studies. The trip’s small size ensures that students benefit from ample one-on-one time with faculty, leading to a distinctive study-abroad experience. The Canadian-American Center (with additional support from the McGillicuddy Humanities Center) subsidizes transportation, accommodations, and entry fees to sites to make the trip as affordable as possible for UMaine students.

Those interested in more information about this and future Canadian Studies field trips, should contact Dr. Mark McLaughlin (mark.j.mclaughlin@maine.edu) or Dr. Hollie Adams (hollie.adams@maine.edu).