Transcript

Patrick Bilodeau:

If you’ve ever seen Lord of the Rings it’s basically, you’re living in Middleworth out here.

It’s beautiful scenery.

Hills, trees…

Like, you’ll be walking through the woods and you’ll just like, step right and like, overlook the ocean, so it’s like…

The best scenery you’ve seen movies you’re livin’ in it here in Machias.

I would say it is one of the most calming and least stressful places I’ve ever been.

Especially for something called a college campus.

What I enjoy most about Machias — the area, the campus, and just around town — is how soothing and nice it is to be here.

It’s just kind of like very easy going.

If you want people to actually know who you are and understand who you are, this is the place to come.

My name is Patrick Bilodeau.

I am a junior at the University of Maine at Machias.

I’m an outdoor rec major and I graduate in May of 2026.

I’m from Vermont, so I came from a place kind of like Maine.

I wanted to go to a place that was far enough away from home, but also close enough to people where it’s like you have something there.

And the price is very reasonable, so it was a nice choice.

I study outdoor recreation.

I get to do everything basically marine bio does without the science.

So that is nice for me because I was originally marine bio and I was like, I only want to do the lab part, but I don’t want to do the science.

And that was rec, so now I do rec.

I am a lifeguard at this pool.

You get hired for work study, and once you’ve worked through work study, you actually get hired again as like a normal employee.

So it’s kind of, you never run out of a job.

What I like about the woods is no one comes out here, so there’s always a spot to be alone.

Going to the ocean, if it’s very calming, very soothing, it’s just right in our backyard.

You see that seal?

Oh, I think I went away.

It’s your own small community.

It’s not like, oh, I’ve never seen this person before.

Like on big campuses, professors know you, actually know you.

They don’t just know you as a number.

With academics, you can learn a lot of different things.

I taught Mancala to kindergarten.

That was a class.

You learn what it is to be a leader in any type of setting.

In a classroom with 15 people, if you think she’s a great professor, like triple it.

Great professor.

How every moment on campuses when you want to hang out with someone, like, hey, what are you doing?

And you go, oh, not much.

And it’s like, oh, you’re going to be with me for the next three hours.

That’s how it works.

In the woods.

I feel like the community

at Machias is very accepting.

I feel like upperclassmen do their job and help freshmen transition.

That is a big part of this campus, is the people that you meet.

Your classrooms are only 10 people.

So like, you go on camping trips with these people.

So you really get to know who these people are.

I think I’ll be friends with these people at Machias for the rest of my life.

And I’ll probably go camping with them in 50 years.

That happens, like, every day.

Just like something random.

Our drive here was like crazy.

There was a guy on a bike just like drinking coffee in the middle of the road.

It’s like, what’s going on?

It’s just like, that’s like the greatest stuff that happens.

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