Working the System in Maine

June 18th Norm (a buddy from school) and I headed up to Main. Earlier in the year we had received an email that advertised for the Maine Dental Association's annual convention. It also said that the first 20 students to apply would get a $200 stipend for attending. (Maine has a shortage of Dentists and so are trying to attract new blood to the area.) The idea of a free trip to Maine sounded great to Norm and I, so we applied and were probably the first two students to be accepted.
While there we camped at a local state park, cooked stuff over the fire, went sea kayaking, hiking, sailing, ate lobster, took long walks on the beach, oh, and attended the convention. A Maine news channel did a story on the students being invited to the convention and Norm is now a celebrity in Maine. They have a thing against short people, so I was only in the news clip for a few seconds. Here is a link: http://www.necn.com/Boston/Health/Sweetening-the-deal-for-dentists-in-Maine/1214011698.html







The camping was fun, it rained most of the time but it was still nice to be in a forest. The hiking was fun too and, although it was too foggy to see the ocean, we were able to push over some trees. The sea kayaking was a good time, or at least it was at first. I started getting sea sick towards the end. The best part about the whole trip was sailing for a while with Dr. Sawyer. He is one of the past presidents of the Maine Dental Association and offered to take us for a spin on his sail boat. It is a 30' yaught and was way fun. The wind was good and so we went for a lap around Rock-Port bay for an hour or two. Once we were moored, instead of riding back on the dingy I swam back to dock and was reminded how bad of a swimmer I am.

Another highlight of the trip was the people! There were so nice and sincere. The doctors gave a lot of good advice and I would say I could totally see myself working in Maine.

The best part of the hole trip is that Norm and I both spent under $200 for all our expenses. Paid vacations are the best.