Monday: National Walking the Dog Day

Start off the week right by bundling up and taking your furry friend for a walk on the town with National Walking the Dog Day. By both keeping you and your favorite mutt active, you can make a difference in your dog’s health well into their senior years by either starting or building a routine a few times a week. To celebrate, check out this thorough Bangor-area trails map by Bangor Greendrinks that offers several Bangor, Veazie, Orono and Old Town trails at easy, moderate and advanced levels, perfect for finding the right pace for Fido and friends. 

Tuesday: World Spay Day

As the last Tuesday in February, World Spay Day aims to spread awareness of the long-term health benefits of spaying and neutering your cats, dogs and rabbits. Not only does it enable your furry friends to live longer as according to the Humane Society of the United States, it also helps keep shelter and stray populations down. By using this national holiday as a reminder, remember to check in with your veterinarian about the best time to spay or neuter your pets, which may vary by age, weight and sex. 

Wednesday: National Tortilla Chip Day

Turn up the heat and grab your favorite pairings for National Tortilla Chip Day. Popularized by Rebecca Webb Carranza, tortilla chips were first mass-produced in the 1940s as a way to repurpose misshapen tortillas. To celebrate, either spice it up with your favorite salsa or branch out by keeping it local with some funky Todd’s maple and pineapple flavors and settle in with a taco night with friends or family. If take-out is more your style, check out Margarita’s or Tacorita! in Orono for daily, weekly and month-long specials. 

Thursday: National Clam Chowder Day

Can you really call yourself a true Mainer if you don’t celebrate National Clam Chowder day? Do it up big by trying Taste of Home’s “Contest-Winning New England Clam Chowder” recipe which uses simple ingredients (yes, including bacon) and takes only 20 minutes to prep and 35 minutes to simmer on the stovetop. If seafood just isn’t your style, supplement with a corn chowder from Natasha’s Kitchen that takes just a little less time (but still includes the bacon). 

Friday: National Skip the Straw Day

As the last Friday in February, National Skip the Straw Day aims to spread awareness about ecosystem damage caused by disposable plastics, such as drinking straws. This day was founded by the Coral Keepers student group in Whitehall, Michigan and Susan Tate, their advisor in 2017. Aside from the horrific scene of wildlife finding themselves entangled with single-use plastics, plastic straws don’t biodegrade, but break up into smaller pieces called microplastics. They end up being recycled into the ecosystem and ingested all the way up the food chain. Use this day to “skip the straw” and switch to glass or metal drinking utensils. Easy to wash and reuse, these alternatives last until they are recycled. 

Holidays were taken from nationaldaycalendar.com.

On Feb. 7, artist The Weeknd performed at the 2021 Super Bowl halftime show, performing top hits in a narrative form while filling the entire arena with dramatic song, dance and ample mask-wearing, giving us a multitude of meme-worthy content. 

Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye is a contemporary artist from Canada. Tesfaye has released four studio albums, three mixtapes and one EP among almost 50 singles. For two of four studio albums, Tesfaye won the Urban Contemporary Grammy award for “Starboy” and “Beauty Behind the Madness,” also achieving eight Billboard Music Awards and five American Music Awards among other recognitions. 

During his 2021 Super Bowl halftime performance, The Weeknd featured songs taken from “Trilogy,” a 2011 album release, to his most recent album “After Hours,” a 2020 release. The order of the setlist was played as follows: “Starboy,” “The Hills,” “Can’t Feel My Face,” “I Feel It Coming,” “Save Your Tears,” “Earned It,” “House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls” and “Blinding Lights.” 

Opening with Tesfaye in a sparkling red suit, positioned in a black car amidst a neon cityscape set, Tesfaye was supported by a large robed choir in the stands in his opener, “Starboy,” giving reference to Michael Jackson, reputably one of his inspirations for becoming a musical artist, as he danced across the stage front and center.

After “The Hills” transformed the stage from a simple black and blue to neon and gold, Tesfaye led the camera into a golden-lit hallway and used a shaky-cam technique that would make most action films jealous during “Can’t Feel My Face.” Until the end of his performance which featured a field-wide dance number to “Blinding Lights,” The Weeknd performed in front of the neon blue and black cityscape set featured at the beginning of the show, letting the music speak for itself. 

Aside from moments of meme-worthy content, as referenced in a CBS article throughout multiple points of his performance, The Weeknd attempted to provide a narrative, authentic show. One of both the performance’s apparent strengths and weaknesses was how Tesfaye did not appear to lip sync, offering a powerful, authentic performance during some moments, while during others, he was drowned out by the instrumental recordings behind. During “Earned It,” the addition of a live orchestra added a nice touch by supporting Tesfaye’s rockstar vocals which came through especially as the song wrapped up. 

One of the most noteworthy aspects of The Weeknd’s halftime show was its fall from stardom narrative, telling of toxic Hollywood culture, which was highlighted in his most recent album “After Hours” and hinted at through strange images posted on social media for roughly the past year. Instead of transformations like set changes and makeup or costume alterations, The Weeknd began with a modest set of glitter and gold, then back to the black and blue with costumes of bandaged faces as worn by dance members, an ingenious way to incorporate COVID-19 performance precautions.

On Feb. 4 from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m., the University of Maine’s Socialist and Marxist Studies Series held a “Carbon Dividends as Universal Property” talk as the first program in the series for the spring 2021 semester, featuring guest James K. Boyce of the Political Economy Research Institute of University of Massachusetts Amherst and moderated by professor of English and philosophy at UMaine Michael Swacha. 

As a part of the Socialist and Marxist Studies Series, the “Carbon Dividends as Universal Property” program was sponsored by the Maine Peace Action Committee of the UMaine Division of Student Life, with support from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Department of Philosophy. 

As introduced by Swacha, Boyce is an acclaimed author, economist and senior fellow of UMass Amherst. His most recent works include “The Case for Carbon Dividends” published in 2019, as content prominently featured in this talk, and “Economics for People and the Planet” published also in 2019. Boyce has written for Scientific American and the New York Times among numerous other publications including scholarly journals Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ecological Economics and Climatic Change. 

Boyce began to think both about carbon dividends as universal property and of universal property as a necessity for long standing economic health upon reading Peter Barnes’ “Who Owns the Sky” which was published in 2001. 

“The idea, in a nutshell, is rather than letting the polluters dump carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for free, we ought to charge for whatever dumping is allowed,” Boyce said. “There could, of course, be regulations and other things assigned to limit the dumping, but whatever’s allowed shouldn’t necessarily be free. Instead, the money charged for dumping in the atmosphere, apart from providing an incentive to dump less, will also provide a source of [universal income] that could be distributed on an equal per-person basis to every woman, man and child in the political jurisdiction, state or country adopting such a policy.”

Based on this notion, Boyce expanded by introducing four types of property: private, public, common and universal. Sharing the costs and benefits of each type of property in order to properly frame universal property as an economic practice allows for money to “belong to the people, not to the government or big companies” and to trickle back to support businesses cooperatively. 

Boyce then added how universal property may be practically applied not only to carbon dividends but to both nature as a source for raw materials, nature as a sink for the disposal of waste such as carbon or other forms of pollution as well as forms of societal infrastructure for financial transactions or informational transactions, otherwise known as “big data.” 

An example of a current application in the United States as described by Boyce is the Alaska Permanent Fund, which both supports the local economy of all Alaskan residents through a straightforward verification process and serves as a monetary incentive to cut down on overall extraction from out-of-state businesses from which royalties do not benefit. 

“Alaska Permanent Fund is an example of a kind of universal property applied to oil in Alaska,” Boyce said. “When Alaska started pumping oil, the state set up something called the permanent fund, which takes royalties from the extraction of oil and puts them into a fund from which dividends are paid out equally to every resident to Alaska. Those dividends have amounted to as much as $2,000 a year [per person].”

Boyce then transitioned to a discussion of carbon dividends and how the U.S. may choose to cut down on fossil fuel extraction in congruence with current emission timelines while benefiting local economies, recognizing that there is no “silver bullet,” but combinations of regulations concerning taxes and caps to stay within a reasonable level of social cost and overall economic transition. 

To put current economics regarding current carbon emissions per income bracket, Boyce introduced the concept of “carbon rent” and the implications of adjusting current notions of equity to fit within the United States’ distribution of finances. 

“If we do have a price on carbon, through a tax or cap or a combination of the two, who pays?” Boyce asked. “Some people sometimes think, if you’re charging the price to the fossil fuels companies who are bringing the carbon in, that means that it’s the companies that will pay, it won’t hit the consumers. But that, of course, is a misconception. At the end of the day, the cost of the permits, the tax or the permit price, becomes part of the cost of doing business and it gets passed along to consumers at the pump. So the result of that is that people pay the money that ultimately goes into the carbon rent as a tax or as a permit price in proportion to their direct or indirect use of fossil fuels.”

Based on the notion that America’s top 20% consume more than half of all carbon emissions in contrast with the lowest 20% consuming 4% of all carbon emissions, the carbon rent disproportionately becomes a regressive tax, as explained by Boyce through an aviation emission example where more than half of Americans did not fly at all, yet still paid an equal, not equitable, carbon tax. Boyce challenged this regressive action by proposing progressive solutions, such as carbon dividends, an equity-focused, community-based method of reducing the United States’ carbon footprint. 

The talk ended with a brief Q&A session, featuring topics such as corporate acceptance and split incentive regulatory policies, the urgency of grassroots mobilizations in order to redistribute finances to a more accessible level for the common public, and the reception of Alaskan dividends in current practice. 

The next talk in the Socialist and Marxist Studies Series features Doug Allen, professor emeritus of philosophy at UMaine on Feb. 18: “Moral, Philosophical, and Spiritual Nonviolence and Socialism in 2021,” and on Feb. 25: “At War With Government: How Conservatives Weaponized Distrust From Goldwater to Trump,” given by Amy Fried, professor of political science at UMaine. 

For more information regarding the Socialist and Marxist Studies Series, visit their website umaine.edu/socialistandmarxiststudiesseries/ for additional upcoming events and posted recordings of previous lectures.

With syllabus week out of the way, the real work begins as the semester kicks off to finish up this online year. If you’re one to put on some music to keep your focus during the week or to help you chill-out while cramming for a test the night before (it happens), here are some suggestions for popular Lo-Fi and ambient sounds.

LO-FI:

Lo-Fi, or low-fidelity music, can roughly be traced back to the 1950s, originating primarily from the imperfections of early recording equipment. Over time, artists have experimented with low-levels of audio quality to create a raw, authentic, there-in-the-studio feel to their music. Modern lo-fi artists are experimenting with the same sound quality coupled with sound sampling to create comfortable rhythms with a distinct sense of place across multiple genres, most commonly through a mix of hip-hop or jazz, branching off even into fandom styles.

Particularly popular as streaming music coupled with looping videos on YouTube and through playlists featured on Spotify, lo-fi serves as a great background for gently altering the mood of a space, whether it be setting the tone for an easy study session or a group pizza night. The possibilities are endless when it comes to finding the right tone across such a versatile genre. Check out these streams below!

LO-FI STREAMS:

The go-to hip-hop stream:
Chilled Cow “lofi hip hop radio – beats to study/relax to”

If you’re missing studying in your favorite cafe (jazzy):
Coffee Shop Vibes “Smooth Jazz on Coffee Shop Ambience […]”

If you’re looking for some vocals:
College Music “vocal lofi hip hop radio – emotional/late night beats”

An indie/alt feel variety (with some vocals):
BIRP! “Indie Pop / Rock [24/7 Radio]”

FANDOM LO-FI:

For Animal Crossing lovers (who hasn’t checked their island in a month?):
David De Souza “lofi animal crossing radio – beats to relax/study to (zero ads)”

Star Wars, featuring an incredible looping video to put on in the background:
Closed on Sunday “star wars ~ lofi beats to relax/study to”

Studio Ghibli jazz for a springtime feel:
Cafe Music BGM channel “Studio Ghibli Jazz Beats – Relaxing Jazz Hiphop & lofi Music For Study, Work”

Harry Potter, a take on Chilled Cow’s lo-fi beats:
Amemos – Ambience “Harry Potter | Lofi”

Along the same studious vein, ambient sound, otherwise known as background sounds of any given setting (think rainforest sound machine noise), can help get you out of the house mentally and into a nearby cafe, or change up the weather with the addition of a heavy thunderstorm or a crackling fire. Ambient noise is especially appealing for those who cannot focus with the steady beat or sometimes vocals typical lo-fi offers. When also coupled with looping videos, these streams below are perfect for putting on your TV or computer while you read or write.

AMBIENT SOUNDS:

For those who love a rainy day vibe:
Relaxing Sounds Of Nature “10 Hours of Rain […]”

A cozy, crackling fireplace:
Fireplace 10 hours “Fireplace 10 hours full HD”

A nighttime snowy river stream:
TheSilentWatcher “4K HDR Snowy Village River […]”

A springtime 1930’s library for when Fogler doesn’t hit the spot:
Ambience of Yesteryear “Ambience/ASMR: Writer’s Library from the 1930s, 4 Hours”

Happy studying!

Like what we’re listening to? Put it on blast: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0WPmGwy6XCwR2RKtw035xJ?si=6gl3lXM1QlapXK-NnqUElw

If you haven’t already seen everyone’s screenshots of their favorite artists, albums and genres posted on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, the time has come. Spotify Wrapped 2020 is here. Created as something to look forward to at the end of the year, primarily musical artist-platform Spotify releases their personalized top hits for listeners to reflect and reminisce with what they’ve listened to from January to December. 

Particularly as the world flipped upside-down this year, it’ll be interesting for listeners to see how their tastes transitioned as the year progressed. Here at The Maine Campus, we’ve collected our top albums, artists, genres and songs to share, both featuring some classic throwbacks and notable recent releases. 

TOP ALBUM & SONG:

“I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” by My Chemical Romance

“Goodie Bag” by Still Woozy

“Crush” by Souly Had

“There’s Still A Light In the House” by Valley

“Cornelia Street (Live From Paris)” by Taylor Swift

“I Won’t Run From It” by Big Red Machine

“Saintmotelevision” by Saint Motel, album

“Pray for the Wicked” by Panic! At the Disco, album

TOP ARTIST:

My Chemical Romance

Lake Street Dive

Megan Thee Stallion 

Taylor Swift

Jon Bellion

Hammock 

Panic! At the Disco

TOP GENRE:

Pop

Pop Punk

Pop Rock

Modern Rock

Stomp and Holler

Lo-Fi

Top artist, album, song that didn’t make the list (that definitely should have)

“Own It” by Rico Nasty 

“Baby Blue” by Rence

“Dirty Work” by Marko Penn (ft. Lil Dicky)

“Better” by Makari

“Amie” by Pure Prairie League

The Pigeon Detectives, artist

Spacey Jane, artist

On Dec. 10, the Zillman Art Museum (ZAM) held a Zoom webinar event, “Creative Conversations with JoAnne Carson and George Kinghorn” discussing artist JoAnne Carson’s works and creative process, ending with a Q&A, with multiple audience questions interspersed throughout, prompting a relaxed dialogue tone between the audience and Carson. 

This webinar ran from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and was held by ZAM, hosted by Museum Director and Curator George Kinghorn, and supported technically by Museum Registrar Sara Belisle. 

Carson splits her time as both a Brooklyn, New York and Shoreham, Vermont-based artist. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Chicago and currently serves as both the graduate director and professor of studio art at the University of Albany. Carson’s work has been exhibited in multiple museum locations including, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Joslyn Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and many others as referenced by her personal website. 

Carson is currently exhibited until Dec. 23 at ZAM located in downtown Bangor. Her show, “Wood Nymphs,” displays a collection of drawings and three large-scale sculptures with an “enchanted woodland” theme as coined by Carson. Aside from her showcased collection of drawings, ZAM currently features “Chlorophilia,” a dramatic monochromatic large-scale sculpture, “Wood Nymph” as a feminine, wood-like large-scale sculpture and “Blue” as a mid-size twirling, whimsical sculpture. 

To begin the webinar, Carson described each of these sculptures and their inspirations, touching on her drawings as her primary form of media, extending into an improvised sculpture medium, particularly relevant with pieces “Blue” and “Chlorophylia” as an extension of her drawn and painted whimsical world. 

Within this whimsical world, Carson noted the “imposition of darker tones” making pieces such as “Blue” and “Chlorophylia” unsettled, or “worried, preoccupied,” upon any time spent observing the twisted or “masquerade[d]” forms. 

During the talk, Carson also addressed questions related to her artistic process and her gradual development from two-dimensional art and its translation into her three-dimensional work, highlighting her trial-and-error process with thermoplastic as a medium and puzzle-piece construction strategy, while maintaining the theme of “masquerading the organic” as she develops seemingly natural works with a striking, characterized form. 

Carson also discussed her work within the context of a gallery setting, mentioning the different presentations her work takes on when moved to each venue, incorporating light and shadow, placement of each piece and venue alteration itself to culminate appropriate varying “theatrical relationships” between her work and each exhibit, beautifully displayed currently at ZAM. 

Along with “Living Windows” by Gene A. Felice II and Kimathi Moore as an immersive media display, “Being Here” a watercolor collection by Marcie Jan Bronstein, “Lichtenstein and Warhol: Pop Art from the Collection” and “Maine Inspired: Art Luminaries at the Bicentennial,” Carson’s exhibit will remain open, free and to the public by appointment until Dec. 23. 

For more information regarding Carson and her work, visit her personal website at joannecarson.com for images of current and previous works, installation videos, relevant media and biographical information. 

For more information on ZAM, visit their website at zam.umaine.edu for current exhibition information, membership opportunities and upcoming webinar and livestream events. Additionally, follow ZAM on Facebook @ZAMatUMaine and on Instagram @zillmanartmuseum. 

Guest Authors: Bailey West and Gustav Anderson

Studying abroad is a big decision. Spending an entire semester, or even more, in a foreign country takes careful planning and willful commitment, and it may even seem too complex and daunting of a process in the beginning. You may be worried about higher tuition costs, falling behind on classes or simply fear the unknown. While these are all understandable concerns that even us study abroad advisors thought about early on, there is truly no need to overthink them. Going abroad is an incredible experience no matter what country and program you decide on, and it is totally feasible for any student with early enough planning. There are abundant resources both on and off campus to support you in your journey to make studying abroad happen. 

So where do you even begin? First and foremost, take a breath — start exploring and planning early, and know that you can submit your study abroad application to the Office of International Programs up to a year in advance, so take advantage of getting ahead on things (looking at you, first-years). Narrow down your options to countries you really want to live in, not just visit. Once you have a solid idea of where you want to go, next you should decide on how you want to get there. 

For this, it is easiest to understand the study abroad process as two different paths. The first path is through what is called direct exchange. Direct exchanges are programs run by the University of Maine and a sister university abroad. Students from UMaine are directly swapped with international students and the whole application process is within the University of Maine System. The second path is through recommended programs. Recommended programs are third-party study abroad organizations that offer programs in many different countries that university students can apply for. 

As they are separate institutions from UMaine, the application processes for these recommended programs are completed outside of the University of Maine System. However, the university has partnerships and works very closely with several of these recommended programs, so the applications are very streamlined. Whether you choose a direct exchange or a recommended program, it all depends on what works best for you academically, financially and logistically, and both provide the exact same amazing experiences!  

UMaine Resources

Once you have thought about where you might want to go and what your goals are for studying abroad, a good first step is to check-in with your academic advisor and get a sense of your curriculum. Your advisor will help you find out what courses you need to take and when you need to take them, and this will help determine what semester makes the most sense academically to study abroad.

Next, the UMaine Abroad Office site is the go-to place for all things study abroad. This site has all of the information about direct exchange programs, recommended programs, scholarships and more. You will want to make an account on the Abroad Office website since that is where all the study-abroad information and paperwork is located. 

Once you are planning to study abroad, your next stop should be a meeting with a peer advisor. The peer advising hours for next semester will be announced via Instagram and the study abroad email list, and they will also be posted on the Abroad Office website. Peer advisors have extensive knowledge of the various study abroad programs available and will be able to help you determine what plan makes the most sense for your particular situation. They will advise you on the location, coursework, application timelines, funding and other essential considerations. Once you have met with a peer advisor, you can then meet with Study Abroad Advisor Erika Clement who will further guide you on the details of your choices and the process.

A common concern about study abroad is funding. There are many scholarships available for study abroad through UMaine, including scholarships for direct exchanges, recommended programs and specific countries. The full list of scholarships and information can be found here. Again, it really helps to start planning early so you can make the most of these funding resources!

Also, we as Study Abroad Ambassadors are here to support you through this process. We went through it ourselves recently, and we are happy to answer any of your questions or tell you about our experiences with the process. Please do not hesitate to reach out!

Off-Campus Resources

While most of the resources you will ever need are found on campus, there are still some off-campus resources to be aware of. If the recommended program path feels like the best fit for you, exploring the websites of different providers is always a good idea to get an idea of their costs, program offerings and application processes. UMaine works closely with five recommended program organizations: the University Studies Abroad Consortium (USAC), the Center for International Studies (CIS), Academic Programs International (API), the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) and the School for International Training (SIT). 

Beyond simply researching various third-party program providers, it is also a good idea to look into scholarship opportunities outside of UMaine. There are a tremendous number of scholarships available specifically for college students studying abroad, so do your best to hunt down these opportunities. Most recommended program institutions also offer scholarships, so once accepted into one of them, be sure to research what kind of potential extra funding is available to you. 

Finally, YouTube videos are a great resource. Watching former abroad students talk about their experiences is extremely helpful to get an understanding of the small things you may have never thought about, especially in regards to culture, fashion, living conditions, etiquette and travel tips.

On Nov. 19, the UMaine Study Abroad program announced the winners of its annual photo contest: Aidan Salisbury as the first-place winner, Kevin Lynch Greenberg and Zachary Ayvaisian as second and third-place winners, and Megan Driscoll as a close third-place runner-up. 

Prizes for the first place winner included a $25 UMaine Bookstore giftcard, and $15 UMaine Bookstore gift cards for both second and third place winners, respectively. 

Salisbury, a third-year mechanical engineering student and study abroad photo contest first-place winner, reflected upon his semester abroad in Valencia, a city on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. 

“So I bought a camera a year before I studied abroad, and I pretty much took it wherever I went,” Salisbury said. “I’ve never been super into photography, but got into it [during] study abroad. I’ve done a couple contests with the photos and never won anything, so this was pretty cool. I thought I’d take some quick pictures and show them off.”

During his stay, Salisbury took mechanical engineering courses and gained a rich, new perspective on his major that he otherwise would have not found if he had not studied abroad. 

“There’s some really good professors over there,” Salisbury said. “A couple [were] studying aerospace engineering, so they were able to show us a bunch of the different programs over there, but they had a couple of fighter jets and helicopters [as well]. That was pretty cool.”

Although Salisbury was not able to become a UMaine study abroad ambassador this semester, if he was to continue with UMaine’s Study Abroad program in the future, he would invest his time in pursuing mechanical engineering abroad.

Current UMaine Study Abroad Ambassador and fourth-year kinesthesiology and physical education student Kayla Livingston helped organize the study abroad photo contest this semester alongside the office’s peer advisor, Shania Soler. 

As engaging with students through online modalities is one of the easier ways to get students involved during a time spent primarily online, the Study Abroad office only had to make minimal changes to effectively broaden their student reach and spread awareness about their international programs, even while traveling isn’t a possibility until next year. 

“Usually we’ll post all the submissions on the Instagram page and the most amount of likes will win that way,” Livingston said. “But this year we did the voting through a Google form so that we could open it up to more people other than just on our Instagram page. We [were able to send] it out to other students and faculty as well.”

Although Livingston noted that the Study Abroad program is picking up both in interest and popularity despite the lockdown, she highlighted how the office took the lack of travel into account when planning this event and looking toward other opportunities to connect with students. 

“It’s really different because obviously we can’t study abroad right now, so what we are trying to focus on is just getting kids interested and talking about it for the future; just so they can start thinking about classes that they might need to take before or saving some electives to take when you study abroad,” Livingston said. “We’re just trying to get the word out there and get people like talking. [We’re spreading] different information through social media [since that’s one of the only things we can do right now].”

Next semester, the Study Abroad office will possibly be working on a Q&A session with current study abroad ambassadors and previous study abroad students to both answer questions about the program and share international experiences with prospective students.

“I 100% recommend the study abroad experience,” Livingston said. “Whether you go for a semester, [an] internship in the summer or however long you go, it’s so worth it. It’s a way for you to experience more about the world you’re in. You learn more about yourself, and as long as you’re willing to push yourself and [are] excited to have a good experience, then you will.”

As for upcoming events, the Study Abroad office has opened applications with waived fees for the fall 2021 and spring 2022 semesters, for which applications can be submitted on their website. Additionally, the Study Abroad office is posting photo contest winner profiles on their social media accounts highlighting each student’s winning image and study abroad experience. 

For now, stay up-to-date with the Study Abroad office’s social media, @UMaineAbroad on Twitter and @UMaineStudyAbroad on Instagram and Facebook, and also check their website on UMaine’s International Programs page, umaine.edu/international/outgoing-students/.

4/5 Stars

Released Nov. 26, “Superintelligence” is a brand-new HBO Max feel-good romantic action comedy that will have you feeling thankful to be in a world without the spirit of a disembodied artificial intelligence (AI) breathing down your neck. 

“Superintelligence” was directed by Ben Falcone and written by Steve Mallory. This film runs for 1 hour and 46 minutes long and is rated PG for family-friendly viewing. 

With an all-star cast of Melissa McCarthy, starring as Carol Peters, an average woman whisked away into chaos, James Corden as himself and an AI as well as Bobby Cannavale as George, Carol’s love interest, director Falcone sets the audience up for feeling at ease and primed for a laugh with a familiar cast. 

Falcone also stars in “Superintelligence” as Charles Kuiper, an NSA agent. He is also the real-life husband of Melissa McCarthy, and this movie is their fourth film collaboration after “Tammy,” “The Boss” and “Life of the Party.” 

Opening on an average day in her neighborhood, McCarthy’s character of Carol Peters guides “Superintelligence” through the ups and downs as a mysterious AI’s chosen human “guinea pig” to determine whether the human race is deserving of their help in humanity’s quest to solve world hunger, end global warming, etc., if humans should exist as a slave to cognisant technology or simply be wiped off the face of the earth. 

A second narrative is introduced during Peters’ time spent with the AI to make “Superintelligence” a true action rom-com. Peters is led through many challenges, most of which revolve around her love interest, George, an English professor leaving for Ireland in three days, for which she needs to make things right after their last fling, all while being nudged along by the AI. 

One of this film’s strengths is the incorporation of the fantastic cast. If you’ve watched any of McCarthy’s other starring films like “The Heat,” “Spy” or even “Bridesmaids,” “Superintelligence” is definitely a “Melissa McCarthy movie” full of awkward comedy and childish humor. Additionally, Corden as the AI was surprisingly hilarious, pushing Peters into uncomfortable situations and providing comedic relief during misunderstandings and jesting arguments. 

Another strength of “Superintelligence” is its moderate pacing and colorful sets. Although this film is slotted within the action genre, its pacing falls more on the rom-com spectrum with a sci-fi twist, allowing the audience to view it at a walking-speed and soak up small moments between characters, allowing for ample space to make jokes and develop characters between interspersed confrontations with the AI. 

One of the aspects contributing to this feel-good movie success is the incorporation of vivid colors seen mainly in props, clothing and the general decor such as balloons fixed on the sidewalk, stripes and polka dots in Peters’ outfits or the set of Peters’ office interview. 

The only qualm with this movie may also deal with one of its strengths, which is the pacing of both narratives. Although it’s normal for each narrative to become longer with each appearance, eventually intertwining in the resolution of the film, some rom-com specific scenes may have extended a little too long as opposed to an even back and forth between such scenes and AI action. However, this is noticeably minor, and overall, doesn’t bog down the movie since both narratives wrap up together at the end.

Guest Author: Gustav Anderson

The fear of snakes is undoubtedly one of the most common and emotionally biting fears throughout the world. Greater still is the fear of losing someone dear to an unforeseen tragedy. Perhaps an even stronger fear is the crippling existential knowledge that life may really be simply an exercise in pushing a boulder up a mountain over and over again with no purpose. But reader, I would argue that there is one fear far greater than all three I have listed; this is the fear brought about by watching an airport baggage carousel run for what seems an eternity without the slightest sign of your precious suitcase or duffel. 

The sinking dread I felt at this exact moment was my first introduction to life abroad in Italy. Reflecting back now, this kind of terrifying experience in a foreign country was exactly the kind of reality check I needed — it prepared me for all the coming adventures I was to have over the course of the 2020 spring semester. But you, reader, are here for more than simply my musings on European culture. No, first, you want to understand who the strange man is that is writing to you from behind the electronic screen. Let me shed some light on who I am here at our beloved University of Maine.

I am a fourth-year marketing student and new media minor in the Honors College from the small town of Phippsburg, Maine. I am currently working on my senior thesis that focuses on brand equity in the Maine craft beer industry. While academics take up a criminal amount of my time, I still manage to involve myself in campus life in other ways. I am a player on both the Ultimate Frisbee and Water Polo clubs, a member of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honors Society and now most recently, a Study Abroad Ambassador for the Office of International Programs. In this new role, I hope to help guide, inform and inspire anyone toying with the idea of studying abroad. 

Beginning the planning process to eventually go abroad is a long and intimidating one, but with some advice and guidance, it can be an exciting process. For me, I knew from the very first moment I came to college that I wanted to make my dream of studying abroad a reality. My motivation to go abroad stemmed mainly from the fact that I have distant relatives living in a tiny town just an hour outside of Torino, Italy called Villar Pellice; it is from this town that my great grandmother immigrated to the United States.

During my first year at UMaine, I knew very little about how to even begin planning a semester abroad. I was nervous going abroad would put me behind academically. After both an encouraging meeting with my academic advisor and a meeting with a student advisor in the Office of International Programs, I launched into the long application process. Many meetings, form fillings and calendar pursuits later, I chose USAC’s Torino, Italy program which is a recommended third party program separate from UMaine. After over a year of preparation, on Jan. 8, 2020, I found myself flying across the ocean to a whole new world.

The city of Torino is known to some as being the “Detroit of Italy.” While this is mainly due to the fact that both cities have rich histories in automobile manufacturing, one cannot help but associate negative connotations with the comparison. Just as with Detroit, Torino has experienced economic hardship and pollution problems due to the automobile industry. This being said, Torino is making a remarkable comeback, both culturally and economically, and is undoubtedly one of the most underrated cities in Italy. The city is steeped in history, being home to breathtaking piazzas, intricate architecture, tantalizing restaurants and world class museums. English is rare in Torino as it is not overly saturated with tourists, so this made my experience abroad even more genuine. 

Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic ended my time in Italy quite abruptly. Upon my program’s cancellation, I was informed that I needed to move out of my apartment and leave Italy within five days. My last week in Torino was an incredibly emotional one; I said goodbye to close friends in my program who I had only just met, I left my internship at a small family run brewery that I had only worked at for three weeks and saddest of all, I savored the final views of a fantastic city that I was supposed to spend so much more time in. 

I did not want my experience to end, and neither did some of my peers; so we all decided to do something about it. In the colorful and most likely fictionalized words of Jordan Belfort in the 2013 movie “The Wolf of Wallstreet,” “You know what? I’m not leaving. I’m not leaving…,” I, along with a handful of my friends, managed to travel to Malta, Budapest and Brussels before our week-long second wind tour of Europe was cut short due to increasing travel restrictions to the U.S.

My time abroad was phenomenal. Some of my best memories of college were made in Europe and I cannot wait to hopefully go back someday. I want others at UMaine to understand the pure joy and excitement of studying abroad: this is why I chose to become a Study Abroad Ambassador. So please, if you have any questions on how to get your adventure started, reach out to me.