<p>I would like to know how current students or parents of current students feel about the remote location of the school...how does it affect a Colby student's life? Is there an issue that there isn't a "vibrant" town nearby....do students go to Portland? The school sounds awesome but just wondering about this component? Would really appreciate hearing from you!</p>
<p>Parent here. My first-year doesn’t find the location a problem despite growing up in a major metropolitan area. She went to Portland last weekend with a group of friends and has probably gone a few times since the start of the school year. She and her friends seem to eat out in Waterville about once a week. She’s also gone to the movies in Waterville a few times. She realized that living at Colby meant hunkering down for the winter and enjoying good friends (Colby students seem to be very friendly) and the activities on campus. She is very happy with her choice.</p>
<p>My daughter grew up just outside San Francisco, and when she started looking said, “I don’t want to be in the boondocks.” She wound up at Colby and is VERY happy as a freshman. They do a good job of keeping the kids occupied with activities–indoor and outdoor. She is very outdoorsey so takes advantage of the snowshoeing, rock climbing, snowboarding, etc., but enjoys Saturday night parties on campus as well. I was apprehensive she would find Waterville clausterphobic, but loves, loves, loves the food, the people mostly just like her–friendly, non-cliquey, outdoorsey and athletic. It is the perfect place for her. I think she is getting down to Portland or Boston or both this weekend, but that is her first time. She has no regrets.</p>
<p>That’s a question I’ve been asking myself, eye53. I was counting on going abroad my first semester so I didn’t really consider what would happen the January I get back 
I’m not very outdoorsy so I don’t know if I can handle Colby’s students activity. sI hope the financial aspect and academic (the MOST important) coalesce. I’m open to the new experience but I’m not going to waste my energy adapting when I should be studying/focused.</p>
<p>Jjangg:</p>
<p>You mention that you are “not very outdoorsy.” Neither is my daughter. Over spring break she did have to admit to her very outdoorsy parent that she has developed a real appreciation of Maine’s spectacular natural beauty based on her COOT experience and by virtue of her everyday environment". She totally loves her courses, her professors and her friends. She made Dean’s List first semester and worked very hard for that distinction.</p>
<p>Your daughter shows a lot of promise Tintern! Yes, Colby is picturesque, almost like a painting. I would not mind that at all. What is COOT? Also, what is your daughter’s major/concentration?</p>
<p>COOT is Colby Outdoor Orientation Trips. Here’s a link:</p>
<p>[Colby</a> College | Dean of Students | COOT | Colby Outdoor Orientation Trips](<a href=“http://www.colby.edu/administration_cs/dos/coot/]Colby”>http://www.colby.edu/administration_cs/dos/coot/)</p>
<p>My daughter hasn’t decided on a major yet. Colby has several distribution requirements and while she’s making her way through them her probable major is starting to coalesce. PM me if you’d like more information.</p>
<p>This is all helpful…my son is from just outside San Francisco area too! Please tell me more about the outdoor recreational activities in the winter…I know student’s can “hunker down” but how are they supported/encouraged to go outdoors in the winter, in what ways? Is there school transportation to nearby skiing for example? GDMACK I want to hear more about the snowshoeing, rockclimbing, snowboarding, etc. My son is an avid indoor rock climber with some outdoor climbing experience. Sorry it took so long to respond as emails were not coming to me.</p>
<p>jjiang…adapting is part of learning…respectfully I will encourage you to embrace it…You will develop growth and learning of a different kind! Remember that learning is more than academics:)) Good luck!</p>
<p>There is rarely school transportation to skiing, but with Sugarloaf about 1 hr 15 min away and Sunday River about 2 hrs away, its east enough to get to, especially since everyone can have a car all 4 years (and a lot of people do). The bookstore sells season passes at a discount, and students (such as myself) go skiing pretty regularly throughout the winter. When I was on campus my Freshman Jan Plan, I think I went skiing around 5 times.</p>
<p>As for other outdoors activities in the winter, people sometimes get off campus to do hikes (I’ve snowshoed a hike using snowshoes from the Colby Outing Club), and people also go cross-country skiing in the area. In fact, the Arboretum right on campus has some nice trails for that. Otherwise, people enjoy the little things: making snowmen; having snow fights; going sledding on the Chapel hill. There’s plenty to do in order to embrace winter.</p>
<p>Eye53: So my daughter was in Dijon this past Fall, then on campus in January (her first semester on campus in Maine). She did Outdoor Coot which involved a lot of hiking and sleeping in a hut (a lack of snow was a big problem for the normal activities they would have offered such as ice climbing, X-country skiing, Dog sledding). She did a weekend in Quebec which involved a lot of X-Country skiing and sleeping in a wood heated Yurt. She has taken up indoor rock climbing (which she had never done before) and went to Dartmouth one weekend for a competition. She was at Yale a few weeks ago to compete in a cycling event (she has joined the cycling club). In January she did a day of snowshoeing along the coast followed by chowder in Camden. The outdoor club is very active. This last weekend she said she was going to a party and then there was a dance later that night. On Saturday she was doing trail work with the outing club, then there was a big hip hop concert that night. She texted this after doing a bike ride with a friend to the dairy cone where they ate softserve ice cream, , and she also went on a 20 mile bike ride. She has had many weekend of snowboarding (an hour away), but not as much as she would like–again because of lack of snow this year. They stay busy at Colby! Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Thanks thinker88 and GDMACK. It sounds like the Outing Club is the way to go for outdoor recreational activities…am still wondering if the club arranges (or helps) with transportation for the various activities, skiing, snowboarding, etc…is it a matter of students finding/teaming up with students (on their own) who have cars? I don’t mean to keep going asking the same question but it’s kind of important.</p>
<p>Also meant to say info on personal experience with COOT was helpful too too, thank you:)</p>
<p>The outing club arranged transportation to Quebec and back. The same for the snowshoe trip along the coast. For snowboarding she has mostly teamed up with friends with cars, though once she went on her own and used a campus zip car to get there (it was over break when no one was on campus). The trip to Dartmouth, Yale, were in the cars of likeminded Colby classmates with cars, and she used a friends car to go to Boston for the day (which involved picking that same friend up at the Boston airport and driving back together). If it is a Colby Outing Club sponsored event, they definately seem to provide all needed transportation. At least this has been our experience.</p>
<p>I am a freshman at Colby this year. I thought that I would have an issue with Waterville because it does not seem like the most beautiful or interesting place. However, I (and most other students on campus) do not have an issue with it here at all. In fact, I have found myself to be quite fond of certain aspects of Waterville. There is a “Colby Bubble” as they say, meaning that the school is separated from the town, but the school is constantly making an effort to connect the two through various volunteer programs in the area. There are a lot of great restaurants and cafes in the area (18 Below is AMAZING, Cancun, Amici’s, Jorgenson’s etc), and there are plenty of grocery stores and a walmart for shopping. For clothing, most people go online or you can go to Augusta (20 mins away) or Portland (1 hour away). There’s also a neat little shop called Kenniset in Waterville where they have funky thrift items and a lot of students go there for funny clothes. The remoteness of the school is not a problem for me or most students here. It’s a wonderful place to be, and there is PLENTY to do on and off campus. Good luck!</p>