<p>We are from California, and my daughter is considering Colby College. How do students without cars travel between campus and airports (Portland or Boston) before and after holidays?</p>
<p>We live in the San Francisco area, and my daughter is a sophomore at Colby. The travel issue is really not such a big deal. The usual plan for us is that Meg flys in and out of Boston (a non-stop from the Bay Area), then mostly she has connected with a Cape Air flight (same terminal she comes into at Logan) to Augusta. If you book ahead the flight is less than $50 per leg from Logan to Augusta. There are several flights a day from Boston to Augusta on little Cessna airplanes that only seat 8-10 people. Augusta is 19 miles from campus. Either she takes a cab from Augusta, or she has a friend meet her in Augusta to take her to campus. There are LOTS of kids at Colby with cars, so this has not been a big issue. There is also a bus that can take kids to and from the Boston Airport from Campus ([Concord</a> Coach Lines: Connecting Maine and New Hampshire to Boston & Logan Airport](<a href=“http://www.concordcoachlines.com%5DConcord”>http://www.concordcoachlines.com)) that runs buses directly to campus with stops in Portland, Brunswick, Augusta, etc., but the bus has more non-stops to and from Augusta than to campus. The bus is about $49 each way, and takes about 4-5 hours vs 1 hour on Cape Air to Augusta. My daughter says she LOVES Cape Air. At the end of Spring Break this year she is flying from La Guardia in NYC to Portland non-stop, then a friend is picking her up in Portland and taking her the rest of the way. Don’t let the travel deter you, though honestly it is more inconvenient than if our daughter had gone to school in Boston. When my wife and I have visited Meg, one time we flew to Boston and rented a car (about a 3 hour drive with no traffic), though the last time we changed planes in Detroit and took a United Express flight to Portland, and it was an hour and 15 minute drive from Portland to Waterville vs 3 hours from Boston. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, GDMACK. This is enormously helpful!</p>
<p>GDMACK - Thanks for the travel information. S is visiting Colby this weekend - March 9th through March 12th. He has done lots of research for the past weeks and is very positive Colby will be one of his top college choices. The other choice is Oberlin - like it but find it too “countryside” . We are from CA and is very concern Waterville may be too rural for him as well. Would it be easy to get an internship there?</p>
<p>I really do not know about internships in Waterville, but the placement office can probably help in finding an internship somewhere. My daughter really likes Waterville. There is a nice coffee shop with pastries, a co-op that sells local organic foods, and a health food grocery store (Uncle Deans). Look beyond the Wal-Mart, which honestly I don’t think represents the town well at all. My daughter has been to several concerts in Portland, and to a concert or two in Boston, so though it is not near a major metropolitan area, my daughter has not found Waterville to be too small at all, though she really likes the outdoors, so Maine works well for her. There is much to do on campus on weekends.</p>
<p>GDMACK - Thank you for the information.</p>
<p>Hi frisebichon,</p>
<p>I am a current student at Colby and hopefully I can give you a little information to help you out! I do love this school and I couldn’t picture myself anywhere else, but honestly it is rural. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though! I am not an outdoorsy person and I don’t venture off campus all that much. But you don’t really notice that you are in a rural area because you get very caught up with life and all the goings on on campus. Colby realizes that we are kind of out here, so our Student Programming Board and other clubs make sure there is always plenty going on especially on the weekends. </p>
<p>The great thing about it being a rural school is that people stay on campus and it has a very tight community feel. We are 20 minutes from Augusta and about an hour from Freeport and an hour and a half from Portland. It is fairly easy to get down to Portland and Boston via bus. </p>
<p>Waterville does have some great places to offer including my favorite restaurant, Mainely’s, which has a Boston Irish pub type feel and excellent burgers. Jorgensen’s and Selah Tea are cafe hot spots and are always filled with Colby students who are studying and enjoying some coffee or tea. Pad Thai 2 is the best Pad Thai you will ever have. And Grand Central’s brick oven pizza is to die for. There is a nice movie theater and as students we get a very good discount. </p>
<p>Plus we are just off 95 so it doesn’t really feel that rural-- you’re not driving through winding country roads to get here. It is a wonderful wonderful place and partly because of its location. The remoteness of the school creates a great community feel on campus that I would not trade for anything.</p>
<p>But to answer your other question, I don’t think there are many opportunities for internships in Waterville, though some students do set up internships in Portland. JanPlan, however, is a great opportunity to do a month-long full time internship! I personally spent this past January working in New York City and got credit for it through the school! </p>
<p>I hope your son has a wonderful visit to Colby, it really is a great place!</p>
<p>colbymules2013 - will “feedback” you after his “Colbylive” visit. Thank you for being so helpful.</p>
<p>colbymules2013 - Is it convenient not to have a car?</p>
<p>Having a car is always more convenient than not having a car. Having said that, my daughter is from California, so taking a car to campus is highly impractical. My daughter has no problems getting rides to and from places as needed, and when she needs a car and there is no one to take her, she has a ZipCar membership where she can borrow a car by the hour. She has used the Zip car on several occasions. Also, Taxi’s to and from downtown Waterville are very cheap. My daughter has had her own car since before she had a driver license. She does not have a car a Colby, and she is none the worse for wear. She is fine without her own car on campus. We were told this would be how things would be by another girl from her high school who graduated from Colby before she ever got there, and it has all proved to be true. A car is not necessary.</p>
<p>colbymules2013 - Everyone there kept talking about how good the Pad Thai at Pad Thai 2 when he was there. He really like the environment there. He talked to me about the JanPlan as well. “Seem too good to be real”. Could you share your thought on this? He asked to have a car there as well. S also has received more college / Univ acceptances but in his mind it is still Colby & Oberlin.</p>
<p>GDMACK, thank you for this information! I was going to try to visit Colby this summer. I have a friend who loves it there and thought I would take a look.</p>