Activity 1

Student Involvement Fair

Academic

The student involvement fair was a great experience and surely led me to research different clubs and activities. The most interesting part to me was all of the clubs that had to do with different majors and classes. I am going to argue that this beyond class activity was actually academic. Not only did I learn about many different clubs the school has to offer, I learned about some of the specific classes, majors, and minors that some clubs can be connected to. One thing that really sparked my interest however, were the club and intramural sports. I definitely think that some sports and clubs interest me. It was also cool to spend some time with one of the first new people I met on campus. We went around the whole circle of clubs a few times but really ended up spending a lot of time around the intramural and club sports table. All of the options stuck out to me and as someone who loves sports it was very nice to know I’ll have some options for activities. I also did just write my email down for a few clubs that I am not really interested in but they gave out free stuff so I just wrote down my name to get the merchandise. I’m really looking forward to joining the club and intramural sports. Especially 3v3 basketball intrigues me as me and my roommates all love playing basketball and we were not even that bad. I think 5v5 basketball is later in the year so it’s going to be fun making some friends and eventually making a team.

Activity 2

Sexapalooza

Academic

Sexapalooza was definitely one of the most interesting events I have ever been to. Me, my roommates, and some of my friends on the floor all decided it would be a fun experience to go to. There was a huge line around the information table so we started out by waiting in that. After we got through the lines it was very evident that the whole event would be based upon educating people on how they can participate in having sex safely, consensually, and respectfully. It was really interesting to learn about different clubs and programs that UNE offers to make campus safer. It made me feel proud to be a student here to know that they care. I spent some time with a few people on my floor that I knew, but we weren’t very close yet and it was really fun to make some more friends. There was a “sex show” that we were planning on going to but it did not really appeal to us and it honestly seemed kind of weird so we skipped that part. But, me and my friends spent our time there going around the circle where we could get free condoms, play games, and get educated. As I said, this was a really fun and sort of weird experience but I had a great time learning about what UNE had to offer and just building a bond and spending time with people on campus. One person on my floor that we were hanging out with actually won one of the give aways and won a sex toy which was funny.

Activity 3

UNE Light Night

Extracurricular/Social

This event was one of the first things I did here on campus. It was a random night during the first week of school. Me and my friends decided to just go and see what it was and we actually ended up having a great time. There were various games and different activities to do during the event. There was also live music and it really fit the theme of the event. Me and my friends got some food from the food truck. The food was great and we sat down and listened to the music while we ate. One of the most enjoyable moments of this event was playing golf with my friends. We did not really play seriously but that definitely made it much more fun to just screw around and enjoy ourselves.After we finished with gold we went over to the chairs and sat in them for a bit. We moved on from the chairs and spent some time over at the axe throwing. We met up with a few other people we met earlier in the week and had a great time. I actually had a good time and it was really fun just getting out of the dorm and having some relaxing time after a pretty stressful move in. This event was really fun and a great experience to meet some new people, and just enjoy their company with the entertainment.

Activity 4 

UNE Beach Day

Extracurricular/Social

This event was probably one of the most disappointing beyond class activities that I attended. It was supposed to be a warm day of relaxing on the beach and eating ice cream outside. However, this event got rained out and instead of rescheduling, they just decided to hold it in the campus center. It was honestly really boring and I only went for the ice cream. Me and my roommates showed up pretty early in the event and were some of the first people to get ice cream. We then went inside the campus center where they gave us a bag with a ton of merchandise that I never ended up using once. There were some cheap sunglasses and a t- shirt. After we got our stuff we went into the Hang and sat down in a booth. We played some heads up and that was probably the best part of the whole event. I won every time and after that we went and got a second round of ice cream and decided to just chill until we finished the second round of ice cream, then we would snag a third round to go. Overall, this event was pretty boring and nothing really happened during it. I wish they just rescheduled it so it could actually be held on the beach, instead of just having a beach day indoors. I had a little fun playing the board games but other than that it was very disappointing.

Activity 5

Alpacas

Academic

This event was probably one of the most surprising and interesting events on campus. Me and my roommates heard a rumor about alpacas possibly roaming around campus. We decided to go outside and search for these alpacas. When we left Avila we turned around immediately and saw a huge crowd forming behind us. We went over to the crowd and saw some huge alpacas in a cage. Outside of the cage they covered so many tables in many flyers about different programs around UNE that involve animals and the environment. It was really cool seeing the different programs, majors, and classes that have to do with nature. I have always loved animals and being outside so it was very beneficial to learn more about what UNE has to offer. This was really educational and I think it exposed me to some possible majors and exploration courses I could do. After seeing all of the different things at the tables we went back to look at the alpacas where they all decided to relieve themselves in unison. That was very enjoyable and seeing all of the people getting grossed out it was really funny. Overall,  I had a great time at this activity. It was really funny and also really informational. I also think that I might want to explore more environmental classes here at UNE

Activity 6

Scavenger Hunt

Extracurricular/Social

This event was a really fun time for me and one of my roommates. Our RA told us all about a campus wide scavenger hunt going on that we should all attend. So me and my roommate headed out in search of anything that looked like it was part of a scavenger hunt. We found nothing and went back to ask the RA what we were looking for. She explained that we were looking for little plastic fruits and they were hidden all across campus. Me and my roommate went down the lawn by the commons and we searched around the water. And I actually found a little green plastic apple hidden in the UNE logo down by the water. We went back and claimed our prize, a twix bar. After We won the scavenger hunt we went and looked for the more “exotic fruits” that would give out larger prizes. We searched the other side of campus and could have sworn we found another item to just have it be some random thing on the ground. We spent a lot of time around the campus center because we got a tip of a possible item over there. I was wearing flip flops and ended up slipping and falling on some leaves and landing right on my butt. It kind of hurt so we cut our losses and took the twix bar back to the room. It was a great experience and I had a great time with my roommate.

Activity 7

Yoga

Extracurricular/Social

Yoga was probably the most difficult activity that I went to during this semester. It was described as power yoga. Which means it was a lot of flexibility, but also a lot of core and arm strength to be successful. I was actually pretty good in both the flexibility part and the strength part. I have always enjoyed any sort of physical activity and without playing a sport it’s sort of difficult to keep active. I have been going to the gym a lot and yoga is a good change of pace for me. I was first introduced to it by a few girls on my floor and then I forced my roommate to come with me and we had a great time. It was actually much more difficult than I thought it would be and I put on a pretty good sweat as it went on. We did this cycle over and over again and by the last one I could barely do it. One interesting thing that I learned about myself however is that I can do pretty sick headstand. We ended off with some relaxing stretching and then some meditation in a dark room. I almost ended up falling asleep I was so relaxed. After we meditated it was over and we put all our stuff away. I used the QR code to say I was there and it was interesting to find out it was actually run by a student here at UNE. I was really impressed and surprised to see that. Overall this was a great experience and one of my favorite activities I did.

Activity 8 

Thanksgiving

Extracurricular/Social

Thanksgiving dinner was a really fun time here. They advertised it all over the dining hall for the weeks prior to the event. I made sure to get a ticket for 5pm so I could eat at the best time. We showed up and me and my friends were immediately greeted with incredible hospitality and the dining hall had such a different feel from usual. There were various teachers and what I believe to be their children helping out and waiting on us. The food was slightly better than normal. I got some ham, mashed potatoes, corn and stuffing. The waiters got us drinks and I decided on the apple cider. And then they came around and took everyones pie of choice. Mine was apple pie, and it was mediocre at best. The food was not the best part of the event, it was the whole feel and vibe of the hall. It was really fun just hanging out with friends and the different people I became so close with over the course of the semester. We stayed as long as possible and just talked and had a great time. I think there were probably about 15 of us there so we needed to reserve a lot of tables. This was probably one of the most memorable things I did this semester. It is a true telling of the new bonds and friendships that I made with my roommates and the other people on my floor.

Activity 9

Basketball Game
Extracurricular/Social

One of the more recent activities I went to on campus was the UNE basketball game versus Maine Maritime Academy. This was genuinely one of the most entertaining games I have ever watched at any level. UNE went down in the first half of the game by about 27 points. Me and my friends were even planning on leaving because we thought the game was already over. That was until UNE slowly but surely started crawling their way back into the game. They put in some freshmen who I had some classes with and they immediately started making an impact on the game. Maine Maritime looked like they were getting everything they wanted until some random point in the second half and they just went ice cold. We cut the lead down to single digits and then we tied it up on a three with around 30 seconds left. We ended regulation in a tie and then went to overtime and immediately started pulling away. We ended up winning by a couple points and I had an awesome time. I am a huge basketball fan so some of my friends and some people we played with went to the game to see what the team was like. The game made me excited to get back to the campus center to play. That’s one of the things I really became passionate about here at UNE. I joined an intramural basketball team with my friends so that is why I became so into basketball this semester.

Activity 10

UNE Intramural Basketball

Extracurricular/Social

This activity was definitely the activity I spent the most time on here at UNE. Me and my roommates made a 3v3 intramural basketball team. I missed the first game because I was home early for the weekend. The next game we played was against a pretty bad team so we won and then we played the 2 best teams in the league. We lost both of those games, but we still made the playoffs. The first game of the playoffs we played the only team we beat in the regular season and we beat them again. This time was a little closer than the first game. In the second playoff game we played one of the best teams in the league that we already played. Last time they just used their height and strength to beat us. This time we were way more determined and we beat them 2-0. I actually hit the game winner to send us off to the semi finals. After we played that game we played a team we had never played before. They were also bigger and stronger than us but we had the skill. We won the first game thanks to a great performance by me shooting wise. The next game they subbed in their big man and he was ruthless. He did not care that he was playing intramural basketball, he was just overall super rough and horrible to play against for our team. We ended up losing the next 2 games and losing in the semifinals. It was an awesome experience and I am excited for next year when we will be even better than we were this year.