The crew of Ocean Star on deck, taken from up in the sail rigging. Photo by Jillian Dow. When I decided to sail with Sea|mester this fall, I knew it was going to be an adventure to say the least. I’ve been around…
Dow diving in a school of jacks in the British Virgin Islands. Photo by Jillian Dow. At the start of 2019, I was feeling a bit lost as to what I was really wanting to get out of my college experience.…
The Ocean Star, Dow’s home for the semester. Photo by Jillian Dow. Greetings from the Caribbean! I’m Jill, a third-year marine biology student at the University of Maine at Machias and this semester’s Black Bear Abroad. I’m…
Hardy in Verona, Italy. Photo Courtesy of Brielle Hardy. On a stress-filled day in January this past year, less than 24 hours before I boarded a flight headed for Italy, I recalled an old…
A bookstore in Tel Aviv. Photo courtesy of Sierra Semmel. A few years ago, back home in Maine, my family was observing Passover per usual. By this, I mean we were abstaining from eating any…
Semmel’s apartment building in Tel Aviv. Photo by Sierra Semmel. A few years ago, I went to see the movie “Brooklyn” on New Year’s Eve with my sister. I cried intermittently throughout the whole movie…
On Tuesday, April 9, Israel will hold its national elections to the Knesset, which is Israel’s system of government. This date is something we’ve all…
Sierra and her family in Old Jaffa. Photo courtesy Sierra Semmel. Welcome back from spring break, UMaine! Here in Tel Aviv the weather is rapidly getting warmer, the rainy season is coming to an end, the…
On Thursday night, Tel Aviv was the target of rockets, launched from Gaza, for the first time since 2014. The threat passed just a mile…
While pondering what to write about this week, I realized that I somehow made it almost two months in Israel without writing anything specifically about…