maine's way of life questions (Portland, Brewer: amusement parks, credit, homes)

[x0christina]

Hi my name is christina, this upoming july/august I am moving to maine. I have a few qustions.

1) what area has the best schools?
2) what is the age you must be to start driving?
3) what activities are there to do?
4) what are the people like in maine? Are they warm and inviting?
5) what's the climate like in maine?
6) are there job oppurtunities for 15 year olds?
7) are there a lot of children?
8) is it more country than city?
9) do you have internet connection and phone Service?
10) do people complain if you get horses?
11) are people always in your business?
12) other things I should know?

[Submariner]

Greetings Christina, welcome to the City-Data forum.

#1
Schools are hotly debated. Each person wants different things from a school. If you're looking simply at standardized test scores those are published.

We moved up here from Ct. At the time, we only had one of our children still attending public-funded schools. We felt that Maine schools were much better than where we had been in Ct.



#2
You can get a learning permit at 15 in Maine. Sadly every few years there are debates about making it more difficult for young drivers to learn to drive. Every time the laws are changed, they seem to be changed in favor of making the process more lengthy.



#3
There are lot of activities to do here. Especially outdoor types of things. Hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, geocaching, canoeing, snow skiing, sledding; are all very popular here.



#4
I am not from Maine. I moved here in 2005. I have found Mainers to mostly be very friendly.



#5
Summers are warm. Mostly mildly warm, but not killer hot like the Southern states experience. Winters are cool. In my region, we usually will see one storm blow through every week. Followed by a week of clear sunny skies. I find that winter is a lot brighter than I expected. With a blanket of snow covering the ground and sunny skies, it makes for a lot of bright glare. I have lived other places previously where winters are dark overcast and gloomy, but not Maine



#6
There are very few job opportunities here. You will need to be very enterprising and driven to find a job here. People can do it, though.



#7
I think that statistically families in Maine have about the same numbers of children as they do anywhere else.



#8
Maine is mostly rural. Very country.



#9
Yes, yes.



#10
In my small town there are five families who have horses. We have a lot of trails through the forest for horse riding. I am not aware of anyone complaining about them.



#11
People? People are people. Parents are always into the business of children.

Neighbors? Sometimes some neighbors may be, I have lived places where we have had terribly nosy neighbors. It is kind of like flipping a coin, sometimes you get a neighbor who is, and sometimes you get a neighbor who is not.

Community / town? I have lived in other places where they wanted lots of permits and licenses before you could do anything [or so it seemed]. Some towns are extremely strict and controlling. Other places are laid back.

My town here in Maine is very laid back. I moved to a place where our neighbors are not close enough to see each other, so we each 'feel' private and isolated in our backyards. When homes are a mile apart and it is dense forest between them, it is rather private. So nobody gets into your business.



I hope that you enjoy your move to Maine.

[birdinmigration]

Originally Posted by x0christina

Hi my name is christina, this upoming july/august I am moving to maine. I have a few qustions.

1) what area has the best schools?
2) what is the age you must be to start driving?
3) what activities are there to do?
4) what are the people like in maine? Are they warm and inviting?
5) what's the climate like in maine?
6) are there job oppurtunities for 15 year olds?
7) are there a lot of children?
8) is it more country than city?
9) do you have internet connection and phone Service?
10) do people complain if you get horses?
11) are people always in your business?
12) other things I should know?

Hi Christina! Assuming you are the 15 year old, my comments are for you. My daughter and I started researching areas to move to when she was 15, and she was 16 by the time we moved to Maine.

She could have picked literally any place to move to (my preference being East Coast) and due to her interests, we found this town in Maine where they taught courses in her interest area -- Marine Biology -- in the high school, and she could take college courses for free. She is also interested in horses and has ridden all her life.

We researched a lot on line, and when we visited she fell in love with the place. We moved here in the summer -- same as you will, and she has never regretted the decision even one day since. So, your questions:

1) what area has the best schools?
There are really good schools all over Maine, it totally depends on your interests and college-prep focus. You should tour different schools before you choose a town if you can, it really helps to get a "feel" for the place.

2) what is the age you must be to start driving?
My daughter was the oldest student in her drivers ed class -- she was 17. Most kids get their permit and drive at 15-16. I was shocked at the cost of drivers ed, it's something to consider. Maine has pretty strict laws about driving with permits, and your parent has to check off hours on a log. It's a serious thing.

3) what activities are there to do?
Anything and everything, Christina. You name it. But be wise and choose your friends carefully. Kids in Maine are like kids everywhere, you know?

4) what are the people like in maine? Are they warm and inviting?
This is the best question of all for you. Remember, my daughter moved here in the middle of high school, and so will you. She could have come here and had no friends at all. That did not happen. She found kids to be warm and inviting, and starting Day One she was included in things. She had -- and still has -- such a great group of friends here in Maine. They've all graduated now, and are in college or doing interesting jobs. But they all still get together when they're here on vacations -- they go to the beach, or have bonfires, go to concerts in Portland, and hang out at their camps and stuff. Basically, she has life-long friends here, and she considers Maine HOME.

I will say one thing though, there is a lot of pressure to date and have relationships in high school here. It is really extreme around homecoming and prom. My daughter was not into that at all. She is kind of a "nerd girl", and focused on her schoolwork and volunteering. But even so, she went to the dances and prom, and always with a big group (some of them were couples), and her "date" was a friend -- one of the guys who was openly gay. It was fine, she had a great time, but she had to figure out what works for her because there definitely is pressure.

5) what's the climate like in maine?
It's cold a lot of the year. Personally I think it's beautiful here all year round. You have to get used to dealing with the snow in winter, just like everybody up here. Skiing/snowboarding/hockey and all other winter sports are big here.

6) are there job oppurtunities for 15 year olds?
Yes, definitely. But I'd suggest you start with volunteering or an internship if you plan to move here this summer. High school kids here score their summer jobs in the spring, so you might not find much for this year. I know of at least 2 therapeutic riding stables near me that are in desperate need of summer volunteers -- you have to get there before 8 am though!

Another note -- kids here have different lives than kids in other places. You might be surprised. I was talking to a couple of 3rd grade girls yesterday, and I asked what they are doing this summer, and they looked at me like I was nuts. Reason being -- they have responsibilities in the summer. They haul wood for the woodstove, they help sort lobster traps (teenagers will help lay traps), they take care of livestock, they pick blueberries, etc. etc. They don't even think of these as "jobs", this is just life.

7) are there a lot of children?
Yes

8) is it more country than city?
Oh gosh yes. I think Maine is something like 90% rural or outright wilderness.

9) do you have internet connection and phone Service?
Yepper. I'm using it now! If that is an issue for you, make sure you buy a place that is internet-ready!!

10) do people complain if you get horses?
Hahaha...well, it depends! There are laws and zoning restrictions for different things. If you want to get horses, you should check out the laws first. I see ads for people selling horse ranches all the time, they are already set up and you just need to add the horses.

11) are people always in your business?
I think people are less in your business in Maine than any other place I've lived in, and that is a lot of places.

12) other things I should know?
Ask any and all questions on this board. Do a lot of research and visit if you can. If you or your parent have any personal questions for me, feel free to send me a Private Message by clicking my user name and following the prompts. I would be happy to help.

Bottom line is -- I hope you and your parent (or parents) move to Maine and find it as wonderful as my daughter and I have. I have lived all over the planet, and from where I sit, Maine is IT.

[Maine Writer]

Reps for birdinmigration. Great post.

My daughter also took college classes online through her high school, and she started college with a semester's worth of credits. She's a "nerd girl" who didn't date in high school to concentrate on her education. That hasn't changed much in college, and at her college, this is perfectly normal. She's going to be 20 in a couple of weeks, is a college junior, and plans to stay here in Maine to work after grad school unless a spectacular job comes up after grad school. There are wonderful opportunities here for teens who are motivated and engaging. You certainly seem to be both.

I think you'll like it here. Good luck with your move.

[Zymer]

Neighbors? Sometimes some neighbors may be, I have lived places where we have had terribly nosy neighbors. It is kind of like flipping a coin, sometimes you get a neighbor who is, and sometimes you get a neighbor who is not.

Part of it depends on where you are, and much of it may depend on *you*. It has been my experience that if you leave them alone, they will assume that you want to be left alone and will oblige you. The flip side of that coin can also be true- if you start getting into *their* business, they might very well return the favor.

On the other hand, I just discovered that the city of Brewer wants to regulate your lawn- they employ a fellow to drive around looking at people's lawns. If your grass is more than ten inches high, an [censored] in an official-looking truck will stop in and give you an official-looking piece of paper ordering you to cut your grass. I suspect that other urban/semi-urban areas may employ similar [expletive]s in similar capacities. I do not know what they would do if you failed to comply with this 'order'. I am very glad that I do not live in Brewer, though, if I *did*, I would very likely find out what they would [attempt to] do, after I told the [expletive] just exactly what he could do with his 'order'. I do not react well to things of this nature and much hate and discontent would ensue, which is why I have chosen to live in an area where such is unlikely to occur.

If you want to be left alone, you can certainly find a place where people will oblige you. If you want friendly neighbors, you can find those, too. And if you enjoy people telling you what to do, you can find that as well.

[mainebrokerman]

maine is one of the safest states-people do look out for one another, if your car breaks down,,people will stop to offer help,

when i was 15 i had many friends, I worked in the summer-my sister at that age use to babysit/did some house-cleaning for extra money
but for recreation, we would go boating on the ocean or a lake, fishing, swimming, swimming was one of my favs, we would go to some old quarries jump from the rocks..or just bask out in the sun and swim- if you have an ATV-you can have fun riding them in the woods, same as a snowmobile in the wintertime
southern maine,,has alot of sandy beaches-look up Old orchard beach/kennebunk beach online
amusement parks, water-parks lots of stuff to do

horses?? it's not uncommon to see people ride horses on back roads- many , many mainers have horses

nosey neighbors?? for the most part no,

my son was 15, just 5 yrs ago, went to high school in maine, now is a grad student at a pharmacy college in maine
he was involved in high school sports- every high school has them..