Hannah has been a jet setter this summer. She took a year of Arabic language her freshman year and ended up being invited by her Arabic professor to film the oral histories of Arab immigrants in the Columbus, Ohio area as part of a grant. As a cinema major, she jumped at the opportunity. In June, she made back-to-back trips. One to The University of Victoria in Canada to attend a week-long course on digitizing oral histories with her professor. The second was to present on their project at the University of Oregon in Eugene with her professor and another student.

This week finds Hannah back in Ohio for a week-long workshop associated with the fellowship she received. This fall she’ll be using the film she already shot and will rework it into a documentary of Arab immigrants. Great experience for a kid from Maine.

I think she’s about done in with travel and is looking forward to just being home for a bit. She flew internationally for the first time – four flights and three layovers to get to Victoria alone. There’s a saying in Maine, “You can’t get there from here.” That was almost true on that trip. This jaunt she’s traveling by train and bus for the last leg. It’s been an education, that’s for sure!

Next week she’ll begin her fourth summer working at Wyman’s (Wild Maine Blueberries). Last year she ran a scale weighing a million+ pounds of berries. This year she’ll be working with the marketing department. I couldn’t be more excited for her, but the summer is passing by so fast!