The Bowdoin student experience is deeply affected by the relationship between the campus and its distance from one’s home. Many students find themselves running into the dichotomous reality of life at a residential college away from home at one point or another, and feel its effects in different ways.

Perhaps few students experience this more differently than Ben Israel ’25 and Richard Lim ’27. While Lim hails from Singapore, almost as geographically far from Brunswick as one can get, Israel’s walk from his apartment to Moulton is longer than that to his childhood home. Their vastly different relationships with distance at Bowdoin offer a window into the extremes of negotiating life at a college far and near from home.

Growing up in Brunswick, Israel always saw himself going to college someplace far away. However, after his parents convinced him to apply to Bowdoin, his thinking shifted.

“When I got in, it was like, actually, when I’m comparing all these other colleges, I’m comparing them to Bowdoin, and Bowdoin was the place that I really wanted to be,” Israel said. “I was able to, luckily, take a gap year and live abroad, and so I got some time away and was able to come back with a different appreciation.”

Courtesy of Richard Lim

Lim similarly had hopes of attending a college someplace far away but wasn’t aware of all the accompanying challenges until he matriculated at the College.

“Frankly, I was kind of unprepared for [the distance from Singapore to Bowdoin]. I thought, you know … it’s going to be 32 hours, 25 hours [in transit], whatever, and I’m going to be there,” Lim said. “And in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that long. You know, I did want to get far away from home to see what the world is like.”

The great distance from home does present a set of challenges with daily effects, as Lim noted.

“It’s tough keeping up with friends [and family] at home because of the time difference,” Lim said.

Lillian Frank

Israel pointed out that there are both pros and cons to having spent so many years in Brunswick.

“I know Brunswick really intimately. From my first days, I could be showing people my favorite spots in town and really feel like I know it,” Israel said. “In the same way … as a second-semester senior, I really feel like my time to leave this place has come. So the proximity and familiarity can be both an advantage and a disadvantage.”

There can also be strange side effects of going to college in the same place you grew up, as Israel noted.

“One of the most memorable experiences … of being from Brunswick and going to school here is when everyone leaves for the summer or a break, it transforms Brunswick back into the town that I grew up in,” Israel said. “It’s a really weird sensation, and I think it’s telling of my experience at Bowdoin as being deeply involved with the people and friends that I’ve made here.”

Lim made clear that any drawbacks resulting from Brunswick’s distance from Singapore are secondary to the positives that have come with life at Bowdoin.

“The weather here is great. It’s way too hot at home,” Lim said. “I like learning about new places. I like being able to travel to places that would otherwise have been very costly and difficult to travel to. And I like making new friends in different places.”

Israel also noted that his approach to life at the College as a local has evolved.

“At first, [being from Brunswick] was something that I kind of wanted to stray away from. I wanted to create my own identity in this space,” Israel said. “But as I’ve grown into myself here, I’ve begun to feel so much more comfortable with going home and seeing my family. It’s been really valuable to have them so close and have such an important support network.”

Though his journey to reach Bowdoin from home is lengthy, Lim highlighted that spending years in such a different place has allowed him to gain a new perspective.

“I love being here,” Lim said. “I think it has been transformative in the way I view the world and my home country, seeing things from a critical distance [and allowing me] to see what I’ve taken for granted and what could be better at home.”