Do you have a wood stove? Much better for power outages and making up the difference with oil/gas. We don't turn the thermostat up unless we have to. 55 at night.

Welcome to Maine.

While I can't speak to the quality of the CS program at UMF, last year they cut 9 faculty positions due to enrollment being down. Those positions weren't in CS, but things do not look great for UMF.

I'm an introvert as well and would personally use this as an opportunity to grow by going to a bigger school with a more comprehensive program. There will be "growing pains" for you, no doubt, but a research university will definitely have more resources.

>how poorly handled and unrealistic those scenarios are for here in the US

3 Mile Island? Took 14 years to clean up at a cost of a billion dollars.

Come to this event and don't just feel even more confused, feel downright ashamed!