The outdoor life was very present in his stay at Raymond, Maine. His mother one marked that he was an "excellent marksman and a great fisherman." He also pick up a custom of taking long leisure walks in the great outdoors, he would continue to take these long walks wherever he might live for the rest of his days. In 1819 his mother sent him back to Salem to study. There he did a great deal of writing and reading back at Salem. Nathaniel didn't had the most normal boyhood, but he did note later on in his life that some of his happiest years were spent in Raymond, Maine. .
Nathaniel then attended Bowdin University. Factors that went into Nathaniel choosing Bowden was: its close proximity to Raymond, its cheapness, and it being a mainly Democratic college (Harvard and Dartmouth are major Federalist institutions of the time.) Despite graduating eighteenth in his class, Hawthorne wasn't the "model" student at Bowden. His friends and him where always getting into trouble and getting fined for it too. Since he was very social in college, he didn't do much literary work during this time . A group of his comrades and him founded the Pot-8-0 club. They would sit around and talking about books, politics and such at organization meetings. Hawthorne would keep in touch with many of his collegues after graduation from college. One of the more well known friends that he kept in touch with was Henry W. Longfellow. By his senior year, he was for certain he wanted to write for a living. He might have even started his first novel, Fanshawe, at this time. After graduating college, Hawthorne would spend in next twelve years of his life in seclusion from most of the world. These year are often refered to as the Solitary Years of his life. Hawthorne published his first novel, Fanshawe in this time. Since there wasn't much success to this novel, Hawthorne went everywhere trying to find every copy of the book and burn it.
