Class Note 1983

Dartmouth’s tradition of foreign study inspired us to contact international classmates. Their responses reflect global, multicultural perspectives. Yet virtually all miss Thanksgiving! Anne Burrill lives in Belgium and has lived elsewhere in Europe and Africa. She describes herself as culturally more American than anything else but is a dual national and identifies as “international.” Anne’s husband is Spanish. Two of their three children were adopted from other countries. Anne’s children have been educated in Spanish and English in international schools. Anne finds that as the world globalizes, differences among countries and cultures are becoming fewer. She liked it better when places were more unique. Anne often cooks a turkey for Thanksgiving and used to feel accomplished when she managed to find cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes, which today can be found in many large stores in Belgium. Gary Portugal has lived in London for 22 years and returns to the United States infrequently. Gary’s wife is English and their kids are “totally English,” having attended English schools. Gary describes England today as very different from the country that existed when he arrived and could hardly find pizza, burgers, or Mexican food. Today, every ethnic food imaginable is available. The United Kingdom has absorbed a lot of U.S. culture and is increasingly international as the inflow of people from the European Union has accelerated. Alfredo Riefkohl writes that studying in the United States after being raised in Mexico was very valuable, although it wasn’t always easy being away from family and country and adjusting to cold weather. After graduating from Dartmouth and Stanford (M.B.A.), Alfredo returned to Mexico to run the family business. He attributes much of his success to his education abroad and encouraged his sons to follow him. Both graduated from Middlebury and then received an M.B.A., one at Stanford and the other at Harvard. Stuart Grider has lived in London since 1998 with brief stints in Hong Kong and Frankfurt. He and his husband married in 2016. Stuart is a partner at an international law firm and has worked on transactions in approximately 60 countries. He visits the United States twice a year but doesn’t think he will live there again and sometimes feels out of step with the zeitgeist. David Mason leads a peripatetic life, spending five months annually in the United States and seven in Southeast Asia with a base in Bangkok. In Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and, to a lesser extent, Vietnam, he finds the people have a tremendous capacity to appreciate the simple joys in everyday life. The relaxed culture sometimes frustrates him when he is trying to get things done, but his advice for expats in Thailand is, “Don’t try to change Thailand. Let Thailand change you.” When returning to the United States, David often fills his suitcases with textiles for family and friends, helping to preserve and promote local traditions. In celebration of Dartmouth’s 250th, the College has published Dartmouth Undying, available for purchase at www.dartmouth-undying.com and launched the Dartmouth Undying Project to collect individual memories. Send memories to dartmouthundying250@gmail.com.

—Elliot Stultz, 421 West Melrose St., #8A, Chicago, IL 60657; elliotstultz@yahoo.com; Shanta Sullivan, 1541 North Sierra Bonita Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046; shantaesullivan@gmail.com