Thanks for writing in about your experiences living ’round the girdled earth. The first three responses came from classmates who hailed from or moved to the Great White North. (I’ll print several more next time.)

First, Jeremy Howick replied, and here are my questions and his answers.

What took you out of the United States? “A Ph.D. at the London School of Economics, then I was going to return to my native Canada but met my wife and had a child.”

How did your Dartmouth experience help to prepare you? “In two main ways. First, I had the privilege of meeting so many international students that moving to a new place with a slightly different culture felt natural. Second, the broad liberal arts education helped me hold my own when ‘bantered’ (sarcastically teased) by my British colleagues.”

What’s one thing you think our classmates would find interesting about the world view where you currently live? “There has never been any land reform here. So, more often than not, when you ‘own’ your home, you don’t really own it. It is actually on a long lease, and the rough equivalent of the ‘lord of the manor’ actually owns it. For example, one person, the duke of Westminster, owns all of Mayfair, a very expensive part of London.”

Have you connected with other alumni where you live now? “Yes, I am getting integrated with the Dartmouth alumni network and may give a talk at a London event in the next few months.”

Second, Todd Gorman wrote about his language study abroad (LSA): “My LSA through Dartmouth in France was the key factor that led me to living in Quebec City now, aside from meeting my wife, who comes from here. The LSA broke the psychological barrier in my mind about living elsewhere, making me see firsthand how people are happy everywhere; that the so-called American Dream is actually a universal human desire; and that in many other places people are ‘working to live, instead of living to work.’

“Life here in Canada is wonderful. As a busy academic physician (internal medicine and ICU), I’m particularly fond of the healthcare system here. No system is perfect, but this one is much closer than the United States’. I do hope the Medicare for all movement in the United States will take hold.

“I think it’s hysterical when my kids, on family trips with my brother and his family, flip into speaking French when they don’t want their cousins to understand their conversation.

“My three closest Dartmouth friends (Kelly McMann, Greg York, and Scott Miller) have and still spend significant amounts of time abroad, partly because of their formative experiences while at Dartmouth. I believe studying abroad in some form or another is an essential step in becoming a citizen of the world.”

Third, Christina Flavell wrote: “I was born and grew up in Montreal. After graduating I lived in New York City for three years, but I missed home too much, and so I returned to the Great White North in 1996—first to Montreal, then to Toronto for a work opportunity, and now I’m in Ottawa for the lifestyle, which is amazing. I loved my Dartmouth friends and I had the great fun of living with Tori Martens in N.Y.C., but being away made me appreciate my homeland so much more. I am still in touch with an amazing group of Dartmouth friends who I deeply cherish; seeing most of them at our 25th reunion was awesome!”

Next time I’ll also answer the question: Does anyone beyond the Dartmouth community describe the earth as “girdled?”

—Kelly Shriver Kolln, 3900 Cottage Grove Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52403; (920) 306-2192; dartmouth92news@gmail.com