Tales from Abroad is an ongoing section in which Gustavus students share the highlights of their study abroad experiences.

In the sparsely populated countryside of northwestern England, not far from the English and Scottish borders, are the rolling green hills spotted with big white wind turbines. Past these hills is the small town of Cumbria. The foundations of the old farm houses are built with stones scavenged from the Roman ruins sunken in the landscape.

The wooden doors and window shutters are painted red to welcome visitors, and this is where I spent a weekend in February 2014. It was winter and raining when the mother of four picked us up at the train station and brought us to her home.  Stephen and Chelsea make their living raising sheep and tending dairy cows with the help of two girls and two boys, all under 12.

They brought us into the mountains of the Lake District where everything is old and green and even those born and raised here don’t know who built the stone walls that separate the land they tend.

It was snowing in the mountains and back below we ate fish and chips from haddock caught in the North Sea. We made our way to Brough Castle, a Roman fort dating back to 1200—a target of Scots raids.

On our last morning, we were given a proper tour of the family’s farm. Stephen maintains the sheep and dairy cows with the help of his brother and oldest son, Nick. Chelsea says she wants Nick to keep his options open, that there can be more to life than farming in one place your entire life.  Stephen has never been to London, and Chelsea doesn’t know if their family will ever be able to travel beyond England.

I knew then why Stephen and Chelsea would go out of their way to host students studying at the University of Edinburgh, the same reason they would have the three of us sitting in between them and their children at supper.

It can be hard to experience what is beyond the small town farming life. It was as much about us experiencing their home and culture as it was for their kids to hear about what is beyond the ancient stone walls that extend over the hills. Not that we were able to offer them anything of much cultural value, besides some Minnesota wild rice and improper cooking instructions. Still, new perspectives and ways of life were introduced to all of us.

The people you will meet studying abroad is perhaps the most enriching experience of being abroad. A castle and a museum or a statue can show us plenty, but people can tell us what is beneath it all.

I thought I knew how priceless the opportunity to study abroad really was just a few short hours after landing in Edinburgh, my home for the next four and half months.  It turned out I wouldn’t know until I met Stephen and Chelsea and their family, who only hoped they would be able to take a vacation to the Canary Islands the next year.

-Aaron Lawrence