Alumni Spotlight
Pat (Harlow) Shuss '57
Bob Auriti, Joy Brown, Pat (Harlow) Shuss and Mike Harlow at the captain's dinner on the Arosa Star, July 11, 1956.
The Summer 2007 print edition of the Earlhamite includes an article about Earlham’s first off-campus international program, which sent 15 students to France in the fall of 1956. Pat (Harlow) Shuss ’57 agreed to share the following selections from letters she wrote home while on the program. Alumni are welcome to send brief recollections of their own experiences in international programs to the Earlhamite editor .
To my mother, Catharine G. Carroll, dated July 26, 1956 (while staying in Geneva):
…speaking of clothes, I am furious at whoever told me that Europeans don’t wear prints or bright colors – I could have brought any of my wild creations and not even be seen here. There are so many weird combinations – another generalization. There are a lot of people over here with bad teeth, and bad feet and legs — M. Bertrand’s teeth are awful (he was our host in Geneva). I don’t think they have any conception of what a balanced diet consists of — but I’m glad I do. Generalization again — people say the pace of life in New York is fast — I think the pace here is twice as bad — I really do. I am afraid to cross these streets — nobody would ever stop if I got in the way. And in the homes everybody rushes around — and outside the traffic is awful. So much noise during the day — but it almost stops completely at night…Listen, I wish someone would write…it is so awful when all the others get three letters a day sometimes — I am feeling very left out and forgotten.…
To my mother, dated October 2, 1956 (after our bicycle trip through the Loire Valley from Tours, and north through Brittany):
…In spite of being tired after our bicycle trip, I think it was tremendously worthwhile and I am amazed at my own capacities — I never got sick and I was the only one of the girls who tried to pump up all the hills — and then feed eight people on next to nothing. Finances was our biggest problem…we ate for about a dollar a day most of the time…The farms were depressing – the dirt and filth and the fact that the farm children really have no future at all — they’re just stuck out in the country and will be farmers like their parents. Most farms are small and farming methods are primitive. Out of the hundreds of farms we saw, only a handful had heavy farm machinery like tractors. The youth hostels in France are also rather depressing — very dirty and lacking in conveniences — in one there wasn’t even running water, yet you are expected to cook and wash both dishes and yourself without running water. All dishes had to be washed before they could be used — beds were provided but no linen so you had to have sleeping bags…we had a wonderful group — I was so used to living in such close contact with all of them that I miss them all terribly now that we are separated and back in families once more…
To my father, Armand D. Carroll, dated October 4, 1956:
…We really enjoyed our two-week bicycle trip in Brittany. There were eight of us, all with no experience either in bicycling or in hostelling — but for the most part we got along all right, except that we all ran out of money after the first week. In the French youth hostels you do your own cooking, and I got stuck with that job for our group — It was pretty hard with no money! We averaged about 30 or 40 miles a day, 450 miles for the whole trip. We saw a lot of farmers and peasants in their wooden shoes and a lot of the northern coast which is very rocky and quite beautiful. But oh! Those hills — our legs never got used to it. They were stiff the whole two weeks. We had rain a good part of the time — but we really had a wonderful experience…
To Ruth Ellen Prevo Stone, class of ’57, dated October 3, 1956 (while living in Paris):
…We miss Earlham so much — although we have come to know it even better over here by becoming such close friends with the Earlham people on this trip — do write and tell us what you’re taking and doing and what everybody else is doing — how is the new Earlham Hall progressing? Have you seen Mike’s sister Cissie (Harlow) around? How is Phyllis’ baby? Is our apartment still standing? (Run down and see, we haven’t heard a word from those girls all summer) — Have you joined Community Chorus again? What are they singing? I want to join when I get back — how is the soccer team? Somebody told us the thrilling score of the Anderson football game — how are Don and Marie — I must write to them. Goodness, Homecoming is soon. I never was interested in all those things when I was there, but now that I am away, I realize how much it all meant…
(Posted June 15, 2007)
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Page updated: June 19, 2007