When someone says they left the country, most people imagine the foreign land as a tropical wonderland, with palm trees and the sun shining year round. What they do not realize is Montana is right on the border of another country, the foreign land of Canada. Most Rustlers never get to leave the state, let alone the country. Sophomore Ashlyn Crane has been able to experience both of these since her childhood.

Crane’s parents are both originally from Canada, and they met and married in Calgary. Later, they moved to the United States for schooling, and since then they have maintained dual citizenship and have embraced both cultures into their lives.

“We celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving; it’s [at a] different time, so it’s about a month earlier than American Thanksgiving,” she said. “It’s the same thing [as American Thanksgiving], but we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving and American Thanksgiving.”

Crane’s family chose to move to Montana after schooling in Texas to be closer to family. Since the nature and geography is more similar here in Montana than in Texas, the family’s activities have not needed to vary from America’s northern friend.

“The land is very cool,” she said. “We love to go to the national parks, and there is a lot of national parks there, and so it’s fun to do that.” Along with this somewhat similar aspect, the food also doesn’t vary.

“The food isn’t super different, just some things are different, which is kind of cool,” she said. “Like poutine with fries, [which is] cheese curds and gravy, which is just not a huge thing [in America], but you don’t realize how big of a thing it is until you go to Canada,” she added.

Being part of Canada has always been a large part of Crane’s life, since the majority of her family lives there. She also holds citizenship of both countries, but she would not be able to vote because she is not a current citizen of Canada.

“I guess it’s just cool to have diversity in your ethnicity,” said Crane, who has always enjoyed this aspect of her life. Living on the border also makes things a whole lot easier.

“Well that’s why we moved from Texas to Montana, so we’d be closer to Canada, and so it’s really nice when your family is closer and easier to visit, so I like it a lot better.”