Love Abroad

Elizabeth Rogers, OC ’07, and Sarah Newman, OC ’07, balance one another. They’re both writers, although of very different sorts: Elizabeth, a poet, and Sarah, a law- yer. Sometimes, they disagree about sentence length.

They were both Shansi Fellows post-graduation — Elizabeth went to China and Sarah to Indonesia. They met in Shansi House, on the first day of orientation training, when Elizabeth was admittedly intimidated by Sarah’s cool demeanor.

On Feb. 8, they celebrated the 16-year anniversary of their first date at The Feve. Back then, and even still, their favorite thing to get was whiskey ginger ale and tater tots. Everything moved rapidly for the pair after that date, although any potential relationship was characterized by uncertainty, as they were both about to leave for two years.

Still, they kept in touch. Over the course of their time separately abroad, not only did they call each other frequently, but they visited one another four times, generally for extended periods during breaks in their academic schedules. After a few more years of long distance, living together across many domestic locations, marriage, and the birth of their son, they moved to Oberlin two years ago.

Now, they live a block away from where Sarah lived her senior year. When their son, Newman, was younger, they would often push him around in his stroller on promenades past the house. The two love their life in the town, as different and at times, surreal as it feels to be “townies” and not students.