I went up to northern Vermont to see a friend who used to live in Nagoya. Vermont shares a border with Quebec, which is part of Canada, and my friend’s hometown is on a lake between the two countries. There are police boats on the lake that check people who cross between Canada and the U.S., but most people travel on the highway. They stop at the checkpoint on the border and show their passports. However, many Americans and Canadians live side by side in small towns. My friend took me to a town east of the lake, and we stopped at a library on the border. There was a small sign on the ground outside that said, “United States and Canada,” and another sign that said, “Do not enter,” but there was no wall, and the Canadian side looked just like the American side. (145 words)