How one organization connects Lawrence and KU Students to the world

Whether coming into Lawrence from Third Street or Iowa Street, the signs displaying the sister cities of Lawrence are often overlooked.

Ryan Karpman | @KarpmanRyan

Lawrence is “sister city” to four international cities of similar population to Lawrence; Eutin, Germany; Hiratsuka, Japan; Iniades, Greece; and Tocopilla, Chile.

Sister Cities International, the organizing entity that establishes sister city pairings, describes the status between cities as a “broad-based, long-term partnership between two communities in two countries.”

William Keel, chair of Sister Cities Lawrence, says the local organization keeps these partnerships strong.

“I guess I’ll call it a civic organization that has the responsibility of managing the exchanges between Lawrence and our now four sister cities,” Keel said.

One of the biggest commonalities between these cities are students, with a handful of KU students getting to go to one of these sister cities to study abroad.

Courtesy Cullen Krishna. Krishna and his fellow students outside the theatre they perform at in Indiades, Greece.

“You know, I was there for six weeks. It felt like I could have been there for three months based on just everything I did, took every opportunity, did everything I could,” Cullen Krishna, a dance student at KU that studied in Indiades, Greece last summer, said.

“It’s a life changing experience. Once you open yourself up to the rest of the world, you can never go back. It’s a window to the world,” Keel said.