Студенты из Эстонии восторгаются гостеприимством и масштабами Техаса, продавая книги в Лонгвью

College students from Europe, selling books in Texas, say they’re loving Longview Published 5:41 am Thursday, August 13, 2026 Before Martin Porroson arrived in Texas, he had grand ideas of what he would find. “I thought you guys were all like cowboys riding horses or massive pickup trucks, which is true,” he said during a Wednesday interview. “And I thought everybody was shooting guns everywhere for fun, which didn’t turn out to be true.” The best discovery this Estonian college student has made so far, however, is that the people in East Texas are friendly and welcoming —- and that, yes, stuff in Texas is bigger than elsewhere. Porroson is one of five college students from Estonia – a country in northern Europe – who are selling educational and religious books door-to-door in East Texas this summer as part of the Southwestern Advantage program, an international student exchange organization that gives students a chance to earn money, develop business skills and see another part of the world. Porroson and his peers — Janar Lips, Christopher Sagris, Eero Sten Põldmaa —- can be spotted around the Longview area wearing bright blue shirts as they move from house to house, peddling their bicycles as they peddle their wares. Another peer, Stefan Allev, is working in Carthage. Lips and Porroson, both 21, are economics majors at the University of Tartu, Estonia’s national university, which was founded in 1632. They’ve both finished their sophomore years. Lips hails from Viljandi, Estonia, and Porroson is from a small city near Tallinn, the nation’s capital. Estonia has a population of 1.3 million, which is almost equivalent to the population of the 23 counties in Northeast Texas. That’s about where the similarities end between their home and where they’re working. For example, Porroson is considering one day taking over his father’s air-conditioning business. “But we use it to heat our stuff up, not cool it down,” he said with a laugh. Temperatures in Estonia reach a high of about 73 degrees in the summer and lows of 15 degrees or less in the winter. People in Estonia speak Estonian, which is somewhat like Finnish. Students in Estonian schools must learn two foreign languages in addition to their native language, so Lips and Porroson began English lessons in second grade. They’ve mastered it, too, preparing them for their time in Texas. Porroson found out about the program from a friend who did it last year, and he was eager to see what it would offer. The Southwestern Advantage program’s roots date to the 1800s, and it originated as a door-to-door Bible sales company staffed by American college students. It has expanded its offerings since then to include more than 60 educational titles for children and adults, though it still offers religious literature. Youth educational books are available for students in all grade levels. Program participants earn a commission from their sales. “Basically, we’re running our own business out here,” Lips said. “Our main thing is we’re selling educational books door-to-door. Our purpose is to help people out with education.” Lips, Porroson and their peers have been in Texas since the beginning of June —- just in time to get a taste of Texas heat and humidity. They worked in the Dallas area for the first part of the summer and arrived in Longview about a month ago. Students in the program are assigned to work in various places and live with host families. “I think we got pretty lucky,” Porroson said. The students were told before they arrived in East Texas that the people here are friendly. That has proven true. “It’s super fun going around here,” Lips said. “Everybody’s waving at you. Some people say ‘Good morning to you’ when you drive to a breakfast place.” That doesn’t happen in Estonia. “You can smile at someone on the street, and they’re going to go home and think about it for a week — like, ‘Hey, what was that guy’s problem? Why did he smile at me?’” Porroson said. “The people are friendly. They just like to keep to themselves.” “You can’t get this hospitality everywhere,” Lips said. Beyond commissions from sales, the program gives students experience and skills that will help them in their future endeavors. “I don’t think I would have ever ended up in Texas otherwise,” Porroson said. The students took a training session in Nashville, Tennessee, before arriving in Texas. Porroson won’t forget what he saw when they crossed into Texas. “Everything just got super big all of a sudden,” he said. “There were massive American flags the size of a house, pretty much. I was just staring out of the car with my mouth open and jaw gaping. Why is everything so big? But I think it’s really cool.” Lips has been working in the Pine Tree part of Longview, and Porroson has concentrated on Central Longview. Sales have been good. They’re supposed to visit 30 households every day. People have welcomed them and given them water and snacks. Speaking of snacks, they’re really enjoying the food here, especially sodas. “You have a million different sodas,” Porroson said. “I really love sodas, so I’ve been trying all of them out.” He said he took a hankering to Dr Pepper but now craves root beer. Lips said he enjoyed a steak at a restaurant, but the steak made by their host, Michael Salmon, was better, they said. They’ve got a couple or a few more weeks to spend here and hope those weeks will be just as good as the past few. People who haven’t gotten a chance to buy their goods can find them on Facebook with accounts named “Martin Bookman Porroson” and “Janar Bookman Lips.” “My experience here has been super positive,” Porroson said. “When else are you gonna get a chance to go to the other side of the world and meet people you probably would have never met before?” Will they ever venture back here? Maybe. There’s more they want to try. Porroson day-dreams about working on a ranch here — a nod to all of those ideas of what Texas can be. “If I ever come back here, I would love to,” he said.