Where did sylvia come from and how does she feel about her new home?

Sylvia has come to live at her grandmother's farm after having lived eight years in a crowded, dirty, noisy city with her parents.  She is afraid of people which indicates that she did not have very good experiences with others in that city, or perhaps that there were just so many of them that she couldn't breathe.

After moving to the farm, she suddenly has a freedom that we can assume she didn't have before.  Perhaps one reason she is afraid of people is that her parents repeatedly warned her about wandering around outside of their home alone for all the dangers that faced her outside their door.

Sylvia does not fear roaming alone on the farm.  In fact, she never hurries her walks with the cow as she loves wandering the farm's grounds and explores every inch of it.  Her companions are the animals--both wild and domestic--and she is in her element.