By Birgit Wills, March 22, 2019 — In Sweden, I was awarded a scholarship along with a few other students to travel to America for a year of studies! Along with this scholarship, part of my requirements were to present lectures on Swedish culture at schools such as Ithaca and Iona. On August 26, 1957, I travelled on a boat called the “Gripsholm” across the Atlantic. It was a very nice boat with an orchestra, captain’s dinner, and beautiful views of New York City. When I arrived in Ithaca, a kind volunteer family met me and drove me off to my new college, Wells. I chose Wells out of three colleges because I noticed it was close to a lake, which reminded me of my home in Sweden. I didn’t have much knowledge of which colleges were better academically than others, so Wells seemed like a great choice. I had very friendly and warm roommates – people in Sweden were more reserved than Americans. It was interesting learning phrases and slang that Americans used – I found it interesting that everyone asked, “how are you?”
I was dating quite a lot, and eventually was invited on a blind date with a really nice man from Cornell. We met pretty early on in October at the Aurora Inn. It was obvious how much chemistry we had after dancing to the jukebox and then bowling afterwards! I cancelled a date I had with someone else the following weekend so that I could spend more time with the nice Cornell boy I had met. I met his friends from his fraternity, and we all played guitar and sang “You Are My Sunshine.” A couple of months of dating passed by, and Easter came. The Cornell boy, also known as Walt, showed up at my door and invited me to spend the holiday with him. I knew that eventually I would have to return to Sweden, but I made every effort to spend as much time with Walt as I could. I noticed that someone was hiring a babysitter in Pennsylvania during the summer, which was close to where Walt was working. I developed many feelings for Walt and eventually met his family at his graduation from Cornell. We would travel to Long Beach Island and South Orange, where his parents lived, every other weekend to be around each other as much as possible.
It was a sad day when Walt had to take me back to the airport to travel home to Sweden. Rain was pouring down, which was right out of a movie. He promised me that he would visit in Sweden the following year… and he did.