From Detroit to Sweden

Visiting Sweden in the late 1980's had an indelible affect on my soul. I was forever changed by its earthy people and rustic terrain, which I was allowed to indulge completely for my pleasure. While attending Santa Monica College (a west coast hub for international and American students) I was fortunate enough to fall in love with a pre-law student named Petra Sundquist.

Prior to meeting her I had never dated a European or traveled outside the United States. In fact I had grown up in Detroit, Michigan and relocated to California in the mid-eighties because of economic cutbacks the city had undergone. I was a young man from a broken family, raised on flat land in the Motor City during the turbulent 60's and 70's. By 1985 I had settled in Venice, California and was reluctantly going through attitude changes due to my love for coastal life. When Petra and I met, my years as a youth and teenager had left me scarred in some respects.

In Petra I found a Swedish young lady who looked similar to Ingrid Bergman with golden blond hair and warm blue eyes. She was not only endowed with a wonderful bikini figure that drew the eyes of men and women along the beaches, but she was quite athletic also. Along with being a captivating beauty her intelligence was well above the average person. While living together as students she was one of the most devoted, domestic, generous, humorous people I have ever met.

Through her I learned that Swedish or Scandinavian people on the whole are much more down to earth people on the planet. Despite my eccentricities she allowed me to be myself without judgment. When she invited me to spend the summer with her family in Sweden I could not wait. Before we left I had the opportunity to talk long distance with Dr. Sundquist over the telephone. During that conversation he asked me what my intentions with his daughter were. I explained that we were already in love and living together, so if she stayed with me for one year I would ask her to marry me. I guess that was all he needed to know because when we met in Sweden he gave us his complete trust and treated me as one of his family members.


Mid-summer sailing

The first week there we stayed at the family home, a large modern framed three-story house on a quarter acre. Dr. and Mrs. Sundquist worked together preparing his writings for publishing in medical journals. Along with helping with chores Petra and I took long walks through open fields with tall wild flowers blooming. She revealed the town of Linköping to me, which is in southern Sweden and home to the well-known University of Linköping where her father worked.

The second week we set sail on the family 36' boat. I foolishly offered my hand as a Crew Member without any experience. Dr. Sundquist hales from a long line of serious seaman who were esteemed members of the Swedish Navy. He was familiar with the Baltic Sea and winds it seemed as he was cutting his lawn at home. There was a day out when the water was quite rough. The boat rocked side to side as it made a steady 5 knots northward. He hollered out for me to climb up the mast and pull the sail cord, which was tangled around the sail preventing it from opening fully.

Call it inhibition, I saw no foot claws sticking out of the mast and wondered how in the world he expected me to fulfill his request. Next he called out to his youngest daughter who was only 14 years old at the time to do it. I moved out of her way and watched her use the boat cabin's roof as a stepladder. It placed her just high enough to grab the sail cable and unravel it until the wire uncoiled and fell to the floor. She then clipped it to the corner of the sail so he could hoist it up again. Deeply humbled, yet filled with that damnable American pride, I feigned seasickness for the rest of the day.


Midsommar celebration in Harstena

We made way for Harstena, an island, which plays host to the Midsommar holiday every year. It is celebrated much like our 4th of July is here with outdoor cooking, drinking, family and friends gathering for well, eating and more drinking. There's nothing like smoked salmon, Swedish potatoes, some raw greens, a few shots of Aquavit chased by some champagne to put everyone in the mood for singing old folk songs.

The Swedish language is so interesting. I spent years toiling with French culture and language and found Swedish to be very odd to my Latin trained mind. These family dinner songs they sang seemed innocent as the oldest to the youngest person joined in. From the language and tone of the songs I thought they were innocent little ditties similar to favorite American camp songs. But no! They were funny little tunes about adult infidelity.

It was just another of the many surprises I learned about these hearty people. The Midsommar holiday is a very old pagan rite to celebrate the Spring Equinox. I was warned by Petra that during the festivities something wonderful and strange would happen to me. She was right. After a couple of weeks on the boat with the family, eating Eel, Flounder, Salmon, Elk, working in the field with the doctor, and receiving all that loving from Petra, I was quickly changing into a Viking.

The men must have sensed this mutation overtaking me too because they began to show me how to be a provider of food for the clan. One of these varied responsibilities was net fishing. I was taken out with on a small motorboat by one of Petra's cousins. With Petra to keep us company we laid about 50 feet of net out in the harbor over night. When we scooped it out the next day they counted 40 fish. "Darrell caught 40 fish", Petra's aunt welled out! Dr. Sundquist approached me with several other men and congratulated me for a fine catch of Flounder. From that day forward when I was introduced to friends of the family the men congratulated Petra for having found a 'good man'.


Cruising the Swedish islands

When I was helping out the men or sun bathing on one of the big red archipelago boulders I took my camera out on hikes. The forest on Harstena was thick with trees and there were few paths to follow. One day I spotted a grown Eagle, which swooped down from its branch and flew toward me. The sheer speed of its flight along with its wingspan and piercing eyes frightened the dickens out of me. Just when I dropped the camera from my face and stooped down to one knee the eagle turned 180 degrees into the other direction. I ran after it hoping it would stop on another branch, but no, my desire lured me into the darkest part of the forest where no sunlight could pass the tops of prehistoric trees. My uncovered legs and arms felt cold. Suddenly, I was attacked by a large cloud of Mosquitoes. I ran at top speed until finally I arrived out of the forest.

There were nights after nine o'clock were the sun still shone for another hour or so. Sometimes we'd take a few hours off the island for an evening sail since visibility is so good this time of year. We'd park for a stop over in the harbor of another archipelago eating a meal cooked by Mrs. Sundquist. I'd marvel at a swan floating by as its reflection mirrored it in the black water as the moon finally peaked out. During the hot days of late July we'd swim offshore of a more northern archipelago.

The water was warm and blue and not overly polluted as in so many heavily industrialized places. Petra and her sisters shared in using the windsurf board on board. Petra looked like a Bond girl in her wet suit clad sleek physique as she surfed along the calm surface of the sea. She applied the same skills she had learned from her father in sailing to her windsurfing with great results. Swedish women are wonderful. Many of them are all around athletes who know how to make men happy.

Petra and her Viking sisters noticed that I never dove head first off the side of the boat or any place else. For a week it seemed all they could do when we went swimming was tease me about not diving. As Jack Nicholson, a prominent playboy in his day once pointed out, "Women don't play fair." Like superwomen, the young ladies dove off of every ledge just to show me up.

They performed swan dives, goose dives, duck dives, pigeon dives, flips and turns, from the boat, cliffs, trees, from five, ten, twenty, and fifty feet. Their performance was nauseating. Here I was in the peak of my years and ex-football player ashamed for not being able to dive. My fear came from a diving accident long ago when I almost drowned. I feigned a spell of seasickness once again to stop the three Muses from teasing me the rest of the day.


Stockholm

In Stockholm I was much more at home and less likely to be embarrassed by my inept sailing and diving skills. Stockholm has much of the same nightlife you can expect in any of the major cities around the world without sleaze. I don't recall seeing any adult theaters or strip clubs. Petra made a point of telling me that Americans think that Sweden is a major pornography distributor, but it isn't true. It's a wonderful place for people who don't need smut to have a good time. There are awesome clubs to drink and dance, great restaurants, cafes and parks to rest our weary feet.

As with so many European countries the Swedes have been making their own architectural statement for centuries, and they restore many of their historical buildings to luxurious grandeur. New buildings are made to aesthetically fit into existing landscape. Along the city harbors I was in awe of the large boats that had been renovated and turned into floating apartments. Fabulous. Polluters are seriously fined making the air quality exceptional. There is a good deal of open land, which anyone can use. Just park, hike and camp overnight if you like, but clean up after yourself if you want to make friends and influence people.


Crime rate and Civil Rights

The crime rate is extremely low so women and children can feel safe on their outings. Because Sweden has always had a neutral policy in its foreign affairs it could be one of the safest places to travel too at this time of terrorism. You'll find the people are easy to get along with especially if you speak up. But, leave your crude, overaggressive behavior at home. It just isn't needed. A little charm mixed with honesty, and a dab of humility will get you very far.

The Swedes are especially warm to people who want to do what Swedish people do during their vacations there. Whether you are an ultra-modern person or a old-fashioned type you'll have no problem fitting in here. The people are very sophisticated. Speaking English is a plus since almost everyone there speaks it well, so talk it up.

As a country the Swedes pride themselves on being Conservative, yet they are quick to mention that their form of Conservatism is more like American or western liberalism. When I was there they had only two television stations. Yet, I recall seeing a documentary series on the Civil Rights that I had never seen before. American public broadcasting stations didn't broadcast the same documentary until a year later. That's an indication of how progressive you'll find the country overall.


Being in Sweden, doing as the Swedes do, becoming a Viking made all the difference in the world to me then, and still does today. Not too mention the excellent opportunity for recreation on land and sea. If you go in June for the Midsommar holiday you'll just about everyone on vacation and preparing for a good time. Don't be a stranger. Jump in and enjoy yourself with them.

Darrell Hamilton, California, April 2004

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