Backpacking through Europe in 1994
Day 52 • October 28, 1994
Reuniting with Joakim in Lund, Sweden
Joakim, aka “Joe”, and I became fast friends on the first day we met in Australia. I thought he was so cool, and had great energy, and told him so, and he said he felt the same about me. I knew I wanted to hang out with him as much as possible, which we did throughout our year Down Under.
One of my first memories was telling him about my family history on my Dad’s side, the Rundstrom side, which traces back to Sweden.
The story my Grandmother told me was that my Great-Great-Grandparents lived in Sweden on a plot of land that had a stream running around the land. Thus, “round stream” became “Rundstrom.”
Joe told me that made perfect sense, and if I ever came to Sweden he would help me try to find some of my relatives and my ancestral family grounds.
This opened the door to our friendship, and I felt an immediate bond with him. In addition to his kindness, and his coolness, his personality matched perfectly with mine: we were both huge partiers!
I have so many fantastic memories of amazing times of Joe and I leading the party - along with Michael from Michigan and Gary from South Africa - for of all of our exchange student friends!
It only makes sense that when I met up with him in 1994, six years after our final party in Australia, the first thing we would do is have another one!
Reunited with Joe and getting ready to party with his roommate Sebastian in their flat.
My Photographs from today in lund, sweden
DAY 52 / 10-28-94
Reuniting with Joakim in Lund, Sweden
I woke up at 8:30, ate a breakfast of cereal & tea, then went back to sleep ‘till 10.
I walked to the train station and wrote a letter to Tracy and some other writing before calling Joe at 12. He came with his friend and roommate Sebastian to pick me up, and we came back to his apartment.
It’s the closest thing to the Dome that I’ve ever seen. There are four guys that live here, and they are all big partiers.
Joe had rented a movie, Bad Lieutenant, which was absolutely terrible. But it was so good to be with Joe that I didn’t care.
For dinner Sebastian made a Swedish dinner of white pea soup that wasn’t half-bad. After that Joe got out some pictures from Down Under. I’d almost forgotten how much fun we had together. It still doesn’t seem real that it is six years later and I’m here.
We spent the rest of the night just talking & watching TV. They have a lot of American programs here, and the nice thing is they are subtitled, not dubbed. Joe told me how the Swedish people think it’s important to leave the shows & movies in their original language, unlike the French.