Travels With Joanie: International Friendships

One of the benefits of travel is meeting people from all over the globe. Sometimes it is just a brief encounter - a chat in a restaurant or on a train or enjoying the company of your travel partners on a packaged tour for a week or two. But sometimes one is lucky enough to make life-long friends.

As an exchange student in Norway for the school year of 1969 - 1970, I met many fellow students - both from Norway and from countries around the world, but I have only stayed in touch with a handful of them. Svein was an American student, but he had many close relatives living in Norway and was kind enough to take me to visit some of them during our summer at the International Summer School at the University of Oslo. He now lives in Massachusetts, but we reconnected on Facebook several years ago.

Joan and Svein in the hills overlooking Oslo Fjord

Ann was my closest friend of the American students on the University of California Education Abroad Program. We lost touch for many years, but also found one another again through Facebook. She ended up marrying a Norwegian man and they divide their time between the United States and Norway.

Simon, Ann, Margit, and Colin

A young man named Amund Schanche was assigned as my tutor during my studies of European History at the University of Bergen. He and I remained friends for the rest of his life, exchanging annual Christmas cards each year. He loved opera and came to New York frequently to attend performances there, but sadly, only came to California once for a visit. Rob and I did visit him in Bergen while on our honeymoon there in 2001. Sadly, I learned last year that he had passed away.

My roommate in Bergen, Marie-Helene, was a darling girl from France, and I very much regret not staying in touch with her. I have not been successful in finding her again.

But the most special friendship was with another exchange student from Belgium, Tony.

Tony

This was not only special because we were friends, but because I have had the pleasure of becoming friends with his family, as well. Tony and I wrote annual Christmas cards and occasional letters for many years, then in 1991, Tony's 18-year-old daughter, Annemie, came to California to stay with us for the summer. The visit gave her the opportunity to practice her English skills before beginning her university studies - and it gave us the chance to get to know her and to share with her some of our favorite spots in California.

Annemie cooling off in our hot Bakersfield summer

Meeting the ostriches at a Tehachapi Ostrich Farm

Annemie and Paula in front of Joshua trees in the California desert

Examining an ant hole in the desert

Red Rock Canyon

Annemie and our dog Honey

Annemie, Dan, Libby, and Brian at the entrance to Yosemite Valley with El Capitan in the background

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite

Joan, Annemie, and Libby

Annemie, Brian, and Libby

Half Dome in Yosemite

Shopping in Carmel

Carmel Beach

Annemie in the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Point Lobos State Park

On Jack's Peak overlooking a foggy Monterey Bay

Lunch at Nepenthe on the Big Sur Coast

Hiking in Big Sur

And what would a trip to California be without a stop at Disneyland?

Sleeping Beauty's castle

The Disney version of an Alpine village

Cinderella's castle

My mom and dad had enjoyed meeting Annemie during her summer with us, so in 1995, they included a visit to Heldergem in their travel plans to meet her family.

Pieter, Annemie, Mimi, Tony, Paula, and Don

Mimi, Pieter, Paula, Katrien, Donald, Annemie

Tony, Paula, and Don

And in December of that year, Tony and Annemie drove all the way to Heidelberg for a much-too-short visit with me and my mother while she and I were in Germany for a Christmas Market tour.

Joan[, Paula, and Tony in Heidelberg

I finally got to meet more of Tony's family - his wife Mimi and their other two children when I stayed with them in their lovely home in Heldergem, Belgium in the summer of 1999. They were so kind and drove me all over Belgium, with visits to Ghent, Brugge (Bruge), Brussels, and the coast.

Mimi, Katrien, and Tony

Enjoying an evening out

Joan in a garden

Tony and Joan visited a Belgian windmill

Mimi and Joan

Tony in Brugge

In the Grote Markt (or Grand Place) in Brussels

This was on July 11, the Belgian Independence Day, so the Grote Markt was filled with revelry.

Brussels

Broad Meadow Castle in Zottegem - I loved this spot!

Enjoying a drink in the sunshine at Broad Meadow Castle

Eating - what else? - Belgian waffles

And the family welcomed both Rob and me into their home again in 2010 when we stayed with them for several days before a Rhine River Cruise that started in Amsterdam. This time, I also got to meet Annemie's children!

Mimi, Tony, Joan, and Rob in Brugge

Mimi and Tony in Ghent

Rob, Mimi, and Tony in Ghent

Rob enjoys one of Mimi's wonderful breakfasts

Our last "in person" meeting happened In October of 2012 when Tony and Mimi finally had the chance to visit California with some of their friends. Rob and I met them in Solvang and I drove them up Highway 1 to Monterey. Sadly, the drive was one of the foggiest days in memory, and we could barely even see the ocean at the bottom of the cliffs! Happily, the following days were better and we enjoyed hikes at Point Lobos State Park and a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I am sure this will not be our last meeting, and I look forward to the time when we will get to reminisce over "the good old days" again.