Stockholm Daytripper − 18 June, 1996

So I got a little scholarship to go study in Sweden for a year. I planned it so that I could go live with Carolina for a year and we wouldn't have trouble keeping up our long-distance relationship.

I arrived as early as I could. Having just finished my first year at OSU I got to Sweden on June 16th. With the summer solstice shortly to arrive, I quickly became acquainted with white midnight, when the sun doesn't go down at night but the sky keeps this dusk look to it for a few hours either side of 3AM. Beautiful.

On one of my first days of normalcy I decided I wanted to go to Stockholm to see Axel Morner, a friend I'd met at AC, and who promised to show me Stockholm as only he could.

I took the train from Uppsala to Stockholm which is about 50 minutes away. You pass by Ericsson world HQ and stay close to the freeway the whole way down. Entering the city is like entering a suburb. Everything is clean, there's lots of grass and trees, and there are no tall buildings. The only difference is that the streets are narrow and there are comparatively smaller open spaces.

I get to Stockholm and Axel is there to greet me. We hop in his Audi and head to his flat which is a modest studio apartment on the 3rd story of a low-rise apartment building. It's sparsely furnished. Not too much by way of food or decor. Just a designer lounge chair, a stereo and a kitchen table. The bathroom is a combined shower and toilet where the show is next to the crapper and there is no partition between the two. Water from the shower goes down a drain in the middle of the floor. When you're taking a dump, you stare at the drain cap and figure this is where the French must have invented the bidet.

Axel, it should be said, is a fantastic soul. He's the second child of Sweden's oil baron, and would-be heir to the Axelson-Jonsson network of brands which include billions of dollars of assets. The first time I met Axel was when he came to AC as a first-year, a dorm-mate in my house. I was responsible for getting him and others in the new class to go to the pool for their swimming test. As a rule, since we lived so close to the sea, every student had to pass a swimming exam before they were permitted to stay at the school. The penalty was swimming lessons and embarrassment. Axel had just gotten a Sunflower tattoo on his right arm a day before arriving at AC. So he was supposed to stay out of water until it healed over. I remember him showing me this symbol on his right arm. He looked so proud. I could tell I was going to enjoy having him as a house-mate as he would help me in my effort to bend every ridiculous rule the school had.

Axel was always very concerned for others. Very soft-spoken. But above all, Axel was always fun. Later on our quest to do things against the grain of British Boarding schooldom, Axel would become adept at lighting his farts. At one point he injured himself doing so; not by the actual deed, but in running through the house to find me to do it in front of. Crazy. Such is the life of a 17-year-old.

So I'm in Stockholm with Axel and he wants to show me the sights. He first takes me to Gamla Stan - Old Town - on the center island in the city. He points out some landmarks I've since forgotten and then we're hungry so we sit down at an outdoor Italian cafe and order food. I had the lasagna.

After that he wants to drive me out of the city into the archipelago to the East of the city. Out there we can swim at this pool he knows about with a three-story diving board. "Should be secluded," he says. "You'll love it." We get there and they're charging admission, which we both think is a bit weird. Axel of course has no cash so I pay. When we get in we notice it's a bit weird. Men are sunbathing nude and, well, there are no girls. Well not until we arrived. As we stroll out to the pool area - which consists of large gay men, sunning themselves like seals at the zoo - that's when we discover that we are the girls. The fresh young meat. They look at us like, "why aren't you naked too?"

Axel and I shrug it off in disbelief. We paid our entry, goddammit, and I'm going to jump off this f-ing diving board if it's the last thing I do. Gay zoo or otherwise, I'm not going home dry. What's the worst that could happen?

So Axel and I each take one turn taking one dive each. Well that was nice, we toweled off and got the hell out of there. We laughed the whole way back to Stockholm.

On our way back, I was getting a bit of a headache. Axel was telling me what he was up to, which was just getting back to Sweden having just finished his years at AC. He doesn't have any definite plans for the coming year but will be in Sweden finding himself. No rush for university or anything.

Axel is not one to brag. So when he tells you stories about his jet-setting lifestyle, it's not as a way of showing off, but as a way of letting you behind the veneer. It turns out that his sister had been in the news way too much for his liking. On the cover of tabloids. Subject of speculation. Partying. Generally behaving like a doofus. Axel was trying to tell me that he was doing his best to lay low and stay out of the limelight. The party here and there but nothing out of control.

The closer we get to Stockholm the worse my headache is getting. We had plans to do more but I tell Axel that I have to take a rest or something. We head back to his place again and as soon as I get there I make my way for the bathroom and start puking my guts out. Food poisoning.

I'm in the bathroom for about 30 minutes. Axel brings me some water. And in the other room I can hear him making phone calls. I thought he was calling a nurse but it turns out he was trying to figure out what to do with me. He can't call an ambulance because he wants to stay out of the limelight. So he comes into the bathroom in a rush and says, "Kelly, there's a train for Uppsala and it leaves in 20 minutes. I can get you there in time, but we have to go now." I wipe the puke from my face and pick myself up meekly.

On the way home I felt like shit. The headache was gone, but I was pale, sweaty and feeling like any minute the puking will start again. As I pulled out of Stockholm I was starting to feel a grudge grow. I've never been able to tell this story to Axel. I don't think he meant any ill will. I think he was just scared. Nevertheless, it's one of those days that I wish had ended better. Everything leading up to the train ride could have been just funny in retrospect instead. Still, this is one of the most memorable days of my life. My grudge for Axel has dwindled over the years. But we have lost contact and I can only assume that he knows nothing of my feelings stemming from that day.