Going overseas

It was the summer following my year at East Denver High School that dad came home with the news that we would all be moving overseas...to London. Looking back, that has to be the opportunity of a lifetime for us kids..and I'm sure that's how mom and dad viewed it at the time. But for me, a 17 year old just getting ready to start her senior year of high school, it was a really bad idea! Moving anywhere was a bad idea! Leave my friends? Not be able to finish out my high school years at the same school? I hadn't even gone to the same school two years in a row, and now I was going to yet another school? And overseas? What would it be like? I think I tried to be open minded, but it was hard.

We were going to spend some time in Dayton, visiting Grandma and Grandpa, and then go on to London. My cousin, Becky, and I were going to spend three weeks with Gma and Gpa on the road with their camper as, I guess, a way for all of us to get to know each other better! I was excited about that idea...I always liked spending time with Becky..and the idea of three weeks on the road with Gma and Gpa sounded like fun.As it turned out, it was great!

We left Dayton and headed up through Michigan, Sault. Ste. Marie, crossed over into Canada, and headed east. We made stops in major cities like Ontario, Quebec, Montreal...and also stopped in smaller towns. We camped in campgrounds, experienced THAT particular lifestyle, and visited all the great places we could find along the way. We had a lot of car time, too...and I remember Becky and I listened to the radio and did a lot of snoozing in the back seat.

The scenery was great...what we saw of it!! Niagara Falls was one of the places where we stopped, and it was pretty spectacular! I know I probably won't ever get to go there again, so I was glad to see it when I did. We also went to the place where the 1970 World Expo had been in Montreal just the year before. We had a good time just looking at everything there.Beck and I really got to know each other better on this trip...and she and I got to know Gma and Gpa much better too. It was eye-opening for both of us...probably all of us...and I have had many chances since then to think on that experience. Two generations coming together and spending some good times in close proximity...no better way to learn about each other!!

One night Becky and I would stay in the camper, and Gma and Gpa would stay in the tent. Then the next night we would reverse it. Sometimes we would eat cheese, then raisins, depending on our digestion!! We would sometimes eat out, or cook in the camper. We learned so much about Canada and the area, and Grandpa wanted to check out our name in the cemeteries, too. The Archambeaults came from that area, and it was interesting to him to know more about us. I wish now that I had paid more attention to all that.

We were glad to get home to Dayton. Mom and Dad had already headed over to London, I think, and so I flew over there alone.I don't remember a whole lot about the summer we spent in London. I know we stayed in a nice hotel the whole time, because our furniture was taking a long time to get over there. I was going to go to the American School there in London, and mom took me there to look around. It seemed alright. We ate breakfast most every morning in this cute little Italian restaurant down the street from our hotel. They had the best minestrone soup and "Fantarorange" drink. We got to know the Italian folks that ran that place pretty well. It was fun. I know Mom was having a good time eating out all the time. I learned so much about fine dining, and how to order, and what was the good food and what wasn't.

We visited alot of the places that tourists go in London. Madame Tussaud's wax museum - I loved that! The people were all very life-like and unbelievably real-looking. We also went to Trafalgar Square, rode on a double-decker bus, rode on the Tube, or underground train, and learned about all the various places in London that we could go. It was a huge city, even back then, but it seemed to be made up of a lot of little cities. Mayfair was the name of the little neighborhood that we lived in...in our hotel. We saw Big Ben, the big clock, we saw the guards in their tall red hats guarding the palace where the Queen lives, and we saw a lot of the parks where the nannies take their charges and sit...It was all very ...English...and I loved the experience!! This was in the 70's...and things had stared to get big on the rock and roll scene. The Who, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles....It was fun to be in the middle of it!!

So, by the end of the summer...or maybe before...dad found out that he was going to be transferred to Oslo, Norway. We weren't going to live in London after all! Mom mentioned that it was too bad, cause when you think you're going to live somewhere, you don't always bother to go to all the places you want to...you think..Oh, I'll be here a while, so I can go there then. It didn't turn out that way after all. But, the idea of going to Norway excited mom, I know. However, there was a glitch. The American school there in Oslo that I needed to attend only went to 10th grade, and I was going to be a senior. So we, as a family, had to hurry up and find and choose a boarding school for me to go to...We looked at several in Switzerland, I know, and several in England. We decided on the one that I went to...Herringswell Manor, an hour or so from London.

I don't know how Mom and Dad felt about it...but it was not what I had envisioned for me at the age of 17!! I wasn't ready to leave home!! It all happened so suddenly! And the school was not that warm or friendly. I don't really remember how we all felt...but when I think back about it now, it makes my heart hurt, and lump comes up in my throat. It must have been how my parents felt when they left me there. I knew that I wouldn't see them except at holidays.

On they went to Norway without me....Mom, Dad and Chuck.....