Camille & Daniel

their stories...through their eyes

I grew up in the 'burbs [suburbs] of Detroit [Michigan]. My dad is from Florida. My mom came from Alabama from a family of 9 kids, her dad was white and her mom was black. Today, [about] 86% of the population is black in Detroit. In the 1920s or 30s my great-grandpa and his brother on my mom's side jumped the train [snuck onto the train without paying] to get to the north to work on the assembly line for Ford. My mom spent her summers with her grandparents - her dad was Army, but their home life wasn't very stable. They ended up divorcing, but it was amicable.

I feel like I had a very nourishing childhood, a better foundation [than my mom]. I had everything I needed, living in the suburbs. The school system was better and I had a standard of good…of excellence that I knew existed, but like for my mom, it's harder to see a higher quality of existence, she just didn’t know it existed.

I always had the motivation to move - I had a lot of negative experiences that made me want to change my environment - an escapist personality - it was how I got away from things.

As a teen, at 15 or 16, I got my first job and thought I would always have enough money for a plane ticket. It was like a prophecy...

But I didn't have good money management skills or an example. I was hanging out with friends and gave my money away...I traveled a lot. It started with trips with my parents to the Bahamas, and then Mexico at 16. My mom also likes to travel on girl trips.

The first trip I ever took was to New York City for a conference, I knew a boy and messaged him that I had extra money at the end of the school year. ?My roommate at the time, bless his heart, he stayed up with me to make sure I got to the airport on time. At that point, I wasn’t in a relationship with the New York boy, but I called him up to say I was coming to see him. "When?" he asked. "Maybe tomorrow," I said. I bought a ticket and went for 10 days.

My first trip abroad was by myself. I was a freshman in college and my best friend had gone to Tanzania and fallen in love with it. She was staying with a host family and said they were great.?She invited me to stay with them for 10 days.

I was so scared as I felt African countries were so underdeveloped then. My friend didn't even come to pick me up at the airport. ?The taxi driver, I was fine with [him] but I was overly cautious overall. I didn't go out and explore, just stayed in the host family's home.

My friend was white and maybe it was easier for her because people knew she was a tourist. I couldn't be a random tourist because you don't see many [black] Americans traveling (this was more than five years ago). A standard tourist wasn't black in general and sometimes [tourists] get treated nicer because [the locals] think they have money.

But for me, I felt like I got more attention as people (well, guys) wanted to know what I was doing, where I was from and why I was deviating from the norm. A boundary had been crossed, they [the locals] think because we are of the same color, they can ask me where I live.

So, I lived like a local, just ate fresh food, lived in a shanty town, and played basketball.

I wanted to go places, to roam around, but in Tanzania, [the local women] have to walk with groceries or a baby in your hand, [otherwise] they think you are an 'open woman' and more apt to be rough with you. Whereas in Barcelona, you can walk around at night without a problem.

I traveled to maybe 20 other countries in college; three long trips in Europe, then China, the Philippines, Nepal, and South America. I'm a double minority in tech and received school grants...sometimes there was enough left over to help with trips.

In England some people's accents were so strong I felt I was being assaulted [she smiles]. ?It was just my experience, I mean I know another black girl who went and she had a great time teaching English.

But then the pandemic hit, good ole 'pandemey' hit. After college, I had a job opportunity in California, but all that shut down. Then I lost my job at school as the building manager. So then I didn't have jobs, I didn't have monies, and went on good ole unemployment.

By that summer, I had broken up with a boyfriend...we had always talked about being surfers and I was having a hard time getting over him. I needed to get out of the situation so I went to Hawaii for two months. Hah! I went with a friend who still owes me for that! I spent two weeks in quarantine and thought I was going to move there, but it was too small for me. I felt I was in the middle of the pacific - like how do I get out of there?

I wasn't getting jobs and was done having fun and spending money. Ok, even though I promised myself: I'd never go back to school, go somewhere warm, or continue to study engineering...I signed up for Solar Engineering in the north of Sweden, Borlenge, aka abusively cold....and dark.

When I was asked "why"? These things will remain unknown…I knew someone from Sweden who asked me if I would go back to college. I felt ashamed I had nothing to do when I was in Hawaii. It was amazing but having no purpose got old.

Borlenge is known as the ugliest city in Sweden and for being a drug hotspot, but I didn't think it was ugly. The countryside is super beautiful, red and yellow and with lakes! I loved riding my bike and being in the woods in five minutes.

I talked it over with a friend who went to Belize and had just gotten married. He had more money than me as he had sold his childhood home and moved there to build a house. I couldn't maintain myself there as I could've only built the foundation for a house! ??

I found a program that was open only a year exactly and in what I was interested in - only $10,000. I started on September 1st and got there on the 17th. I didn't really have a plan once my savings would run out...no what if.

[I arrived in Sweden,] and I was afraid to walk on my own because no one was looking out for me. Going out for a beer, I took a taxi and was scared. ?[Where I lived] was an area where they grouped immigrants from Somalia - this place was the actual 'hood and the place I rented was absolutely disgusting: it was cool but the previous person left it dirty.

The first night I went out and met some people. It was the first time I had ever done this. Everyone already had their table and I approached a group that turned out to be the right one. "Can I talk to you guys?" Because of them I met other people and started to meet [up with] people to go to social things and had more access.

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Daniel is a super social person, he was always inviting people to play pool, and one day he posted the invite in the group chat for students. I didn't even look at his profile picture [on Whatsapp], just messaged him, and said I would love it if he could let me in [the student building] as I didn't have a dorm access key. I went and he let me in...he told me that in the app, he had thought I was some weird French guy, "I didn't see your picture, I thought you were a weirdo." ???????

At first, I thought he was stuck-up, he gave me the vibe of a playboy - comes off as the typical guy that always gets what he wants so I'm not going to give him attention. I thought he already had his rotation of girls so when he invited me to play basketball, I said no.

It was Halloween and I was going to some Swedish event, kind of like Día de Los Muertos, there was another guy that had a crush on me who must have followed me to the event. He offered me a ride home and then invited me to a party afterward. I did my [Halloween] makeup and went. Everyone thought we were a couple.

Then Daniel showed up and I thought, “oh my gosh this guy is so hot...with his face painted as a werewolf.” I asked him what he was doing there and he said, “I live here. This is my party.” ??????

Later he was asking his friend why I was with the first guy, "he's so ugly". Our mutual friend said that I could do better and asked who I liked. I pointed to Daniel. ?Then Daniel asked me to dance the bachata, he taught me how to dance. A few days later he asked me out.

He invited me on a trip with his friends and told me he was in love with me after a couple of weeks. I hadn't met someone that intense before, it was new for me.

He gave all the space for love and maybe it was too much for me, I never had someone genuinely love and care for me. Aaand: ??We're still together.??

In Sweden - I loved the culture and it was beautiful, but not where I lived, it wasn't really selling itself. Also, [considering they offer the course in] solar energy, the country is very dark. I couldn't tolerate long, dark winters…but maybe have a summer home there. It's like nothing else, it's very magical in the summer.

In terms of having kids or a job, it didn't excite me. Additionally, I wanted to stay with Daniel and he had no plans in Sweden, he's a Barcelona boy. He can find a job and there's lots of sun, so it was a nice fresh start [to move to Spain].

I had been to Spain before I moved to Sweden, but in Malaga, as part of an internship. Before that, I didn't know anything about Spain or Catalans. I studied Spanish in high school and was pretty good at it, but even then I think my level was A1. Coming here, with his family…all just speaking, I was very quiet, just very vergonzosa [bashful], I didn't know what they were saying to me.

I had already met his family when they had come to visit Sweden. His mom helped me out a lot as I spent time with her and she got me feelin’ comfortable speaking Spanish. I had learned Mexican Spanish which is very different.?[To live in Spain], I had to get a student visa processed and go to Spanish language school.

?The day before I left Sweden, I was approved for a student visa in Spain. While it was quite an adjustment at first, both for me and for us, we got through it. We're still very much in love and found a great apartment for us to share with our kitten whom we found on a recent road trip to France.