International House Berkeley

58 Inger "Mopsen" (Bergström) Ohlsén 1948- 1949 M y first arrival at I-House, Berkeley, was unforgettable. It was a sunny day in the beginning of July, l948. The building was so attractive and charming, with the big wide stairs where students were sitting and talking. I had come there together with two Norwegian boys, and we had just finished a very special job that had given us a free ride from I-House New York to I-House Berkeley. We had found America, the land that makes dreams come true! I had graduated from the Social Institute in Stockholm in December l947 and was lucky enough to be one of the pioneers in the new field of psychological social work serving children. This required further studies in interviewing techniques, preferably abroad. A scholarship allowed me to get that education at Columbia University in New York, with room and board at International House, NY. Afterward, as I wished to see more of America before returning to Sweden, I decided to return home by way of a stopover at UC Berkeley. Due to the fact that Swedes at that time were not allowed to take money out of the country, I had come on an immigration visa which would allow me to work. When I arrived at I-House, Berkeley in 1948, I was broke and was looking for a job. The first person I met was Elska Zisovich Starrels and we started talking. She was on her way to Camp Richardson, Lake Tahoe, to work as a chambermaid and promised to inquire about work for me as well. Believe it or not – the next day I could join her as a cleaning woman up at beautiful Lake Tahoe! In leisure hours there, in addition to learning water skiing, I was a nighttime babysitter for children of hotel guests who wanted to go gambling in Reno. When people got lucky, they let me grab as many silver dollars as I wanted and that, added to my salary, gave me enough money to study at Cal. So when the fall semester started in the middle of September l948, I was enrolled for studies in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and living at I-House. Imagine what it meant to a girl coming from a smallish University town in Sweden – Uppsala – to be a member of a big group of students – six hundred – coming from fifty-six different countries from all over the world, and a large number of American students interested in foreigners and foreign countries. From the beginning, I felt a much more personal atmosphere than I remembered from I-House in New York. The staff, including Jean Sullivan, Peggy Post, Mrs. Carlsson, Miss Carneiro and Mr. Blaisdell, the director, meant a great deal to us foreign students. They noticed us when we moved in, gave us information that we needed, took us to cultural activities and gave us good contacts. The system of having a roommate was very good. Mine, Betty Willard, an American, smoked while I didn't. So I had to start smoking to be able to That is how I came to be known at Berkeley by the Swedish word for "pug." And this

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