How chance encounter in US high school sparks lifelong love story between couple

Three years after Arthur “Chip” Gaudio Jr. last saw his high school friend, Jenny Teresia Sundberg in the United States, he made a spontaneous decision to visit her in Sweden.

The pair had spent years exchanging letters and occasional phone calls, but they had not seen each other in person since 1992.

Arthur was initially nervous and filled with thoughts of what if they no longer got along? What if the visit was a mistake? But as soon as he saw Jenny, all doubts disappeared.

“That was the first time we’d seen each other since 1992,” Arthur told CNN Travel. “The nervousness vanished. It was just like old times. It felt very natural, kind of like our friendship just picked right up where it left off.”

Arthur and Jenny first met in the summer of 1992, when Jenny, a Swedish exchange student, attended high school in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. She had imagined American high school life would be like the television shows she loved, beach parties and endless sunshine. Instead, she found herself in a small town where winter sports like skiing were the norm.

Still, she embraced her experience, even though she and Arthur did not meet until a school trip to Washington, D.C., just two months before she was due to return to Sweden.

Initially, Jenny was not particularly interested in Arthur, who described himself as “kind of the nerd in the class.” Their first conversation was over a newspaper Arthur had just finished reading, and Jenny barely acknowledged his explanation of his nickname.

But as the trip went on, the two found themselves spending more time together, bonding over shared experiences as they visited landmarks like the Capitol, the Smithsonian, and the Lincoln Memorial. Arthur, smitten from the start, picked a flower for Jenny outside the Supreme Court, an innocent but telling gesture.

When Jenny returned to Sweden, the two became pen pals, exchanging letters about their daily lives, studies, and future ambitions. Over the years, their friendship remained strong, despite the challenges of long-distance communication in the early 1990s.

“Getting the letter was always really fun,” Arthur recalled. “Especially living in Wyoming… getting the letter from Sweden was a pretty big deal.”

In 1995, Arthur, then a college student in Wyoming, got the opportunity to study abroad in London. Realising he would be closer to Jenny, he decided to visit her in Sweden. Jenny was excited for the reunion, and when they finally saw each other, their friendship picked up seamlessly.

“We discovered very early that we both love going to the cinema and had similar tastes as well,” Arthur said. He stayed with Jenny’s family, met her friends, and explored Stockholm with her. As they said their goodbyes, they both began to wonder whether their connection could be something more.

That summer, Jenny travelled to the US with her family and stopped in Wyoming to visit Arthur. It became clear to Arthur that Jenny was “the one,” though he was unsure if she felt the same way. Some months later, he took a chance and called her—accidentally waking her up at five in the morning.

But Jenny was delighted to hear from him. “From that point forward, it was us,” Arthur said.

Determined to make their relationship work, Arthur spent the summer of 1996 in Sweden, and by 1997, Jenny had arranged a semester abroad at the University of Wyoming. When Arthur graduated later that year, he moved to Sweden, where he began teaching English. The couple settled into life together with ease.

In 2001, they planned a small wedding in Stockholm, but their happiness was briefly overshadowed when Jenny became seriously ill. She was hospitalised for months and underwent major surgery. Through it all, Arthur stood by her side.

“Chip turned out to be a rock,” Jenny said. “If I ever had had any doubts about getting married to him—which mind you I didn’t—they would have vanished then.”

After her recovery, the couple married that summer, surrounded by their closest friends and family. Arthur’s father gave a speech reflecting on the unlikelihood of their journey, noting the extraordinary way their friendship had transformed into a lifelong partnership.

More than 30 years after their first meeting, Arthur and Jenny still live in Stockholm with their two children. Looking back, they marvel at how fate brought them together—and how their decision to take a chance on love shaped their lives.

“When we mutually decided sometime there in late 1995 that we were going to make it work, it was clear that we would succeed,” Arthur said. “So I am both grateful to us and proud of us that we had the courage to make that decision together.”

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