Swedeventures with Tuck : The Beginning...

Hej everyone,

To begin my blog I should introduce myself. My name is Tucker Campbell. I am 17 years old and I am from a small town of Palmerston, Ontario where I have lived all my life. I decided (after a long self-debate) that I would go on a 10 month exchange to Sweden. Since my family has hosted 7 exchange students from various countries, I thought it should be my turn to go to a foreign country and experience an exchange first hand. I created this blog for all of you to follow me on my crazy adventure! So let's begin!!

Week 1:

On Tuesday August 11, 2015 at 6:40pm (EST) I was on a plane headed towards Frankfurt, Germany which is just over a 7hr. plane ride! Thankfully my parents got me extra leg room, but it was not a great spot to sleep (I also did not want to miss the food). Beside me on the plane was a young English man who now lives in Australia, and had an awesome Australian accent. He was on his way to visit friends in England. When I arrived in Frankfurt Airport I had a little trouble navigating the airport, but the real trouble came when I got to security. I took all of the items out of my backpack and pockets........I thought. I went through the full body scanner which detected something on my chest area. After a pat down there was nothing. Then came picking up my items! I could not find them because they were beside the Security Officer...Again she asked if I had any liquids in the bag and I said, "no there are not any." That was the wrong answer. I completely forgot that I had the travel sized male toiletries bag! Whoops! She proceeds to take everything out of my bag and tells me I need to pull the shaving cream out next time. After explaining that to me I had to go to a secondary security point to be checked for narcotics. Since all of you know I am Palmerston's number one supplier :'). Anyway, the test came back clean and I proceeded to my next flight from Frankfurt to Stockholm where I was thankful to be! It is also where I began a 4 day camp with YFU Sweden volunteers, and lets just say day number one of it was me walking like the living dead because of the lack of sleep! However, I did get to see the Swedish Royal Castle. The next few days were full of Swedish language lessons(which I forgot everything) and Fika. Fika is basically a coffee break. On Saturday I got to meet my second family, the Stenis's (not my host family but my exchange brother Johan's family). During my short stay with them they made me feel welcome and right at home in this new country of mine, Sweden. We also went into the backwoods and visited a family friend's cabin and had fika! Monday came around and I was a bit nervous but not too nervous. Inez(Johan's youngest sister)came to school with me in the morning, gave me a quick tour and translated the assembly... I would not hire her as my translator again because she only translated one sentence translated through the entire assembly! I am in the Ascetics Program but more specifically Music! Once my first school day was complete I met my host family the Nilsson's and I am now living with them!

Fun Fact: In Swedish High Schools, lunch is a free hot meal!

(Pictures will be posted tomorrow)