Re-Entry Camp & Canadian Visitors

Week 37+38+39:

Hello! I know I have not posted for a few weeks but I have been very busy with exchange business and visitors.
To start this blog off I will start with week 37. This week was fairly quiet, not much happened during this week, but on Friday I was off to Re-Entry Camp with my fellow exchange students from YFU. Vianney (A French exchange student who also lives in Mora) and I got on the train bright and early at 6:27 am to start our journey to Stockholm for the weekend. After a few stops we arrived at Börlange where the three girls (Gertrud from Estonia, Tita from Mexico, and Joelle from Switzerland) joined Vianney and I on our journey. In Sweden there are different regions and in Dalarna (the region I am in) we have five students. We finally arrived in Stockholm just passed 10:00 where there were Leaders waiting for us. From Stockholm Central we had to go to a camp further out from Stockholm. So we had to first take a Subway ride and then a bus to our location. Friday not too much happened. There was 4 sessions, the most important ones were the sessions that we were taught things in.  Also we had a Sauna time. During this adventurous time we went from the sauna when we were sweating, run to the 5 degree Celsius water and jump in, then run back to the sauna to dry off until we were sweating again! So we had a great time that night! Then Saturday we had 3 sessions and two interesting activities. The one in the middle block (schedule at the bottom) we needed to get points for doing things, and one thing was one of us had to go swimming! So yours truly stripped down to his underwear and ran and jumped off the dock. Needless to say after I did it some other guys did it too. Then the activity that night Team Sloth did not do good....not even close to good, but we had fun so that is all that counts. Finally Sunday we had clean up, one session and then all of us went our separate ways for the last time.
Week 38-When I went back to Stockholm Central, Johan picked me up since Tailor and Rachel were arriving Monday. Johan took me back to his apartment where he quickly showed me around and then he had to go back to work to do some stuff, so I toured the Mall to waste a little time before he got home. When he got home we went shopping for food. Afterwards his friend came over and we had Spaghetti for supper. On Monday at about 14:10 Tailor and Rachel arrived. We went back to the apartment where they got changed and then we went to the mall for a while where we got Coffee and some chocolate cake. Tuesday, Johan stayed home to take us around Stockholm and teach us how to use the public transport. We first headed to the Nobel Prize museum since it is a Swedish prize(if you were not aware of this). Then we went to the Royal Castle where we got a picture with one of the Royal Guards. We were told not to step in his white box or else he was allowed to shoot us in the foot! So we stayed a good 5 ft away from the white box! We then proceeded to the Royal Armoury which is now a Museum of all the Royal things that have been used. For example, Royal Carriages, weapons, armour and things the royal horses would wear, so it was a pretty neat thing to see! Afterwards Johan really wanted to show us The King's Tree Garden since they are Japanese Blossom trees.  The story behind the trees in the garden is that the Japanese Emperor or Royal family gave the trees to the Swedish King as a gift! Then we went to have lunch and just walked around a little more before Johan got called back to work. So Tailor, Rachel and I had to navigate our way on the subway system and buses by ourselves and fortunately we did not die or get kidnapped! Wednesday the 27th I had one Museum I really wanted to see and Tailor and Rachel of course wanted to see the Aquarium. So we first went to the Vasa Ship Museum. The Vasa Ship was a 16th Century war ship that sank due to the fact of her being very top heavy and unstable, so in 1627 it was launched...and a year after it sank. But this ship was important since the King of Sweden ordered it to be built because Sweden was in a war with Poland-Luthuania at the time. The back of this war ship was very beautiful since it carried the King's name and even seeing it now is amazing since the craftsmanship is unbelievable and the size of it is incredible too. So after spending about 30 min at the Vasa Ship Museum we had to go over to the Aquarium. We spent 100 kr at the Aquarium to get in, it was small but it was also interesting to see. Tailor, Rachel and I had a ton of fun trying to take selfies with the Stingrays since we loved how they looked...trust me look in the pictures and you will understand why we tried to get selfies with them! Then for lunch we went to TGI Fridays. It is a little pricey but it was good to finally have some typical North American food! So it was a nice price to pay. That night was fun, can not say much about it, if you would like to know you can ask Tailor or Rachel. Now onto Thursday! This day Tailor and Rachel were feeling rebellious so we went to a Tattoo Parlour.....I think you can understand why. I was thinking about getting another one but I would rather run it by Shelley before, but I plan on getting my Campbell Family Crest over my heart. Let's just say Tailor might not be getting another tattoo for a while since Rachel says she looked like she was going to die. I told her not to get her first tattoo on her foot, but she was determined and she was in pain for a while. Rachel was good with hers, a lot better than Tailor. Then we just toured around the city for the rest of the day since it was our last day in Stockholm. Friday we cleaned Johan's apartment and it was a traveling day but we also taught Johan how to use Cruise Control on his car....he honestly had no idea how to use it but now he does!(Thank god for his Canadian brother & sister) We also stopped at Unihoc since there was a Innebandy tournament happening so Tailor and Rachel got to learn about Floorball! Which they say it has too many rules and Rachel says, ''It is like hockey only for pussies'' I might attach a link to her email or Facebook if any Swede's would like to voice their opinion to her! She would be happy hearing from you I am sure! Saturday the 30th in the morning we went for a hike up Gesundaberget which is a very tall mountain! I will attach a link to the word but also have one below. You can do many activities there but also see where we hiked up! In the afternoon the girls went for a run while Johan and I cooked Tacos. We waited for 1.5 hrs. and the girls still were not back so they had obviously gotten lost, so Johan and I had to start searching. We were glad they did not ask for help since they thought the street started with an ''S'' but it is actually Plögvägen.....not even close to an S. Luckily we found them in 10 min so it was a good day! Then that night you can ask Tailor for the details but it was sort of a good night...aha for some of us. Sunday not very much happened...due to the night before. So we just chilled at the Stenis's and Christer and Åsa also got home on Sunday. They got to see how Tailor and Rachel were.
Week 39-Onto Monday, we went to the Zorn Museum and Zorn House to see the art Anders Zorn did in his lifetime and also we got to see the house he lived in! It is amazing to see how Anders lived since he was a very wealthy man and he had many things in his time other Swedes did not since he traveled to many different countries! After the tour we went to a Coffee House on Mora's Main street where we got coffee and lunch. Afterwards we headed home! Tuesday, was a bit more entertaining! The girls got to try Innebandy a little, since I took them to Unihoc and we just shot and passed. They could not shoot a ball to save their lives! Trust me. Then Christer came home to take us to the MoraKniv factory. MoraKniv is a famous Knife brand that is in Mora. They sell knives to the food industry but also have an outdoors line of knives for Campers and Forestmen. We got to see how that factory runs and it was interesting to see all the different things they do! Now Wednesday, Tomas took us to the Dala Horse factory. It is not actually that big but it is a symbol for Sweden and they are made in Mora, so Tailor and Rachel got to see that. They also bought a horse from there. Rachel took 20 min in deciding what one she should get...seriously she could not decide. Then Tomas took us for lunch at the Zorn Cafe since it was not open on Monday! That night we had dinner at the Nilsson's since Martin and Emma were home and they brought Molly their new dog. She is very cute I have to say! So that was Wednesday! Thursday Tomas and Åsa took us hiking. It was very beautiful trails we went on and got to see a lot of the nature. We also had fika in a very nice spot! It was clear skies, and 25 C, so it was very nice to hike in! Friday was Rachel's and Tailor's last day here so Christer and Åsa took us to Rättvik to see the Market they have there twice a year. It is like the Farmers market so it felt good to be there since I have not been to the Market for a while now! That night we just had a BBQ'ed Moose. I like moose but it was Rachel's first time and she was very worried...after she tried it she says it tasted like cow. So was not much to worry about! Saturday morning Christer, Åsa and I said goodbye to them as they got onto the train to Arlanda! Sad to see them go but only 1 month and 18 days left. So I will see Tailor soon! Sunday the family just went to the Cabin for a little while. Martin, Emma and I tried fishing...nothing was biting at all. The family also went for the first swim of the year! A little cold but worth it after! So this was everything I missed and the rest of the blogs should be on time!

Gesunda: http://www.gesundaberget.se

MoraKniv: http://www.moraofsweden.se

Dala Häst: http://www.theswedishwoodenhorse.com/dala-horse-history

My room at the camp

The old side of the city

Old city 

Nobel Prize Museum 

How the Nobel Prize looks

With the Royal Guard...and the white box

Royal Armoury

The King's Tree Garden 

The Bus stop 

Vasa Ship

Vasa Ship

The very amazing decoration on the back of the ship

A little on deck and side

The Stingray

The looks killed us

Could not get a clear selfie with the ray 

On the top of Gesunda

Äjvor 

Hiking trails Thursday 

Trail

Trail

Fika spot! 

The Rättvik Market

Kais Mora in the SM Finals

Week 36:

Hello Everyone! 

**Pictures will be posted when Wifi starts working**

      This blog post should be posted on time and will be a lot longer than the last one. I now only have just over two months left in my exchange and the days are going by very quickly each week as I get closer to the end. But that is not what I will be talking about in this post. 
      This throughout the week not much happened since Innebandy is done for a few weeks to give us a break before summer training, which as the guys tell me summer training is a lot of running and gym stuff since you have to stay in shape throughout the summer! So over the past week I had school and IBG. Unfortunately something did happen at Innebandy but I will not get into what happened since it does not pertain to the exchange much. Truthfully, it just shows how one low-life makes an unforgettable experience a little shitty but I am sure we will figure it out soon enough who the low-life is! 
      Also, Gustaf Hallin and I were talking throughout the week about going to Stockholm to watch the Kais Mora Women’s team compete for the SM Gold against Pixbo. So we got seats on the bus that Kais had going to the game and tickets for the game which included the Men’s game too. Friday I stayed over at Gustaf’s apartment since it was easier that way to get to the bus and all what not.  We woke up at 5:30 Saturday since we did not know what we were going to have for breakfast. We ended up going to McDonald’s and brought that on the bus which left at 7 am from Strand which is a restaurant close to Lake Siljan. To get to Stockholm from Mora by car it takes about 3.5 hrs, so we arrived at Tele2 Arena at 11:25. We then went to the Kais Mora supporter shop to get gear for the game. The game started at 12:15 and we went to the cheering section with everyone else. The game was a good game by both teams, Kais had good opportunities to score on but they could not get it into the net. The final score was 6-5 so it was very close! Then we waited about an hour for the men's game to begin. It started at 15:15. The teams were Linköpping vs. Storvreta. The first period was not good considering      Storvreta scored 2 goals. But then Linköpping came to play in the second and third but ended just short of a win with the score at 5-4 in favour of Storvreta. It was a great experience to be able to see something like that. There were over 18,000 people watching in the arena so many people say it is larger than the World Cup for Floorball and I can believe that now. We left Stockholm at 18:00 and we arrived in Mora at just before 22:00. It was a very long day, but a good day! Sunday I just relaxed since the weather is not that nice!  Remember, I will have pictures below once our wifi is working again. 

Next Years School Schedule

Week 35:

Hello, sorry for the delayed blog posts, I need to start doing them on time for all of you. As of right now I have just over one week till my sister and Rachel get here and I have about 2 months and 2 weeks until I get home. So not much time left if you really think about it. Last week not too much happened, I am trying to get some classes figured out for next year but I do believe I will have a  co-op placement at a local Fire Department. Considering I do want to get into Emergency Services but not quite sure which branch, and I think this will help a lot. Then on Wednesday the special sports classes got to go skiing which was a stupid idea due to the fact it was going to rain the whole day.... and it did rain the while day too. So just 5 min on the chairlift and I was already soaked and when I say soaked, I mean my coat and snow pants felt a good 2 kg heavier...yeah just a little water. I did not get pictures since I did not want to take my wet gloves off because putting them on feels disgusting. Other than these things the week was pretty slow and uneventful!
Hope everyone is good back home!

Easter Week & Finland

Week 33 & 34:

Hello Everyone,

As you know I did not post about week 33 because there was not a lot going on that week and I was in Finland and was touring around! So to start off this post I will start with week 33. The start of the week I did not do too much, but I did book the appointment for my tattoo. On Thursday afternoon at 15:00 I went to the tattoo shop to get started with my tattoo.  The first hour he had look over the design and then he ran to get saran wrap and other stuff to protect the tattoo after it was finished. If you do not have me on Facebook that is where I posted to explanation of the tattoo and how it is meaningful to myself. I will link it here --Tattoo Explanation--to see the explanation just click that and it will take you to the post I made about it.
Friday was a holiday and that is when I traveled to Finland. I took the train from Mora to Stockholm which was direct and took 3.5 hrs. Without any problems, I managed to get checked in and through security and guess what, I was not suspected of being a drug dealer with these security agents (Refer to earlier posts about that comment). Then I had about 2 hrs. to wait for my plane. After boarding and being towed away from the gate I started a timer to see how long it took from Gate to Gate. It was about 51 min to get from Arlanda to Helsinki airport. It was a quick flight compared to my flights in June which are Stockholm to Frankfurt 2 hrs 10 min. Then from Frankfurt to Toronto is a 9 hr 4 min flight....aha, I can not wait -.-!
Now I will talk about my week in Finland. When I got to Finland it was 22:00 and the Åhlgren's live in Tampere which is just over 2 hrs away from Helsinki. So Harri's sister came to pick me up and I slept at her house for the night. I got to meet Viivi the Pitbull. Viivi loves people...a lot!  So I had to shut the door when I went to bed or else I would have a visitor in bed in the morning aha. Sure enough, when I woke up and opened up the bedroom door Viivi was right at the door waiting. From Harri's sister's house we traveled a couple hours to Grandma's house for lunch. Grandma was a very nice lady but she could not speak any English. In saying that, among the Scandinavian countries I am starting to notice most elderly people do not speak any English. Unfortunately, we did not get to talk much unless Harri's sister translated for me. Harri, Elisa and Suvi came to pick me up from there. After fika we went to the house where I met Åbama. Yes I love dogs, but Åbama is a little psycho dog. He never loses energy and he will literally jump on you whenever he sees you...no matter how long you have been living in the house.
On Saturday night we went to watch Tappara team. In Tampere they have two Men's team that play in the same league, Tappara is one and Ilves.  When Tommi was younger he played for the Tappara team.  Harri and I went with a close friend to Harri and his name was Petri (I think that is how it is spelled). Tappara played a good game and they won 5-3 against Lukko. One very different thing in hockey here is that the leading scorers of each team wear a Gold chrome painted helmet. On Sunday the family went to Elisa's parent's house to have Easter. The house is a very nice house and it was built by Elisa's father. It was a nice wood house and had a very large fireplace inside. I actually ate lamb there. I never thought I would try lamb but it was not too bad, just a little different.  After lunch we went out to throw the Javelin, and I will not be a Javelin thrower anytime soon in my life! Following that Harri and I took a tour around Tampere where I got to see the different parts of Tampere and I got to see the private dock they have their row boat at. It was a very nice place to see and also a great opportunity to see all of Tampere.
On the 28th, Harri and I went to the summer house which is an hour away from Tampere. They have two summer houses since they bought the lot beside their summer house too.  Harri just built their new one and it is a very nice summer house! I will have pictures below from it and where it is. Tommi usually fishes there and his buddies and him tube, water ski and use the sauna too. We stayed there for a while then went back home and on the way we stopped to see an old car museum. There were a lot of European cars that you never see in car shows in Ontario, so it was nice to see that collection of old cars since you never see them in a typical car show! Monday (I actually completely forget what we did then and I do not have pictures to remind me).  Tuesday Harri took me to the Spy Museum in Tampere to see the old spy equipment that they used and stories from the past. That night I got to tour around Tampere alone since Harri had a self defense class. It was a special type of self defense and I have forgotten the name of it. On Wednesday and Thursday I went to High School to talk about Canada in their English classes. The first day I met a few guys but then Thursday I managed to meet a lot more people which was nice! I am hoping on going back in May to see them again and also hangout with Tommi since I have not seen him in a year! Then Friday Harri and I went to Helsinki to some of his company offices and I also visited the Science Centre to see all the cool and interesting things they had there while he was at a meeting. I am pretty sure I was the oldest child there by at least 5 years... I am not even lying, I felt old aha! Finally on Saturday I was off at 9:30 am to start my long day of traveling. I got to Mora at 19:30 so it was a long day of sitting. On Sunday I relaxed and I went to watch the women Kais Mora team since they are in the semi finals. They won that game so they are up 2-0 in the series.  If they win the next game they will sweep the series!
So that was my entertaining Easter break week!!!  Thanks again to Harri, Elisa & Suvi for hosting me, I really enjoyed my stay with you.  It is only 3 more weeks until Tailor & Rachel arrive, I am really looking forward to their visit.

T-5 Days till Finland

Week 32:

Hello Everyone.
I know I said the coming weeks would be more entertaining but we aren't quite there yet. Not much happened during this week other than some more Innebandy practice. If I have mentioned the amount we train with Innebandy for the '99 (I am with the '99 in IBG) we have three training sessions in school, two of them are 8-11 (Tuesday & Friday) but we usually train 8:30-10:30 so we are able to catch the bus. Then Wednesday we have it from 13:15-15:45 and then after we occasionally have the little kids who we teach the game of Innebandy to.  I believe that's what it is for...but I find it funny since the little kids speak Swedish to me and I have to get my classmates to come over and answer their question since they do not understand English considering they are so young. Another funny thing about this is that Viktor told our team (of 6 kids) that I am from Canada and speak English and there was this one kid who just stared at me whenever he was on the bench (I found it funny). In addition to our training during the day, we also train in the evenings. We can have two to three practices a week. So I train a lot compared to a lot of the sports in Canada.
To understand what happens in regards to my schooling I will explain. In school I do not do any of the assigned work since the teachers do not want to mark my work.  The grades do not count in Canada, so in their opinion it is pointless. Also some of the subjects are similar to things I have already learned in Canada and then there are some things that I have never learned. So that is the other problem. The online course from Canada also did not work out for Native Studies considering the videos we had to watch would not allow me to access them since I have a Swedish IP address and you need to be in Canada to be able to watch a lot of the videos. Due to this issue I had to drop that course even though it was actually very interesting and I was enjoying it!
The good side of having a lack of school work is that I have more time to research cameras.  I would like to buy a new one as my Canon T1I is about 7 years old now and I would like to get more into photography like my Uncle. I will link his Flickr page so you can see some of his amazing photos! Right now I am looking at a Canon 7D Mk2 which is about $2,249.99. I would like to get the camera with the 18-135mm lens. So donations will be accepted by Shelley if you would like to help me out :').  On a serious note, I do like photography and Sweden is an awesome place for pictures since the nature is amazing and unique compared to Ontario!

Uncle Jamie's Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmorphyimages/albums

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tuck.campbell/

School Schedule (Left box beside VISA put in TE15 then Press Visa and that is my class schedule): http://www.novasoftware.se/webviewer/(S(iiabnkylaszbag55bi2sdz55))/design1.aspx?schoolid=21900&code=64878

The Grey parts are the IBG (Innebandy) and this is my new schedule since I switches to Teknik

A Penalty....

Week 31:

Hello blog followers and everyone who just thought they would see how my interesting life is going. Last week not too much happened. To start off Monday we had the day off so the Vasaloppet could get cleaned up more before we went to school. I just chilled at home that day and that night we had Innebandy so I went to that. On Tuesday in IBG we went cross country skiing which was actually pretty hard since the snow was melting so it kept sticking to our skis and was making some of us very annoyed. Then the rest of the week was more school and Innebandy practice at night.
Saturday HJ had a game. I played and it was a very close game against Sala.  I may have gotten a penalty which should have been 5 min. Just informing you all if a guy is running with the ball along the side boards and you think it would be a great opportunity to hit him...you should not do it.  Even if it is very tempting, DON'T!!!  You are not allowed to hit against the boards I figured out...OOPS! The game had to go to OT and Dennis sniped one to finish the game. So we are slowly improving...toward the end of the season. Then Sunday not too much happened we just chilled at home! The coming weeks should be more entertaining!

Vasaloppet Week

Week 30:

Hello Everyone! This week's blog should be longer since I will explain a lot in this post about Vasaloppet week and also what I did last week. 

To start off I will explain what the Vasaloppet is. On the Vasaloppet website they say, "Vasaloppet is the world’s oldest, longest and biggest cross-country ski race. It has a rich history and tradition; hundreds of thousands of skiers have tackled the 90 km stretch from Sälen to Mora since the start in 1922. Rigorous training and careful preparation is needed to complete this 90 km challenge. It is a race with classic technique along a magical landscape, followed by two million television viewers in Sweden alone."  The route that the skiers race was inspired by a notable journey made by King Gustav Vasa when he was fleeing from Christian II's soldiers in 1520. So now you see why it is such a big event in Mora and the Cross-country community. 

The races takes the participants through nine towns along the way to the finish which is in Mora and they start in Sälen. This race alone can bring 15,800 skiers and this year they had a total of 16,502 signed up but the maximum amount that can go in the race is 15,800 racers. The first racers usually cross the finish line after 4 hrs of racing.  They start at 8 am so they get to Mora by approximately 12 pm. So yes, the first heat of racers are extremely quick to finish a 90 km race in only 4 hrs. 

After searching for 20 min on the Vasaloppet result page I found the first Canadian who finished.  I found his result on page 84 of listed participants! His name is Daryl Remmler with a time of 5:38:36 which is a difference of 1:30:36 from the first place winner.  Our first female was Christiane Clavel and her time was 6:12:16 with a difference of 1:54:20. One person who I should also mention is a fellow Canadian Exchange Student and Ontarioian who came over with Rotary! His name is James Allen and he did the Vasaloppet in 8:36:35, and from what I could tell from his Facebook post he only trained for 3 months and finished in a great time!  

The Vasaloppet race is the last Sunday of our Sportslov break which is a week long. Before the big race they have nine other races, four of which are the 90 km but they are not as big as the Vasaloppet. So our Sportslov break is from February 26-March 8th and this allows sports clubs to make money since the Vasaloppet will sponsor the Clubs but they would like work in return during the Vasaloppet week. So on the 26th I had a 5 3/4 hour shift to load skiers onto buses to get to the start line. My next job was on the 28th which was 7.5 hrs, the two of us would stop traffic if there was any when the skiers were crossing the road and then we would fix the tracks after the car passed. We actually got many compliments from the skiers as they went passed regarding our nice tracks and what a good job we were doing. That was good and always nice to hear since every time the cars drove over we had to remake the track. I then had the week off with a few practices for Innebandy during the nights and on Saturday (March 5th) we had a game! We won the game 5-3 which gives us our second win of the season. I hope we can end off the season strong with winning the last three games! On Sunday the 6th I had my last shift since it was the Vasaloppet. I had to do parking with 14 other guys from Kais Mora. We had an 8 hr shift we needed to do and we were great at it. We also practiced our tennis skills when there were no cars. That made for some fun when we were doing that while waiting for cars! Finally, on Monday I just relaxed at home and went to Innebandy practice! I will post pictures below from Vasaloppet and all that fun stuff. 

Vasaloppet Website Link (English): http://www.vasaloppet.se/en/ 

The Vasaloppet Route

The top 25 Males 

The top 25 Females

All the Canadians (James is at the top)