{"id":1040,"date":"2026-06-11T06:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T06:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1040"},"modified":"2026-06-11T06:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T06:09:22","slug":"they-came-for-the-world-cup-they-fell-in-love-with-buc-ees-and-ranch-dip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1040","title":{"rendered":"They came for the World Cup. They fell in love with Buc-ee\u2019s and ranch dip."},"content":{"rendered":"

While she was traveling through Indiana ahead of the World Cup, Swedish tourist Elsa Thora spotted a yellow school bus rolling down the street and immediately screamed with excitement.<\/p>

Read more We tore open the Trump phone \u2014 it was nearly the same as a Taiwanese device using Chinese parts<\/a><\/p>

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m in a movie,\u201d Thora, 24, later wrote on X, sharing photos of two quintessential American snacks she had picked up at a local market: buffalo blue cheese baked pretzels and Hostess Twinkies. <\/p>

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As international soccer fans like Thora pour into North America ahead of Thursday\u2019s kickoff, their amused observations about life in the U.S. are becoming an unexpected source of entertainment \u2014 and pride \u2014 for many Americans on social media.<\/p>

Thora, who has tickets to see both Sweden and England play, has documented everything from tasting ranch dressing for the first time (\u201cWhy did no one tell me ranch sauce is like crack?\u201d she wrote on X) to wandering the aisles of a Trader Joe\u2019s grocery store (which she described as \u201ctoo healthy for my liking\u201d). <\/p>

\u201cI think a lot of Swedish people kind of think of the U.S. as, you know, the land of the free and this big cool country,\u201d Thora said in a video interview Wednesday after she landed at her next destination: San Francisco. <\/p>

\u201cAnd it does feel like that being here. It just feels a bit surreal,\u201d she added.<\/p>

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The social media posts from a handful of tourists, which have amassed millions of views, have offered a more lighthearted counterpoint to the political discourse that has shaped perceptions of the U.S. in recent months.<\/p>