Ocean Kayaking

   

    There are four trips that the Frisport class takes, each lasting a week long.  The first was the river kayaking trip, the second is an ocean kayaking trip, the third a trip in the mountains during the winter, and lastly a trip to Slovania in the spring.  We have just finished the second trip and it was great.

    The journey began on 9/19/2011, last Monday of this week.  (We did however have a meeting the previous day explaining what we were to expect, what to bring, etc.)  The day started just like any other, with me slamming the snooze on the alarm clock.  But, instead of laying in bed those few extra minutes I could usually spare I had to get up to double check that I had everything packed.  So, I rolled out of bed, got into some clothes, and checked my bags.  Instead of packing everything into my hiking backpack I threw everything into heavy duty trash bags, organized of course ;)  This was because everything that we would be bringing with us would be staying in the ocean kayaks.  For those who dont know what those look like just take a a look at the pictures.  Even if you do know what ocean kayaks are though you should still take a look at the pictures not because there super cool or anything.. but because even though they look huge, there isn't as much space as you would think inside.  Well, actually there is quiet a bit of space but when your packing for a week there isn't.  A whole week doesn't sound that long, I mean I went on a week trip in 7th grade no problem.  This time was a bit different though.  Now we're adults and there is no babying or toned down anything, you get what you have and suck it up.  That sounded a bit harsh but its the truth.  

Bus Trouble

Everyone was all set to go kayaking yesterday, everyone except the bus.. The E-Brake was jammed on the back right wheel.  This was the first set back of the year, however we managed to get going anyways. Two of the students here had cars and drove everyone up. Had a great day yesterday!
I'll post some pictures later tonight.



UPDATE:

I realize these pictures are a little late and Im sorry but things are very busy over here in Voss.  Unfortunately none of these pictures are of me, however I have done all of the things everyone else is doing in the pictures so you can get an idea of what kinda of kayaking Ive been doing.  I am collaborating with some of the other Frisport kids to get some pictures and video and that will be up sooner than later I hope.

http://picasaweb.google.com/norsyn/September172011

Yoga Trip

    Along with my major, Frisport, I also get to choose two electives (mini-courses).  My first one is drawing which I have on Mondays and my second is yoga, which I have on Fridays.  These mini-courses fill the whole day, from 8:30 until 3:00 in the afternoon (13:00).  Last Friday we took a trip into the mountains for yoga class.  I don't know what this had to do with yoga though.  My closest guess is that we were going to connect with the outdoors and get some fresh air.
    The train ride was only about 45 minutes and after we arrived we walked another 20 minutes to get to a hut that the school owns.  From the hut you had the choice to either stick around the area and pick berries or hike up the mountains to go pick berries and see some snow.  Now, I wasn't feeling so good that day and almost stayed behind to just relax but who can pass up the opportunity to go see some snow on the top of a mountain in September?  I pulled myself together and started hiking up the mountain.  And I wasn't one of the kids picking up the rear while hiking up, because if I was going to go I had to be in front.  I pushed myself that day not so much physically but mentally because it could have been so easy to just stay behind.

    Being in front was so tiring, but I stuck with two other guys, Robbin and Martin.  All three of us are pretty competitive and we all had to make it to the top first so we pushed each other pretty hard.  And soon we broke away from the main group and were on our own.  Every once and a while we would lose sight of them because we were so far ahead.

    You cant see the snow from the hut at the bottom of the mountain but as soon as you get about 2/3 up you start to see the it.  It looks so close but just when we thought we were close it was another 20 minutes of climbing.  After what seemed like forever and sore legs the snow was only about 100 meters from us.  All three of us looked at each other and started to run.  In the end we were all so focused on being the first ones to touch the snow that we didn't see who was first.  We didn't even argue about it though because we were the only three to do it.  The rest of the group had stopped a little more than half way up the mountain.  We had made it to the top and weren't about to start heading down rite away so we sat down, had a little to eat, and made a snowman.  And I understand that this is just three snowballs but (1.) it is pretty cold at the top of the mountain and (2.) the snow was hard to get because only the top layer was soft.  I dont care what anyone says though because its a snowman to me and I got to see snow in September!

    The walk down was so much easier and it took us less than half the time to get down than up.  And at the bottom of the mountain waiting for us was hot chocolate!  That was so good after the long hike up the mountain.  The sun started to come out more and more as the day went on and the lake was just calling out to us to go swimming.  Me, Robbin, and Martin raced down to the lake and went swimming.  Actually, I don't know if you can call what we did swimming because as soon as we were in, we were on our way out.  We cant take all the credit though, 2 girls went swimming as well.  That was a refreshing little dip in a lake in the mountains.  This proves how much fun we have at Voss Folkehøgskule and these are only some of the things we do here..

Heres the link for the pictures =D
http://picasaweb.google.com/norsyn/YogaTrip

Frisport Trip

   https://picasaweb.google.com/norsyn/FirstFrisportTrip

I realize its been a while since my last post but I have been very busy/tired so I hope everyone understands that.  Lets start by saying that my three day camping/kayaking trip was amazing.  We packed our bags, filled the bus with food, the car with kayaks, and headed up river on Tuesday.

    I jumped the gun a little on this post actually.  Before packing the bags and heading out on our trip the 10 students in Frisport all got together in our classroom to have a little pep talk about the trip.  This was an important meeting because we discussed what our 3 days would consist of as well as some pointers for kayaking.  After the meeting we all took a trip to the kitchen to pick up some food.  And now we can continue from where we started at the beginning of the post.

    Because we have 10 people in Frisport, plus the teacher, 5 kayaks, and gear we had to take two cars to get around.  One was a bus which had everyones backpacks, food and everyone except for me and my friend Audun.  We took another bus that had all the kayaks in it.  It was nice to get our own bus.  We listened to the radio and got a little more leg room ;)  Pretty soon we would be at our first stop which was only about 10 minutes away from the school.  Now because we have 10 people in Frisport we split the class into two groups of 5.  I was in the first group to go kayaking.  The main subject for that first day was learning how to go in and out of the currents or eddies as theyre called in kayaking terms.  And as we worked on some more paddling the other group walked down the river where they would meet us later on.  After about 2 hours of kayaking and going about a mile down stream we met up with the other group and drove the kayaks back up the river.  Now it was the other groups turn and just like they had waited for the first group I had to now wait with the second group, but that was nice because I got to rest and talk with the people in my group a little and get to know them more.  Soon enough the second group was done and we packed everything up again and headed to the camp ground that we would be staying at for the next three days.

   Now im not the biggest fan when it comes to camping but I got used to it those three days.  Setting up the tents wasnt a problem at all.  The trouble was making a fire when it was raining...  That was difficult but after a while we got a small fire going.  And after some stories by the cam fire we went to bed.

    Day 2 was a good day.
We practiced swimming in the river so if we ever fell out of our kayaks in the river we would know what to do.  Jumping into a ice-cold, fast moving river took a second to sink in as practice but after the first jump in I only wanted to do it more and more.  And that was good because I got very used to swimming in the river, even with fast currents.  We also practiced throwing safety lines from land into the water.  And rite as we all thought we were done, our teacher jumped in without any warning.  I threw threw him a line, except... I didnt have such a great hold on the end of the line and lost it.  He got out no problem without the line though and when he got out he was happy that I didnt grab the end of the line so that he could prove a point that under stressful situations you need to remain calm so that you dont make stupid mistakes.. like not holdin the end of the line...  I didnt get in trouble because of it or anything though, we just all laughed over it, but it was still a good lesson.  We grabbed some lunch after swimming to warm up because even with wetsuits you get a little cold after swimming in ice cold water for a few hours.  That felt really good, to eat.  It doesnt just fill you up but it also helps you get warm.  And as soon as we were warmed up it was back into the water, except this time with our kayaks, and instead of our normal groups of 5 we split into boys and girls.  Of course the boys went first, even after a fair game of rock, paper, scissors ;)  We practiced rolling the kayaks.  That is deffinately the hardest thing to do in my opinion.  Not only is it physically hard but just the fact of having your exposed head under freezing cold water is extremely unpleseant.  Major brain freeze...  Unfortunately no one was able to do the complete flip but im sure after a little more practice everyone will have it soon.  When the guys were done the girls suited up and got into the kayaks as the guys stripped down and started dinner.  We ate on the rocks and watched the girls kayak.  It was a great day!  Lots of sun and warm air.  All the guys were laying out on the rocks soaking up the sun and when the girls got out they did the same.  Everyone got to know each other pretty well that day.  After a long rest on the rocks we headed back to camp where me and Audun made a huge fire on the side of the river.  We made hotdogs and told some stories then it was off to bed again.

    Day 3 was the day we would go off a 2-meter waterfall.
After breaking down camp in the morning and packing the busses we headed out for our final kayaking destination of our trip.  This time the girls went first and that was nice because it gave the guys time to check out the river and what we would be kayaking through.   The start wasnt that bad at all, we did have on girl flip and bang her bead a little but nothing serious, just a little black eye.  But when we got to the end there was a 2-3meter waterfall (6-9foot).  Both groups got to go over it twice and as intimidating as that was.. it was probably my favorite part of the trip.  We got some great pictures and ill be sure to collect some from the other people in frisport but until then ill put up my pictures.