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.