Trip Alone Part 2

Well I did it.  I'm back safe and sound and I even have all my fingers and toes.



Wednesday..
I woke up with all my bags packed and the clothes on the floor ready for the day.  I did a quick check of all my things then was out the door to catch a big breakfast.  Before I knew it the cars we packed and we were on our way.  The car ride was relaxing as usual and it was nice to get a look at all the scenery on the way especially since everything was covered in snow!  After a little under a hour and a little slipping and sliding in the car we arrived at a circular parking place rite next to an army base.  We all got out of the buses and instantly almost everyone was cold.   It was only going to get colder though.  Before we headed out we had a little pep-talk and then we were off, all going in separate directions into the woods.  Now you have to understand, there are no paths, its around 17 degrees and there is more than a 18inches of snow so this wasn't really a walk in the park.  I took what I thought to be the easiest route, straight.  However, that ended up with me confronting a river that was just big enough to not cross so, I turned around and walked into the army base, across a bridge and then back onto the other side of the border of the army base.  I then probably walked for not even 2 minutes before starting to really feel the strain.  My toes and nose were cold but the rest of my body was warm, hot actually.  I was excited to do the trip but at the same time was exhausted from sinking in deep snow over and over again.  I soon decided that I would pick the best and closest place I could to make camp.  After about maybe 15 minutes of trekking through the snow I found a nice little place and started to pack the down the snow to make a firm "floor" that I could sleep on.

I think it was definitely different for everyone and definitely tested a lot of people mentally because I know it did for me.  When I was out working and such I was moving around and not so much thinking about the fact that I was "alone" in the woods but as soon as I slipped into my sleeping bag (which is not as easy as you'd think it is) everything went silent.  I'm not going to lie it was a very peaceful silence but at the same time I was little uneasy.  I knew that nothing was going to happen but there was this little peace of me that would not stop thinking about all the little noises I was hearing and thinking there was something out to get me.  The cold was definitely a major contributor to my mental status as well.  It was just so cold that the only thing I could think about was getting warm so it was hard to think straight.  I'm unbelievably thankful for my sleeping bag and mat because they kept me soooo warm through the entire night.  I actually woke up with the bottom of the sleeping mat wet because I had melted the snow underneath it.

Thursday..
The plan was to head back to the parking lot when it started to get light outside.  I was torn though.  My sleeping bag was heated nice and toasty but I had to get out, put on clothes, and pack up.  That was a bit chilly lemme tell you that.  I packed up faster than I thought and the hike back to the parking lot was easy because my footsteps from yesterday had frozen slightly making a hard surface for me to walk back on if I followed my footsteps.  I was back at camp under 10 minutes and was welcomed by our teacher, Arill, with some hot drinks.  I was the first one back which was nice but I also had to wait for the others to come.  It ended up being over and hour and a half before everyone was back and we were on our way again.

Over all it was a great experience and yes it was freezing but I liked being pushed.  So would I do it again, yea I think I would and I think I will because I can definitely say it builds character faster than anything I have ever done and it shows in all the others that did it.

Trip Alone

Tomorrow morning after breakfast all the students in Frisport will do something very special.

We all have our bags packed by now, hopefully. I know I do.  And we will fill up the packs with food tomorrow morning and then head out on an overnight trip.  Now heres the thing, all of us are getting dropped off at the same place somewhere far away from here, but then we will all walk in different directions for as long as we want and make camp.  Now not to worry this is completely safe and no one is going to get lost.  There is a method to the madness.  After making camp we will make a fire and spend the day by ourselves.  When night time comes around we will all head to bed and spend the night in our own shelters.  Finally, when the sun comes up the next morning we will all head back to where we were dropped off and head back to school in time for dinner.

That doesn't sound so bad does it?  Maybe if I told you we were to bring only the essentials then it mite sound a bit harder.. That means no tent, iPod, phone, saw etc.  Or even better I can give you the list of things I will be bringing.
    1. Toilet Paper
    2. Toothbrush
    3. Camera (even though this is a type of tech its ok because of course we want to have pictures!)
    3. A book
    4. Headlight
    5. Boots
    6. 1 Knife
    7. Rain Jacket and Hunting Jacket (heavy jacket, warmer)
    8. Sleeping Pad and Sleeping Bag
    9. Gloves
    10. Hat
    11. Hot Chillies Pants and Shirt (warm tights)
    12. Rain and Snow Pants
    13. 3 Shirts
    14. 3 Pairs of Socks
    15. Thermos
There are also a few things that are provided like, a plastic sheet to make a shelter with, 10meters of rope, and food.
Thats not so much but I think Ill live ;)
Well tomorrows going to be a long day!  Wish me luck!

Hadanger Folkehøgskule and Snow

On Friday Voss Folkehøgskule took a trip to visit another Folkehøgskule.  We left right after breakfast and took two buses along with a short ferry ride to cross the fjord, finally arriving in Hadanger.  If you click on "Hadanger" you will link to a map.  The blue route splits about halfway down and this is because where it splits you are supposed to go right but that is apparently an illegal u-turn so the directions have you go all the way down and to the left, turn around and go back up.  Anyways at that split there is a ferry that we took across the fjord.  From there the school was only aprox. 10 min away.

When we got the the school we had some lunch and then were given some choices on any activities we wanted to do.  Dinner wouldn't be until 7:30 so there was plenty of time.  You could choose; soccer (football), volleyball, or go on a walk into the mountains/along a river.  I chose to go on the walk and have a look around.  When we came back we hung out, played some ping pong and cards just passing the time until dinner.  And then after dinner we had a little get together with the other school in the gym.  This was probably the funniest thing I have ever been to.  Our school did a few performances and same with the other.  Now they weren't filmed so unfortunately I cant show you but that may be a good thing because some of the things that happened may not be acceptable back in the US.  I did manage to find a video on Youtube of one of the dances that a kid at the other school did.  The dance is called Hallingdans and it looks like the most tiring dance ever.  Now after all this there was a volleyball tournament.  Voss ended up winning and I don't think it was because we had more people in our school but because we were so loud.  Our crowd was cheering so loud hardly anyone could talk the next morning!  

We left the next morning right after breakfast to go to Bergen.  The school decided to take the scenic route which was nice but a bit long, only around four hours..  After arriving in Bergen the whole school went to Dolly Dimple's for all you can eat pizza.  There was a show later that night that the whole school was to attend at the Theater around 18:00 (6:00pm) so until then everyone was able to enjoy Bergen and do what they want.  I ended up joining some of my friends and walking around along with going in some shops to look around.  When 6:00 rolled around I headed up to the theater and watched the three hour comedy that was literally about stupid people.  It was a great show and I'm glad I went.

After the show Bestefar picked me up and we headed back to his house where I would spend the night.  I got my first Christmas present that night too!  Bestemor and Bestefar gave me some indoor shoes to keep me warm because the floors here in Norway can get pretty chilly!  So thank you very much to Bestemor and Bestefar for that!

I didn't take so many pictures this weekend but I will post the link to Hadanger Folkehøgskule's site where there are pictures of there school and what they do.  I have a few from the theater and then a few from this morning because I woke up today with 2in./5cm outside!

 Hadanger Folkehøgskule - http://www.hardanger.fhs.no/