What Happened To The End?!

The date is September 25, 2012.
I am very fortunate to of had my grandparents from Norway come to visit my family in the States (Massachusetts) and loved every minute that I got to spend with them.  And after all the conversations that I had with them, this one was one of the more important ones.  I had written this blog when I was in Norway to follow my adventure and never finished it  They where the ones to tell me that it had to be finished.  AND my last post was actually a couple of weeks BEFORE I left back for the states!  So what happened?  What happened in-between Slovenia and the end of school.  Well let me tell you.. there was a lot of sad things, saying goodbye to everyone was the worst and I think about them everyday of my life.  But, the only reason that there were sad things was because there were so many amazing things that I got to do at thefolkehogskole in Voss and all the incredibly amazing people that I met.

My mum, she always told me that my year in Norway was going to be something special, that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life and wish I could do over again.  When I got to Norway and even actually when even when I was finished I didn't get it.  I though I knew what she meant, you know "ya ya mum I got chya."  But no I just went with the flow and Im not trying to say that shes not rite because she is so so so rite and now that Im in college and living my life I see how amazing I had it.  I was in Norway... half way around the world.  Class consisted of kayaking and snowboarding.  I went to the clubs.  I met great people and tried cool things. The school fed me (which is a big thing when you stat "real life", food that is). I got to see my grandparents every weekend!  You know what's funny though, I'll bet anything that my little brother Haakon, who will be taking this journey after high school as well could read this and not get the true meaning of it.  Im not trying to put him down don't get me wrong its just something that you need to experience to understand.  

I still haven't told you how it ended though haha.  Well... I got back from Slovenia and unpacked.  Wooo, wait a sec, I'm skipping some details.  I remember when we arrived at the airport.  It was pick dark out and we were all jumping around talking about what an amazing time we had just had.  I can literally seethe smile on everyone faces as Im writing this.  Anyways Like I said we drove home and unpacked.  The last few weeks were slow, a little kayaking and working on my longboard (which I would eventually give to my brother Haakon (not leaving my other brother out though, his birthday present when I got back was that I would help him make one ;) but that was about it.  The last week however was the longest, slowest, saddestweek I think I ever have had.  Everyone had to have their rooms spotless and when I say spotless I mean they went around and ran their fingers over counter tops to check for dust!  We were all signing yearbooks
and saying our goodbyes.  I spent as much time as I could with everyone as I could.  I remember the last nights crystal clear.  A lot of people were crying, and their faces all red but me, I just didnt.  I guess it didnt hit me that this was probably the last time I would see them in a long time.  
And actually I've been tearing up a little writing this shh..  My parents came to pick me up and there was a dinner and everyone was dressed up.  And then after dinner and some speeches all the students went to the gym where we had a theater set up.  We sang, and I just didnt want to be up there.  Im not going to lie I don't like being in front of a lot of people never mind singing.  But then half way throughme and my best friend Morten just got into it and had our arms around everyone and were going all out.  Before the last song we had graduation where we got our "diplomas."  Ha and I'll never forget this.  I wasn't wearing dress shoes and everyone else had these amazing shoes on.  I was thinking what am I going to do, what am I going to do??  And then they called Morten who is a few people before me on the list.  He went down and got his diploma, came back and took his shoes off.  I have never worn pointy dress shoes in my life before haha.  That is definitely something that I am going to remember for the rest of
my life.  So then everyone had got their diplomas and we got together for one last song.  Two words into the song and everyone was crying.  And the I looked into the crowd of parents and teachers.  Everyone was crying and you could tell the ones that had gone to folkehogskole before because they were the ones crying the most.  It was one of the saddest days of my life but it just means I have to go back!  I had an amazing time in Norway, whether it was at school, on the slopes, in town, in Bergen, or working for KBE and I would do it all again, over and over as many times as I could.  



P.S.  I got to spend a week after school in Bergen with my cousin, friends and family.  

There was supposed to be this huge party for me going away but it just ended up being my closest friends from Bergen.  I think there were maybe 10 of us.. but it was one of the best parties =)  I painted my grandparents deck and brought my dad to the best burger joint in the world.  


Well, thats the end.. of that journey of course, my journey is only at its beginning and now Im in COLLEGE!I worked at Lee's Market in the Wine/Liquor department and mowing laws to make some cash which, I used to buy a motorcycle.  I met an amazing girl, Kellee, who I keep in contact with here in Norway.  And thats that.  Get ready for the Florida Adventure in my next BLOG!  

Slovenia

Day 1 3:00 in the morning
    The plane for Copenhagen leaves at 6:10 in the morning from Bergen's airport in Flesland.  Voss is a little over and hours drive from Flesland were told to meet at 3:00 in the morning to take the cars down to the airport.  Some of us slept in a little late however, so we didn't end up leaving until about half past 3:00 (not me though, I was there rite on the the dot at 3:00).  That being said we still made it to the airport with plenty of time and before we knew it we were on the plane to Copenhagen.  After around a 2 hour layover in Copenhagen we were on the plane to (don't actually remember the name of the place... Ill ask Arill and see if he knows until then its a mystery haha...) Venice, Italy.  We were driven from the airport to Bovec, Slovenia where we would spend the next few days.

What was supposed to be a week in the mountains...

Monday morning Frisport headed out for a tip into the mountains.  The plan was to make base camp in a valley aprox. 30 min from the road and from there do trips on ski to different mountain tops.

My friend Audun and I however, are snowboarders.  So we decided to bring along our snowboard boots and snowboards along with us on top of all the other gear we had.  This made the half hour trip to base camp seem a little bit longer.  It would have been worth it too if the weather held up.

Winter Vacation

Well todays the day, last day in the winter vacation.  I was lucky enough to go see LMFAO in concert with my cousin Jørgen and some of his friends in Oslo city last weekend (the beginning of my vacation) which was great and I really enjoyed!  For those of you who dont know, LMFAO is a popular music group amoung people my age.  I was in Oslo for 3 days, the day before the concert, the day of and then left the day after.  It was almost worth it just going to Oslo because I had never been before so it was cool to just walk around and see what there Oslo had to show.  I then spent the rest of the week here with my grandparents in Askøy doing fitting in some nights out with friends and such as well.  But now its time to get back to school!  Actually though.. I will only be in school tomorrow because Wednesday I leave for Geilo to go work\party at a winter festival  (watch the youtube video on their site so see what its about).  The video is in Norwegian just like the rest of the site so for all you English speaking\reading people this is a 4 day long festival where there will be snowboard\ski\snowmobile jumping, live performances and after parties.  Sounds like a lot of fun rite!  Cant wait!

Super Hut

    Im getting pretty good at these late posts I know but Im slowly catching up.  Last Wednesday was the 8th and Frisport took a trip to Myrkdalen to go skiing/snowboarding.  The weather was beautiful, all sun, no clouds, and no wind.  You couldnt have asked for a better day.  We were supposed to have some lessons on avalanche safety that day but the weather was so good that Arill decided we should just enjoy the day and ski and we did just that.  The weather was so good actually that me and two other guys from frisport went shirtless one run!  We stayed the whole day until closing, riding through endless amounts of powder.  And after the long day of snowboarding we drove maybe 5 minutes to a hut that Frisport had rented and it was huge.  There must have been 20 beds and 3 baths.  I have some pictures that I took along with a walk-through video of the place.  The only problem is that it was a little dark so the pictures came out a bit blurry but the video should be fine.
    We spent the next day doing some lessons on avalanche safety because the weather was not so good, a little wind and lots of clouds.
 

    Today we are heading out for an overnight trip where we will be sleeping in tents, in the snow. Hope its not too cold out!

Myrkdalen 2012.

February 1st

On February 1st Frisport took its first "top tour" trip.  I dont really know the technical term for what we did so Im just going to refer to it as top touring from now on.  Top touring is basically hiking up a mountain with skies.  Now normally if you tried to hike up a mountain covered in snow with skis on you wouldnt get anywhere because you would just slide backwards however, there is a carpet like sleeve that we attach to the bottom of the skies to keep us from sliding back.  This carpet like sleeve allows the ski to move forward but not backwards and after waking with them for a but you actually get quiet used to it.

I never really skied with a backpack on before I came into Frisport but now I hardly ride without one.  Water, food, a shovel, and maybe a few other things are always with me.  Ohh and this is going somewhere just wait.  So the reason Im telling you this is because you cant ride down hill very effectively with the sleeve like thing that goes under the skies for top touring, so we keep them in out backpacks until we get to where we start.  We ended up taking the lift to get as high as we could and then put the sleeve like things that go on the bottom of the skis on and started the hike.  Now, I did say that you get quiet used to hiking after a bit but, that first bit is hell I have to admit.  My legs were not used to that kind of work!  The whole trip took about 2 and a half hours.. I think.  Im actually not that sure but If I had to guess I would say that.  We got to the top, had some lunch and then skied down.  And I bet some of you are wondering how long it took to get down, well no more than 15 minutes but let me tell you it was so worth it!

February 1, 2012

Another late update..

Things have really been picking up here in Voss so the writing has been a little delayed and I apologize for that.  And speaking of Voss.. This is where the Ski Championships are being held and this weekend!  So our school has been working the past few days to help set some things up. The opening ceremonies started tonight at around 5 to kick of the event.

I realize I mite be jumping around a bit but just bare with me.  We also had some northern lights here in Voss the other night.  That was pretty cool to see, probably because I have never seen them before but that aside it is still a pretty amazing thing to see.

I have a few pictures Im going to add to this post as well.  Ill try to make write another post soon with a little more thought and information next time.  Im just a little tiered like always.

Frisport Ski & Snowboard

Here it is everyone! A short video showing a little glimpse of skiing in Voss!

Time-Lapse

Just a short time-lapse I made yesterday testing my GoPro.  The other video is uploading now!

Baby Steps

Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I went skiing.  Now when I was little I skied all the time and wasn't a pro at all but was pretty good.  However, even with quiet a few years of not skiing and actually switching to snowboarding the past few years, I was still able to ski pretty well.  By the end of the day I was making it down the mountain no problem even throwing in some jumps and tricks here and there.  Unfortunately, I took the tricks a little to far and overshot a jump on the last run of the day yesterday.  I was on the ground for a while but was able to get back up and make it down the mountain.  I guess I was a little to anxious to ski hard.  So I decided to take today off and take it easy.  Ill be sure to take it a little slower from now on and there's no reason to worry I'm fine.  Just a little sore from yesterday and being tiered doesn't help at all.

By the way the video that I talked about in my last post is being edited as I'm writing this.  There just has been a lot going on here at school and like I said it doesn't help that I'm tiered all the time.

Happy New Year =D

I know its been a while since my last post but I did come back to America to surprise my family for Christmas and then back here in Norway for New Years!  It was a busy vacation but I think I made the most of it.

That being said Ill move onto today which was definitely my favorite day here in Voss so far!  We spent all of today (and yesterday) skiing/snowboarding at the resort here in Voss!  I'm getting ahead of myself though.. I should probably start with yesterday and then move onto today.  So, yesterday the Frisport class met up in the Frisport room to have a quick chat before the day started.  The news we got wasn't good though.. The mountain had been closed due to strong wind.  There was good news though!  The other side of the mountain was open for business because there wasn't so much wind on the other side.  That involved a little drive in the bus to get to the other side of the mountain but it was definitely worth it.  Arill (our Frisport teacher) brought us on a tour of the lower part of the mountain.  We actually spent most of our time skiing thought the woods in up to a meter (3ft.) of powder.  I never thought I would like snowboarding through the woods but man was I wrong.  We did of course do some runs on the slopes but, the main purpose of that day was to get to know the mountain.  Ohh, and it snowed almost the whole day varying from light flurries to blizzard conditions with near to zero visibility.
Today however, there was no wind and better yet a clear sky the whole day!  We spent today on the far mountains mostly free-riding.  Actually up until 11:30 (we got there at 10) we were able to ski anything we wanted.  After that we met up with Arill and he showed us the best places in the far mountain.  We went right of the slopes through fresh powder, over jumps and down cliffs.  It was the best class I have ever attended!  And after a few runs with him we were off on our own again.  Now dinner is at 13:00 (3:00pm) at our school (I know its kind of early, but thats how they do it here) and with it taking about an hour to get off the mountain, put everything away, hang your clothes and take a shower.. everyone that wanted dinner left at 14:00 (2:00pm).  Me and my friend Audun stayed up in the mountain until 16:00 (4:00pm).  The conditions were just amazing and there was literally no one on the mountain.  I never had to wait for anything, it was perfect!
I took some videos and I will post them as soon as I do some editing because they are a bit long.  Trust me though it will be worth the wait!

Hope you all had a good Christmas and Happy New Year!

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/
   

Lys Fest i Bergen (Light party in Bergen)

Last weekend I spent the weekend in Bergen with my cousin Jorgen and man did I luck out.  Bergen had its annual "lys fest" or "light party" translated directly.  For those of you back in America or anyone else that hasn't seen it, it really is an awesome event.  Thousands of people gather in a park around a fountain in the center of Bergen and at a certain time torches are handed out.  And then of course there were fireworks to end the night!  It actually is hard to describe because it was that cool so I hope the pictures help!  There are also some videos of the fireworks so I hope you all like those as well =)

Ohh and of course we cant forget the huge Christmas tree in the middle of the fountain!

Lys Fest i Bergen

Hiking to the top of Fjell (Mountain)

Yesterday Frisport took a trip to the top of the mountain behind the school.  This also happens to be the ski resorts mountain which leads to the reason we took the trip.  We hiked up to the top to do a little scouting of tracks that we would be skiing and let me tell you something, the view was absolutely amazing.  Now, the main reason I say this is because one you can see extremely far and two because the clouds were below us.. It is actually a little hard to explain but if you take a look at the pictures Im sure you'll understand.

At the beginning of the album you will see some pictures of some houses.  These are part of the Voss FolkeMuseum.  Ill put up some information on that later though.  Later on in the album youll see a picture of a map.  We walked to the FolkeMuseum which is the lower right green "i" that says "Molstertunet" under it.  We then hiked from there, following the red path, to the top green "i".  From there we scouted the trails.  Finally you will see a picture of me on a ski-lift pole.  Me and my friend Audun went a little further and hiked an extra ~30min further into the mountains.

Fjell 10.16.2011

Frost..

Was a bit chilly the other day.. had a bit of frost.  Not snow but Im sure it wont be long until thats here!

Frost

Back to the pool!

From November 9, 2011

Today in frisport we took a trip back to Dale to go kayaking in the pool again!  The plan was the same as last time, practice the roll.  I was soon able to do it no problem and started to work on cartwheels which is what you will see my teacher doing if you look at the videos.  I wasnt able to but thats ok because I wasnt expecting to be able to the first day anyways but it was a lot of fun to try!  Besides that it was another fun day at the pool!

Just another post..

So today was another foggy in Voss and I just had to take a picture to show you guys how foggy it gets here, and its actually pretty common.  There is something in this picture that I wanted to post about as well though. There is a new building on campus!  It may not be big but its still a building. It was constructed in tops 5 days by the groundskeeper at the school.  I was amazed at how fast this went up because this man does everything at the school and never stops working, its incredible.

Random

Sheep head for dinner!

Tonight at school we had sheep head for dinner. Now as strange as that sounds it is a tradition and delicacy here in Voss. It is actually more a tradition in Voss than it is anywhere else in Norway. Here are some pictures from the meal I just ate.  And trust me, despite the look of it, it was delicious.

sheep head