20.01 Tuesday

First day on cross-country skis

Today we had our first skiing day. We practiced right behind university at a more or less flat part. That was really good for the beginning. We tried to move forward, using the poles, lifting up the feet and we also tried a little bit of downhill. I think everybody landed in the snow at this day but we had a lot of fun. Being on cross-country skis is really different then alpine skies. Unfortunately we had bad snow conditions, but at least we had some snow to practice on.

22.01 Thursday

Skiing day in Jegersberg

This was our second day on skis, we had good snow and went out to Jegersberg – a local area right behind the university – to practice our skiing technic and get used be on cross-country skis. First of all we had to wax the skis and then ski out to our playing area for the day. Len took us for a little tour around the area. This included uphills and downhills and was the first challenge for some of us. After a little break we did some exercise on a little downhill. We had to ski on one leg, bend down and go under a ski pole and throw our hats to Len.

29.01 Thursday – 30.01 Tuesday

Overnight Trip in Jegersberg

Separated in tent groups we spent our first night outside in Norway. We went again to Jegersberg, where we already did the skiing and orienteering. As the area is not too far away, we didn’t have to carry our big backpacks not too far. We searched for a good place to put our tents up and prepared everything for the night. Then we played loads of different group dynamic games. This was really funny and we laughed a lot. Everybody had to come up with a game or a task. Before we had our own dinner, we had a cooking competition in the tent groups and everybody got some ingredients from Len out of which we tried to make the best. This was a good practise for our following trips.

Even though it started to rain and snow in the evening, we had a nice fire going and everybody gathered around it.

The first night outside was not my best. I slept plenty of times in a tent before, but this felt different. It was really cold and just couldn’t go to sleep. Next time I’ll bring some music to listen at or a book. Even if this means to carry more weight, I think I’ll appreciate it.