I was really excited for the Week 10 in Hovden. I thought that it would be the best trip in the whole semster. For this time i had a new bigger bagpack but packed also the same things like in the evje week beacause it worked quite well. Only for the food i decided to bring different stuff the last time. I didnt want to take off my gloves to cut vegetables anymore and had to wash the dishes. Thats why i brought a lot of turmat meals which are made only by putting water in it. It worked really good and i even would have had enough food for one more day. On the skitrips i realised that we were a lot faster then on the other trips. Some of us did a really huge progress compared to the recent trips. Also in packing, putting up the tents and digging the caves. At first we needed about 8 hours to dig our caves while on the last day we managed this way faster. Also in navigating, we were much more experienced then before. It was easier and faster to find out our coordinates and our travel routes. But still it was markable that a lot of us where outside their comfortzone and of course not that relaxed while the stay in the snow. But from time to time the mood gets really good and it seemed that most of us really enjoyed the stay outside! At the end we experienced a nice moment. When we saw other humans then us for the first time after a week again it was quite weird und unusual for us. Quite a nice end on our stay in hovden. At the end i can definitely say it was the best trip so far in this semester!
Evje – Week 8
The goal on this trip was testing the equipment and train the sleeping and staying in cold winter days in the nature. Because of my small backpack i could only bring the most important things that i would need during the 3 days in the nature. I definitely packed better and most of all less then last time. At the beginning we looked for a suitable place to put up our group tents. Without a plan we decited to put it up next to the others. After the stay we realised that we should have placed it next to some trees because then it would be better to put up our tarps. So i realised that its quite important to take a good and suitable place, and you have to consider several things for that. In the beginning it was strange for me that our class is completely alone without a teacher on this trip. Would never be possible in Germany. We were staying together with the norwegians in 8 man groups during the stay. Some of the norwegians had a really good knowledge which was good because the could teach us some usefull things. But i also realised that a lot of them were quite unexperienced and had even worse equipment then us internationals. During the day i felt comfortable while skiing and also resting. Later in the evening i felt that i got cold while eating and sitting on the fire. I tried to move more, especially with an evening walk and some small runs. After that i was warmer again but after some minutes i was freezing again. For that reason i also bought a down jacket after this trip to feel warmer and more comfortable while resting. The dynamics in our group were really good. We shared our cooking and the jobs like putting up camp and so on. But i also realised maybe to late that some of the other groups were struggeling more then us. That was because some of them left earlier then us. I thing with better comunication we could have overcome these problems and challenges better. I thing it was a really good test for the group and we could experience that its not that easy to stay in the nature for 3 consecutive nights.
Hovden – Week 6
First Winter trip of my outdoor studies so far. I was really excited for the week in hovden. Especially because i am really into skiing, so of course the week in hovden would be interesting for me. I was really happy that we were staying in cabins this time beacause i have not that much experience in sleeping outdoors in winter time. Anyways its nice to rest in a warm place after an exhausting day on skis. It was my first time on the so called crosscountry skis. A mixture between downhill and backcountry skis. At first it was quite unfamiliar and not that easy to handle. Especially that the shoes could move in all directions, not like normal downhill skis, they are more stable. Thats why i fell several times at the beginning. But i realised that i had more experience in skiing in gerneral then most of the others, so i needed not that much time to feel comfortable on these. I also realised that a some students were really motivated to learn skiing while some were frustrated and didnt even try to succeed. But in General the group was motivated and in good mood. I really like the way of Thomas and Signes teaching. It was just like «learning by burning» so less instructions and more freedom to try the new skis. I will defenitely keep this kind of method in my head for my future pupils. After some days of practicing some mastered the skis quite well while some struggeled a lot. At the end i also realised that i packed too much things that i didnt even use. But more or less a really successful week!
Skrrrr Skrrr!
Griaß eich at home.uia.no.