The trip started at 0900 at Spicheren with a little walk to Jegersberg up to a lovely meadow area where the Norwegian students introduced themselves to us. After this we then played some warm up games as we would be on the skis for a while, this included an improvised stuck in the mud game and tig. They were very fun and did the job of increasing our heart rate to reduce the risk of injury.The warm up games were without poles to help improve balance and co-ordination, although this was very hard, there was lots of laughter and fun to make up for the embarrassment of falling over.

After the warm up games we played an improvised relay game, separated into four groups we had to do a short circuit around the meadow as fast as possible, going uphill slightly then into an area to throw oranges into a hole three times, of which if you missed then you had to do a penalty, then continue up a little steep ridge and then sprint, or ski very fast, to tag your teammate and so on. This was very fun but frustrating for me because I wasn’t doing as well as I wanted and I’m very competitive.

After playing the games for two hours or so, we made lunch over a fire, some of the Norwegians brought sandwiches to toast, while I made a cold packed lunch and some marshmallows. It was fun to talk to the Norwegians for the first time, finding out the different and sometimes the same ways our cultures intertwine.

It was obvious who the veileaders were because they put themselves in a good position to talk, they also made sure everyone understood what was going on regarding tasks and instructions. Personally, I felt very confident with these leaders because they were professional and made sure we were on task but also gave us the freedom to be as good as were physically able.

After lunch the rest of the group went for two different routes around the ski tracks, one 1km and the other 4km. Unfortunately, I didn’t join the groups because I didn’t feel confident enough at the time to take on such a hard route.