The last week of May was simultaneously our last week together with our whole course. We went to østre Randøya with the Norwegian outdoor students to spend our very last trip of the semester on that island. We slept in old military barracks with a big mess as common room. The island was pretty much wooded and hilly with a great view to the south to the open sea. On the way there we passed Skippergada, where we saw the old school building and the former post station. All houses on the islands had been built in a beautiful look.

On monday afternoon, our first group activity was „large boats“ with Kjetil. Before we put the boat out to sea we had some theoretical introductions in how to handle a motorised boat and spoke about some general important rules of sea navigation. On our way around vestre Randøya and Kalvøya to Grønningen lighthouse, we switched the groups that had to steer and navigate the boat. The steering and the navigation worked very good and after some minutes fishing, we went back to our camp.

After our first night on Randøya, our next activity on tuesday morning was Rowing with Svein. Before we started with the basic rowing techniques, we planned where we would like to go. Some boats had a few problems at the beginning, but after some minutes all were able to row a steady pace. As we stopped in a small bay, Svein showed us two knots to tie down boats, which we practiced for the next 10 minutes.  The last 200 metres across the bay we had to row against the wind what was a nice challenge.

On tuesday afternoon and wednesday morning, we went out for kayaking with Len. In the first session we paddled around vestre Randøya, after some basic techiques in Skippergada. I led the group for a while down the west side of vestre Randøya before the other group members led us back to our camp. The pace was okay, even if the girls sometimes gossiped so much that they forgot to paddle properly. In the second session we had been planning to go around østre Randøya, but as we arrived at the end of Skippergada and turned eastwards, we had to accept that the wind was too strong. The whole group decided commonly to turn around. So we paddled back to Skippergada where we enjoyed the sun a while. To end the session with more excitement, Len told me to lead the group out into the open sea at the south end of østre Randøya. Unfortunately the wind increased exactly in the moment when we arrived there. Kayaking in the „big“ waves turned out to be to difficult for some of our group, so we turned around. It was interesting to see how a minor part of the group started panicking. Unfortunately Adrian paddled straight on a rock and lost his paddle. But Len was close enough to help him and give him a new paddle. Suddenly I recognised that two of the girls had drifted westwards close to an island. I raced there to help them to turn around. Everything went well and we came back to our camp without one capsize.

After a long lunchbreak we went to a bay with shallow water for our „shallow water biology“ activity with Svein. We collected mussels, algae, snails and other aquatics. After we collected lots of different species, we specified them with the help of a chart and talked about which algae and mussels are okay to eat. We took all the oysters and sea mussels back to the mess and cooked them later that night. I never thought that mussels are so tasty!!

Unfortunately thursday morning started pretty bad for me as I became ill overnight. I walked with the others to the bay for the deep water biology lecture, but I did not go into the water that day. Neverthless I was not bored at all. It was very interesting to observe how the different individuals acted while snorkeling around the bay. Some were really relaxed and just floated in the water while some of the other group members were not that relaxed. Like the day before, after everyone was out of the water, we specified all the different algae and aquatics we found.

In the last night it was our turn to survive one night on Krakerøya with just our daypack. We were very lucky with the weather as it was around 20 degrees and almost no wind. We arrived there in the afternoon and divided the tasks. The girls stayed on the island for preparing a nice camp while the other guys and I rowed to another island to collect firewood. We came back with both rowing boats full of wood. After we had unloaded the boats, it was time to cast the fishing nets. We also took advantage of the opportunity to be out on the sea to fish a while with our hand fishing equipment. We fished three mackerels for dinner. Before we gutted them and prepared them on the fire, we continued fishing from the shore. In the end we had about 12-14 fishes besides the carrots, cookies and the stock for dinner. The taste was phenomenal. We really enjoyed the time on the island. To kill the time, we walked around, watched the sunset and just sat around the fire. I went to bed after midnight and was able to sleep four hours, until it got bright and the wind direction turned and my sleeping spot was not sheltered anymore. As the others kept the fire burning the whole night, I joined them sitting around the campfire. To warm up, I went for a hike with Adrian where we collected some more firewood. The rest of the morning we had been just relaxing and talking before we collected the nets and rowed back to our camp.

Last activity of the week was the „catch of the day“. We cleaned the nets and Kjetil showed us different ways to fillet a fish. Now it was our task to fillet the remaining fishes and prepare a fish soup and fish & chips. The delicious lunch was a perfect ending for this amazing week.

I think the best way to describe this trip is with my feeling I had when I arrived in Kristiansand. I felt like I just came home from my summer holidays. Happy and with a light sunburn on my face.  It was a little bit pity that this trip was in the end of the semester, because it was the first trip where we really gotten to known the norwegian outdoor students. But beside that, the whole trip was just perfect. I had so much fun and I have learnt many new things at the different activities.