January flew by so fast, because it was already half a month after quarantine and February also seemed so short, because of all the trips. In february I did two trips: a cross country skiing trip and a self organised trip. For both of the trips I’m going to make a seperate blog post.
At the times I wasn’t on a trip we had most of the time theoretical lessons. 
We learned about group dynamics and coaching and leadership, but also about stuff that we can use during our trips this month or later, like avalanche, map and compass and snowhshelters. Last we also learned more about friluftsliv and public and health. I find all the theoretical lessons really interesting, because I learn more about things I also learned at home about, like group dynamics and leadership but also new things around the nature.
We didn’t do a lot of practical things this month, because we did most of the practical stuff during the trips. In the weeks before the trips we did beside the
theoretical lessons also some preparation for the trips, like getting our cross country skis and wax them properly and learn how to make a good expedition route card and which websites can help us with that. I also got a DNT membership, what’s pretty cool. DNT is an organisation that offer more than 500 cabins all over Norway. If you are a member, you can stay in there with a big discount. Most of the cabins you can also open with the same key, that you get if you become a member.
We also went for the first time to the swimming pool to get to know what was expected from us during the life saving test. This are the criteria, that we have to do in 4,5 minutes:
- Getting in the water without getting your head under the water
- 4 laps swimming with your head above the water
- diving down to a doll and getting the doll up
- 2 laps swimming with a drowning person (your partner)
- Getting a drowning person (your partner) out of the water and laying them in a safe position
It was nice to swim again, but I also know that I have to train for this test. So I did that a couple of times this month. I can do everything at this moment, but I have to work on my speed.
In the weekends I mostly rested out from the trips, worked for my bachelor thesis and did activities with my youth movement. I also celebrated carnival!
Weather update: A good cold temperature during the cross country skiing trip and a lot of good snow! After that it warmed up and all the snow started melting and we got days with a lot of rain and storms but also some sunny warm days. Weird that the snow is so soon gone.
COVID-19 update: More softenting of the rules. We can meet up with more people and have now complete on campus class. Yeah!
The week before the trip we got our cross country skis and waxed them properly. We had to scrape the old wax of the skis and then put new wax on them, by melting the wax on the skis with an iron and then we had to iron the wax in the skis. After that we had to scrape everything that was not penetrated in the skis off. The last scraping was a lot of work, because there was so much wax that we had to scrape off. It kept coming and coming!
with Elena. After that we went for the first time cross country skiing and learned the basics, like walking with you skis, going up, going down, make turns and so on. It was weird to walk with such a long skis on my feet and very different from downhill skiing. We were also divided in two groups, because we are otherwise with too many people. I was in the group with Tim as an instructor. He works at Trollaktiv. In the evening we learned about waxing and which wax we have to use with which temperature. During our whole trip we could use the same wax, because of the same temperature, so that was simple. The waxing we had to do every evening, which was fun to do all together with some music. It was very cozy!
because I fell a lot and couldn’t make a lot of speed. We were also a lot of times off piste in the deep snow. This made me feel frustated and angry at myself. I didn’t want that the group had to wait for me and I felt that I was the worst person in the group. In the middle of the day I felt bad and hurted my knee. This made that my techniques became even worse then before. We did an adventurous way uphill, where I struggled a lot. When I finally made it to the top of the hill with some help from other students I was exhausted. Tim came to check how we were, because we were a lot behind the group.
He told us that there was another hill and I told him honestly that my knee really made all the climbing difficult and that I was in pain. He made the decision to go back down, more to the starting place, where we could pratice a little bit technique and I could rest, when I needed so that I didn’t overload myself. He asked if this was okay for me and for the group. I was grateful that we went back down and was also grateful for my group. At this moment I’m also proud of myself that I could say that, but in that moment I really felt like a failure and still wanted to let the others and Tim see that I could practice some technique with them. Someone from the group came to me and said it was okay 
to rest now and that I didn’t need to prove anything. That made me rest more and made me feel better. I’m really glad of the group we had, because people tried to motivate me and support me during my struggle. In the evening we had a short lesson about gear for in your daybackpack and the first aid kit and repair kit. This was useful to know for the rest of the days. When I went to bed I just accepted that today wasn’t my day and went to sleep, hoping that tomorrow was going to be a better day.
reading, what we also practiced during the day. I was proud of myself that I could always say where we are after some thinking by paying attention to our route and the surroundings. In the beginning of the day I really focused on my technique. This time it was also easier to do that, because we stayed more on the tracks. After some time I got more the hang of it and I also could keep more up with the group. I used less energy and I fell less. My knees were also protected with socks around them, so I wouldn’t hurt them so badly anymore. It also helped me to start skiing in the beginning or the middle of the group and not the end. I was glad that it went better today. I also now could
more enjoy the nature and the people around me. There were some beautiful views and it was fun to get to know some people, where I didn’t really had a connection with before. In the evening we went skijumping and sliding. I went sliding down the small and big hill. That was fun, I was going so fast! Some others also skijumped, what was really cool to see. Two boys from our class even went from a higher jump, wow!
moment about Trollaktiv and what they do. We also got the possibility to do an intership there in the summer. Also this day was a good day, where I got better and better in most of the basic techniques of cross country skiing (classis, diagonal stride, kick-double-pole, side step, herringbone, snowplough, parallel turn and telemark turn). Even if we were most of the day in the deep snow. In the evening we had a ‘Celidh’, a fun night where every nationality did a typical song or game from their country. We had some dances, an old tv show and an acrobatic stunt. It was a really fun evening!
The last day we did something different. We made with everyone together a playground in the snow, with some hills, pits and jumps with our shovels. After a
short technique course we went to play on our selfmade playground with a rotation system. At the end of the day we did a race down the hill and after that we went back home together with the bus. It was a fun but exhausting week!