The planning of the self-organised trip was somewhat chaotic as it seemed to be impossible to form the groups. After we managed to get a group together it was hard to agree about the destination. We were a group of 6 and to travel outside of Agder would have been too expensive as everyone could not fit into the car. After a lot of discussion and we agreed to go skiing near Langeid. Planning the route was also tricky as everyone had their own saying, but we finally agreed on a route where we would be camping relatively near dnt huts. Each day the skiing would be between 6 to 12 kilometres, so we were not going to do too much. The weather forecast for the area was quite good, except for the last two days when it was meant to be snowing.

First day of the trip we set off about 1.5 hours later than planned but we were not worried as the first day was the shortest distance planned. Within the first 10 minutes I realised it is going to take us a while to get to the camping place as the first 2km was mostly climbing up. With our heavy rucksacks some of us were really struggling but with taking breaks regularly we all managed to get to the top and to the start of the skiing track. There was no marked route but a snow mobile track we could follow, and it helped as it was easier to ski on than the powder. It was sunny when we started skiing and we did not need to worry about navigation too much as the visibility was good. Around 5pm the weather came in and it started snowing. I was doing the navigation and even though I have got experience I was getting unsure as it the visibility dropped so suddenly. We were moving very slowly, and I started to think we won’t reach the place we had planned to camp and therefore we started looking for a place about 2km from the first dnt hut. We found a nice place next to a river and after building the camp everyone went to bed quite early.

The second day the weather was beautiful. We tried to get going as fast as possible but packing everything took a while. We skied the remaining way to the dnt hut and decided to dry our stuff in the sunshine. As we had a late start for the day, we decided to stay the second night near this hut instead of trying to make it further according to the plan. After playing around with the skis in front of the hut for an hour, we decided to start looking for a suitable place to camp. Me, Melanie and Ed went to check the eastern slope and Liam and Leo went to west. The slope we were on was quite steep, but we managed to find a few suitable spots, but none of us were really happy with them. The snow was also deep and starting to melt from the bottom revealing burns and holes. Luckily the others found a better place. After setting the camp and having tea we started to talk about the next days route. We decided it was not a good idea to try to make it to the other hut as there were many hills around where we were camping. We decided to go on top of one of them the next day.

The third day we had a really slow morning, Luca and Melanie decided they wanted to stay in the hut the next night, so they took all of their stuff there. I spilled my water bottle inside my sleeping bag, so I had to take it to dry in the hut as well. We had bit of a disagreement with the route as we were trying to avoid all the north-east slopes due to avalanche risk, but a route some had had in mind would include a north-eastern slope. We finally agreed on a route everyone thought safe and set off. The day was really mild and quite misty, which made navigating challenging. It was good fun to plan the route amongst the trees and make it to the top. The hill was quite steep at places but we all made it to the top and had a nice view. The way down was awesome but it was difficult to keep the group together as everyone picked their own way down the slope. We were all soaking wet at the end of the day and went to warm up at the hut. After checking the weather for the next two days we decided to head back a day earlier as we could not do much else from that camp. We all stayed in the hut for the last night and had a really nice evening of playing cards and telling stories. We decided to get up early the next day to make sure we would be back for the last bus.

The fourth day we set off at 9am. The morning was beautiful but you could see a weather front approaching. The way that had took us 6 hours the first day now took us about 1.5 hours as we wee going downhill mostly. Before going down to the road, we decided to ski bit more as we had time. We made our way up to a beallaich between two peaks and then skied down picking our way through the forest trying jumps and just having fun. The way down to the road went fast as we were skiing on the road instead of walking.

All in all, the trip turned out to be really great even if it did not go as planned. If I were to change something for the next trip I would probably say to set a time everyone needs to be ready for the mornings as the late starts meant we lost good skiing time.

The 4^th Monday trip was organised by the international students. The focus was on group dynamics and we were divided into groups of six randomly by using cut up pictures and people with pieces from the same photo were in a group together. I ended up in a group with only me and five Norwegians. Our task was to complete a list of different challenges called ‘the crazy 22’. We were doing them while hiking to our final location. It was nice to get to know more Norwegians and I was quite lucky to get in this group. The challenges we had were more focused of having fun than group dynamics, though group effort was needed to organise for example a flash mob or a dance. Part of the task was to take pictures and videos of all the challenges and send them to the organisers. We would be given points for all the tasks we completed, and they would count towards our final score. The winners would get a surprise price.

All the groups had to navigate their way to the final site by themselves. We were given a time limit of 1 hour. Our group started off well and we managed to do many of the challenges but as we were getting closer to the site, we started to lose interest. It seemed like the price itself was not good enough motivator, and as there was nobody else than our own group seeing our performance, we did not really try that hard. In future I would have fewer challenges to make sure participants stay focused. To have the groups perform some of the challenges for each other might also ensure they try their best.

After getting to the final location we were waiting for the others to arrive. The organising group told us to start a fire, so we were looking for firewood together. To my opinion it was a good way to fill in a gap between the activities and made sure the first ones did not get bored whilst waiting.

When everyone had arrived, each group had a team building exercise whilst the others were having lunch. The idea was to get to the goal as fast as you can whilst two from the team cannot walk, another two cannot speak and the last two are blind. We were given a minute before the timer started to discuss how we are going to accomplish the task. This exercise was really good as it forced us to think fast and work as a team. On the downside, the activity took a very short time and it would have been worth of having a few similar type of activities.

After the organising team had judged all the videos and photos and added extra points for the fastest team, they announced the winners. They also gathered us all together to discuss about the activities, which was great as they could get the feedback straight and know what worked and what did not. One common feedback was that everyone would have wanted to see what other teams had done for the ‘crazy 22’ challenges so all the pictures and videos were sent to the facebook group. The organisers had also planned a game of capturing the flag, but as we had the self-organised skiing trip coming, we decided as a group to skip that and focus on planning.

The Monday trip was well planned but to my opinion it was not really focused on group dynamics. This could be because we had just had many different types of team building games while camping in jegersberg and they wanted to try something different. With small changes the day would be really great for learning group dynamics.

We were tasked to group up with someone from the same nationality and run a team building exercise typical for your country. As there are no other Finns, me and Caroline from Denmark teamed up. We had one day to come up with an exercise and I decided to run a game of cops and robbers as that is a very popular game amongst school children in Finland. The game consists of two teams that should work together either to capture everyone from the other team and take them to the prison or avoid being caught and free everyone from your own team from the prison. A game of tag is not what I would usually have as a team building game. However, I was thinking that it would be great to have an active game as the weather was bit nippy, and most of the games people said they would organise did not involve that much moving.

The next day we arrived to the camping spot and before doing the activities we put up the camp. For the people who had not been camping much, this was good practise before any of our longer trips. We also built a group shelter and a fireplace under it. This required a bit of improvising as we did not have enough ropes. After the camp was set, we started with the activities. When it was my turn to run my activity I think I did not explain the rules clear enough. The cop team had 5 minutes to catch all the robbers, but instead of trying to free each other the robbers just scattered away and therefore lost. The rules were that if half of the robbers are in the prison when the time is up, they will lose. Instead of working as a team the robbers just tried to avoid being caught. After we switched the roles I limited the game area so the robbers cannot just disappear. I also explained the target of the robbers again and this round they tried to save each other from the prison, but they still did not have a good tactic and they all got caught one by one. In future when playing this game, I will set the area from the start and make sure everyone understands the aim of the game. After each game we gave feedback about it to each other. My game got critic for not being about team building. I agree to some level, but still think it was good to have an active game in-between inactive exercises.

The other activities we had were varying a lot from some that were really great, to others that were not really meeting the assignment. One good example is the ‘defusing the bomb’ game, where we had to fetch the rucksack from middle of a circle without dropping it and without going inside the circle by using ropes. This game was great because it allowed all of us to work together to find a solution. The game was also easy to variate, making it harder for us as some people were blindfolded and some people could not talk.

What I liked about the team building exercises was that we had lots of different type of games. Some of them involved the whole class, for some of them we were divided into smaller groups, and for some it was just working in pairs. With changing the groups and the sizes of the groups we had the chance to get to know each other better. For some people it is also easier to work in a smaller group as in a big group it is harder to introduce your ideas or get yourself heard.

After the activities we had a cooking competition. Len provided us with ingredients and each group had half an hour to make a delicious dish. This was also good practise for future camping trips. The rest of the evening it was raining, and we were all sitting under the tarp. The camping trip was great way to bring the group closer to each other as this was the first time we were all spending time together outside the classroom.

The third Monday trip organised by the Norwegians was about orienteering and navigation skills. We met at the same place next to uni as the week before. We divided the teams by lining up in order of how good we think we are at reading maps. Then we paired up so the strongest two international students went with the weakest two Norwegians and vice versa. Each team had two controls they had to find and take a picture to prove they had been there. The more creative the picture was, the more points you get, and the winning team would get a price. We also had to plan our route before setting off and draw it on the map.

I ranked myself quite high at reading maps, so I was together with less experienced Norwegians. The reason we were divided into groups like this was that more experienced people can teach map reading. I found this exercise good as it allowed me to think about the map reading more and make me think critically if I am at the right spot when questioned by my teammates. The difference compared to orienteering by myself was that instead of just being like ‘I am here’, I had to give reasons why we were at that point and I usually don’t have to think that. It was nice to teach the others and try to make them to see the contour lines and other features in the nature. One thing I found difficult was to motivate my team to go to the exact point of the control. The rest of them were not as passionate about completing the task as I was and didn’t seem to mind if we took the picture in a wrong spot. To me that was unimaginable, and I think that my teammates thought I am being too strict with the rules.

After the orienteering practise we had an exercise of following a compass bearing. We joined with another group and the exercise was to hide a small object on the ground and then give the bearing and the number of paces to the other group and they had to find the object. This exercise was hard since most of the people didn’t know how to pace and didn’t know how many paces they had for 100 metres. So if this activity was to be organised again I would suggest to let people count their pacing beforehand.

The last activity of the day was a quiz about map features. We were in groups and to be able to answer a question you had to run to a water bottle and if you were the first you could answer. The quiz was good as we were memorising the map features. The problem with it was that we didn’t have quite enough space for everyone, so it tend to be only the same people running to answer. Therefore, the game was not really inclusive, and we could have relocated to a better spot. The points gained from the quiz were added to the points got from the pictures and the group that had the most points won two bags of sweets.

All in all, the activities were good, and it was great to have this Monday trip right after our orienteering practice in class so everyone still remembered how to do it. Having the price was also a good motivator to get the teams working better together.

The second monday trip organised by the Norwegian Outdoor Education students was held next to the university. The focus of the day was in team building exercises and therefore we were divided in 4 teams. The first task was to build a shelter and a fireplace using a tarp and what we could find nearby. The teams were a mix of international and Norwegian students, and the idea was that the more experienced Norwegian students would instruct us on how to build it correctly. We were given 0.5 hr to build it and after that we would go through them all and judge everyone’s shelters. The best team would win a price.

My team started by searching a good spot for the tarp and once we done that, we started putting it up. Almost everyone had ideas how to put it up the best way, and I noticed that the loudest people got their way (including me). Our team wasn’t working that well together and everyone was doing their own thing as we didn’t discuss the plan beforehand and just started working. We managed to build the shelter and the fireplace in time, but we misunderstood the task and instead of building a shelter for a day, we made it for staying overnight.

Our shelter was the first one to be judged and the other teams gave us feedback of what they would’ve done differently and then gave us a grade between 1 and 10. Being the first ones to present our shelter, we got a lower grade than I would have thought we deserved. The competitive factor of the exercise resulted in downgrading the other teams. The way we judged the other shelters was by everyone shouting a number and then the organisers picked the one they heard the most. It was fun to evaluate the other shelters and point out their flaws but for some people it might have been slightly upsetting to be judged so harshly.

After all the shelters were graded, we were given 15 minutes to improve our shelters according to the feedback. The improved shelters were graded again and checked if we managed to perfect them. The second round we were judged last and after tightening our tarp we got a good grade. As all the shelters were decent the winner team was the one with most decorations. To my opinion this was not the best way to decide which one was the best shelter. It seemed like only one person from the organising team knew how to actually build a shelter and the rest of them were more or less just tagging along. This gave the impression that the activity was not really planned together.

After taking down the shelters we had a team building game. We were to build a tower consisting of all the stuff we had with us. We had a time limit of 10 minutes. All the teams had different approaches to the task. For example, our team rolled all the rucksacks inside the tarp, and whilst this created a high tower, it fell over before the evaluation, so we didn’t get any points.

While the day of building shelters was fun, the team building aspect was not really clear. If doing the same exercise again I would try to assign everyone roles from the start instead of just rushing into the task as this would spare time in a long run.

We went out for a hike with the Norwegian Outdoor Education students. They had planned the day so we didn’t have a clue where we were going beforehand. We only got instructions to dress for the weather and bring lunch. The hike was on the jegersberg area behind the uni. The plan was first to go up den omvendte båt, but when the norwegians heard that most of us had already been there they adapted their plan and we went up holmenkollen instead.

The main focus on this first trip was to get to know the norwegian students better. This proved to be tricky as on our way to holmenkollen most of them only spoke norwegian to each others. Once we got to the top and got the fire going we decided to introduce the rules we had discussed in class (such as only talking english) to the norwegians and they seemed to agree with them.Having common rules should create a better feeling of being one group between norwegian students and internationals. After this we played a game of ‘never have I ever’ with questions about hobbies, skills etc. and if you had done it you introduced yourself and talked a little about your experience regarding the question. At the end, in order to try and remember more names, we stood on a circle and everyone said their name on their turn and made a movement that everyone else copied. After this we walked back and this time it was much easier to talk to the norwegians as you could remember a few names and talk about similar hobbies.

This first trip showed me how important it is to break the ice at the start, and have the courage to talk to new people. I noticed that I should have been more active talking to other people as well. Even if I had only met the other international students a couple days before, it was so much easier to talk to them as I already knew something to strike a conversation about with any of them. In future if I am leading a group I will make sure to introduce myself and everyone in a group to each other already before the activity starts. This is to make myself more approachable and to help the group work together better.