Snowboarding Trip
Our second student organized field trip we decided to go skiing up in the Hovden area once again. This time some of the boys wanted to join as well. Jais, Daniel, Wytse, and myself all took a bus up to the Hovden area Thursday morning and then Moritz and Jannis drove all of our gear down in Moritz’s van. The first day we just skied around the local ski track area and worked on some ski technique, but mostly had a pretty good time. The boys are all pretty good skiers so we let them run ahead while Jais and I just told some pretty good stories and basically laughed the whole ski trip about different funny things. Jais and I always make each other laugh really hard for no reason, even when the stories aren’t that funny!
At the end of our “ski tour” we went back to the van and set up our tent. We decided two people could sleep in the van and the other four of us would sleep in the tent. The grocery store wasn’t too far away and the boys didn’t pack dinner so we went to the grocery store so they could get some food. Since this week was only a couple weeks before Easter break, our favorite chocolate bar KVIKK LUNSJ was on sale for only 18NOK at every kiwi, so needless to say we ate KVIKK LUNSJ a lot! We had a cute little campfire that evening and then it was time for bed.
The following day we went for another ski tour which was tiring but a lot of fun, and in the end we practiced some of the skills we had learned back in Evje. That evening we met up with Miriam and we rented a cabin together which was really small but still so cute. It came with four beds and a table that was made to seat 5 but we made it possible for it to seat 7 people. Once again the boys didn’t have food so we went to the store to pick up some food, then we came home and ate dinner together. After dinner everyone was pretty tired and excited for snowboarding the next day so we went to bed fairly early. In order to decide who got beds and who slept on the floor we put everyone’s name in a hat and we drew four names to see who would get to sleep in a bed that night. I wanted to sleep in Moritz van since I felt like that was a bucket list item, so we slept in there, which was pretty cozy.
All the snowboards and ski's at the Ski Center
Morning came and we all ate oatmeal together then hopped on the shuttle over to the ski center. I had never been to the ski center before so it was a little intimidating looking at all of the big hills and all of the really good skiers/ snowboarders. Moritz was nice enough to coach us on the magic carpet and give us little tips. When I first got on the snowboard it felt so weird just trying to stand on it, but I got a little more use to it each little run I did down the bunny slop. Since Norwegian kids are basically born on skis, Jais and I were in the middle of a bunch of little kids skiing around us on the hill. There were little kids about a year old with their parents teaching them how to ski, which was really cute. And in the middle of all the cute kids learning how to ski, there was Jais and I falling over again and again on the snowboards. Throughout the day the guys would come over and help us with our snowboarding technique which was really nice. Later that evening when we got back to the cabin my wrist were definitely sore from falling so much and catching myself. Everyone kept of telling me I was falling the wrong way, but it’s just a natural reflex to try and catch yourself when you fall but I guess I will work on it.
Moritz teaching basic skills to us
The next day came and my wrist still hurt really bad, needless to say I didn’t feel like snowboarding very much at all, and just to top it off I slipped on ice on the way to the shuttle bus and of course landed on my wrist which made it hurt even worse. Once we got to the ski resort the boys were still lecturing me how to fall correctly, and then wanted me to practice but I refused. So while I was standing and watching the ski hill, Moritz got on all four right behind me and Jannis came in front of me and tried to push me over so I could practice falling, but luckily I caught them and didn’t fall. Once again Jais and I were off to the bunny hill to practice but today we wanted to try the big hill. So the guys played rock, paper, scissors, to see who the lucky one would be to teach us how to snowboard down the big hill. Jannis lost and took Jais down the big hill as I practiced on the bunny hill with the little kids. It felt like forever until they came back, but once they were finally back we had a lunch break, which of course gave me time to be even more nervous about the big hill. Luckily my wrists had warmed up from falling on the bunny hill so they were not hurting as bad as before.
Last day of snowboarding!
Since it was so windy they closed the big ski lift so I had to take the lift that just hooks between your legs. Miriam helped me get up the lift, and it was successful on my second try. I think I was definitely doing it wrong because my quads were on fire at the end of the lift, I guess it wasn’t necessary to flex my quads the whole ride! Jannis took me down the hill the first time and he was a pretty good coach. He even took his snowboard off once to try and explain to me why I was falling so much. Once we were down with the first run, I was going to go and get Jais to let her go again, but Jannis was like “alright lets go again,” so we went again. This time I caught the lift on the first time with his help but at the top he told me to get off first and I did, and somehow I fell and of course took him down with me and let’s just say he got caught in the lift, so we were both on the ground while his legs were tangled in the lift and I was somehow caught around him, how I managed to put us in that situation I have no clue!
The bunny slop, where it all began
The second run down was a lot better and I even started to get the hang of things at the end which made me really happy. Jannis had to keep yelling at me “heel,” and
toe” for when I would try and turn because I would always forget which way to press my foot. I was pretty lucky to have him for a coach. At the end of the day some of us went back to make dinner while the rest continued to play at the resort for a little bit. Once we were all home together we made dinner, and started to pack our lunch for the following week as we had our Snow and Mountain Saftey trip the following week. At the end of the week I was happy to have a new experience under my belt and once again thankful for another successful trip.