„Gipsies have arrived“ I thought when a huge pack of friluftsliv students (local and international) got off the bus from Kristiansand in Oslo. I hate to admit but I just followed whoever led us, because I trusted that Norwegians knew the way.  Few circles in central station and  we found ourselves in a bus going til Fram museum. To be honest I didn’t knew what Fram was so I was really excited to see a ship which was used for polar expeditions. What a great museum, at first I was frightened by all the information that was there, but patient reading let me have a little glimpse at the expeditions carried out by brave men of the past century.

I always confused Nansen and Amundsen.  I wasn’t sure which of them went to the South Pole and which tried to reach the North Pole. It’s pretty amazing to take a closer look at these adventures (if we might call it that way… these were no fairy tales). These men were away from their families, comforts and without any guarantees of success. And all of that was for purpose of exploring the unknown, maybe to explore their selves, I would presume. Sounds pretty epic, doesn’t it? I think reality was a bit different than I could imagine, but in the end of this visit I felt like I started understood these men. I could have imagine myself among these men, away from boring daily life…

Later that day we went to Holmenkolen – the famous ski jump. We set our own camp in the area near the stadium along with thousands of Norwegians – devoted fans of winter sports.

50k cross country ski race took place there. We observed as these remarkable athletes fought this distance through a very challenging terrain. We took a visit to Holmenkollen ski jump when even more extraordinary men and women jumped from this crazy structure! While there I was wondering how much practice and time it would take me to attempt such a stunt. I knew that you didn’t need to be a superman to dare such a mad sport. Desensitization is the key in my opinion.

Full of this unique aura we had to go back home once again – five hours on a bus with some dude sleeping on my shoulder… Awkward.