It was a cold and rainy day in already quite well known area –  Jegersberg. There is no point in describing it once again but since the last time we were here the snow had melted down and there were only ice left on the ground, so we had to be really careful not to slip on it.

I don’t remember now who took the main role of a veileader this day, but basically this “Monday” trip (this was actually Wednesday) didn’t had one leading character – most Norwegian students were involved in planning and preparing this field trip.

Today’s challenge was map and compass navigation. Norwegian students set out some points in the area that we would have to navigate to and complete the tasks that were in these points: e.g. jumping one leg all the way back; doing quizzes and searching for the “right” destination.

As for a person with a photographic memory – navigation in an already known area was a child’s play, the only enemy here was a poor preparation for the weather if you didn’t had waterproofs on, you would get soaked and cold in half an hour (that is why one team decided to go home early). My team navigated through Jegersberg smoothly except for the last point which was placed in a wrong place – it was about hundred meters away from the spot marked on the map (the “secret officer” in our group did not admit that he placed the point in a wrong place…) 🙂 Every team had a one or two such secret Norwegian “officers” who made sure we wouldn’t cheat.

My team finished the track first and had to wait half an hour til everyone showed up. During this period most of my team members left for home because it was freezing to stand there in the rain and wind, so there were only me and Jolinda waiting for our prize. And that was a sweet prize – two bags with a collection of chocolate. We shared these candies with all the students that were here til the end.

Before heading home Norwegian students asked for some feedback about this field trip. In my opinion it was a great experience and I enjoyed this kind of weather, because it allowed me to test out my gear and myself. Sven pointed out that an idea of going down the trails using only one leg was quite a risky and I totally agreed with him, you could easily have slipped. Not to mention, my knees needed a whole week to recover after sacrificing myself and putting effort to do the jumping down task we were asked to do.

After I got home I took out all these wet clothes and took a long hot shower…  It’s just so great to get out of our comfort zone once in a while… We did a great job today. 😉