Round Two

‘You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.’ -Richard Branson

Well, I’ve been back in Bø for about a week and a half now and I am already feeling restless and ready to take another trip, but have to wait for all of my class schedules before I can make any definite plans. So here I sit and wait for at least another weekend. And what to do in the meantime, well why not ski?

I am taking only four classes this semester- Norwegian (still trying to learn some Norwegian language), Telemark Regional Identity II (more about the culture in this part of Norway), Tourism and the Environment (pretty self-explanatory by the title), and  Friluftsliv: Individuals, Environs and Society (SKIING!) For my Individuals class, we are focusing this semester on the popular Norwegian pastime- cross country skiing. I get my own set of skis for the entire semester and I plan on getting all the out of them I can. There are a few tracks right outside of the school, so about a 5 minute walk from my door. Eventually they will even light up a couple of the trails so we can go skiing later in the afternoon/evening. In the past five days- I’ve gone skiing four times, and although I still fall- I’m getting better. Anyways my professor says you are not learning anything new unless you are falling and getting out of your comfort zone. There is a 4k loop I’ve done the past couple of days, and a new friend and I are working our way up to do a 20k hopefully on a weekend pretty soon. For our skis, we did have to purchase some wax and cork. The wax is used on the bottom of the ski to help you get up mountains/hills and the cork is just used to spread it in. I was surprised at how carefully and particularly my professor described the type of wax we needed to get, until I actually got to Intersport- the sports store. There seriously were shelves full of different kinds of wax. In fact my professor joked with us that it is through the different ski waxes that Norwegian children learn their colors. But I’m really looking forward to learning how to ski better and pursuing this new hobby.

Quick note about the new international students here in Bø. We have around 30 new international students here with about 10 or so staying from last semester, so compared to the 70 international students we had last semester, it feels very empty here. There are 6 new students from the States (N. Dakota, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota) and 2 from Canada, and then a few from the Czech, Latvia, Lithuania and a few other places. But I am very happy because lots of the new students from North America want to travel- so looks like I’ve found some new travel partners! Now, it’s just time to start planning! And another plus- the sun is rising at 9.04 tomorrow and not setting until 16.03- we are so close to 7 full hours of sunlight!! I have waited so long for this :)

Sending my love back home to you all!