Norway

My Halloween was gnarly, bodacious, and hella dope…

While all of my brahs back home were getting dressed in their [totally family appropriate] halloween costumes I was squeezing into a full body wetsuit. And when my broskis were heading out to radical college frat parties, throwing back brews, I was learning to catch my first wave. As appealing as it is to party with those frat dodes and nardudes, I am totally happy with my majorly mando halloween happenings.

Perhaps it is my swimming or yoga experience that helped me get a’hang of surfing. I don’t know if I ever totally iced a wave but I managed to feel like a true dundee. Everything was so quantum I barely even noticed how frigid it was. My over-enthusiam did cause me to hype-out every once in a while. I don’t know if many of the waves were juicy, in fact I think our time at Hoddevik was more of a jones sesh. But as a beginner I still had a mad time surfing these mushburgers. When we weren’t out riding the curls we were back cruisin’ in the beach-house. The house had a totally steller atmosphere– full of typical brodies from all different countries.

On our second day we were faced with a major bummer. The waves were hella heavy and too gnarly for us squids to surf. Despite being unable to try charging these righteous waves, I still had a cherry time.

Peace out for now three-baggers, and remember… hang loose.

P.S. If you feel so inclined… http://rippinh2o.com/dropzone/surflingo.shtml

It’s raining, it’s pouring, and someone is snoring…KOKER LAG TUR!

This week I went on a trip with the other three members of my cooking team– Marte, Pernille, and Jonas. We planned this trip ourselves, so there was a high possibility of disaster. Thankfully, this three day tour was disaster free.

Our first day began at 10:30am, when we were dropped off at an area called Fitjedalen. For the start of the hike we were accompanied by a cooking group from Ski and Surf. After walking in the rain and through the mud, we arrived at Traudalsvatnet which is where parted ways with the other group.

Just 30 minutes through the forest, we arrived at our first night’s destination, Ramnestadstøylen. By that time it had been raining steady for a substantial amount of time. Before leaving for the trip, we had been given instructions. We were to set up camp at least 150 meters away from any cabins, and we were definitely not, ever, supposed to go inside of a cabin. We might have fudged that 150 meter rule. But we certainly did not break in (by break in I mean walk in through the unlocked door,) to a cabin. That would just be too naughty of us.

We woke up the next morning to find ourselves laying in a soaked tent. The wind and rain had been so strong all night there wasn’t a dry spot to find. The best surprise: puddles in our shoes. With plastic bags on our feet we began our trek towards Støylsvatnet. We took a detour to a historical cave, Russehola. Feel free to read the description in the photo below. With just an hour left of our hike, it began to rain hard once again. Anything that had dried over the course of the day became saturated once again. We arrived at our destination, (and I use that word loosely, because it was more of just a point on the map,) with plenty of daylight left. Once again, we may have chosen to ignore the 150 meter rule in order to avoid setting up our tent in marshland. After cooking Jonas’s excellently red-wine marinated steak, we hurried into our tent to escape the persistent rain. Since we found ourselves in our sleeping bags at only 6:00, we ate cold s’mores and chatted. The night’s question was “What are your roots, who are you, and where are you going?” You can just imagine how much I loved answering those questions.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of rain hitting the tent, accompanied by my cooking group singing me Happy Birthday! After hiking down to the sea and over to Kviteneset, we picked up some kayaks and began our trip back to Nordfjord. Luckily, there was no rain nor fog, so we found our way through the fjord and back to school easily. Although if you ask my biceps, they might not agree that it was such an easy trip.

Overall, this was a great trip with three great people! Although there was way too much water, the wetness was way worth it. Go AKT11!

Happy Birthday to me, Gratulerer Med Dagen til meg!

Thank you to everyone who made my birthday wonderful! Kayaking through the fjord with my cooking group was a great way start to the day. My day continued to get better as I was surrounded by people who are so great to me. Although we may be in three different countries and two different states, Google Hangout made it possible for me to talk to my sister, dad, mom, brother, and grandparents. My night was topped off by an awesome taco party filled with cake, confetti and candy. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my 19th birthday. Tusen takk!