I went hiking first and then did laundry, but I will talk about launndry first, because it will be shorter than when I talk about hiking.
So laundry was interesting because their machine is all in Norwegian, so I had a hard time figuring out how to work it. Luckily, I met a new friend today at the hiking trip; her name is Anita. She explained how to work it, and what each setting meant. She also pointed out that I had baught fabric softener, not detergent. I was sad that I couldn't even figure out laundry detergent, but she was nice enough to let have have some of her detergent. That should last me until I am able to buy some detergent of my own.
Now, on with the hiking!
I woke up early to get ready for the hiking trip becaus I was so excited! I packed a sandwich, drinks and my heavy jacket, just in case. Initially, I was worried about getting my feet wet, so I wanted to take my rain boots. However, Genevieve assured me that my tennis shoes were ok, and that rain boots would make the hiking a lot harder because they will not be sturdy enough on the ground.
I arrived at the meeting location a bit late, but that was ok because they were will waiting for a few people. Not many of my new friends made it on the trip, but I still had a blast with new people that I met. On this trip, I became friends with mainly Anita, although I had met a few others (I can't remember their names, sorry). The hike was AMAZING! I'm not sure how to describe it or where to start, but I just want to put it out there: hiking is an amazing experience and if anyone has the oportunity, go hiking! Even though it is wet, and you're in the woods, but it's totally worth it when you reach a cool destination, and you are able to see all sorts of plants and beautiful scenery. Along the way, there were so many blueberry bushes! I couldn't believe it! You could basically have a blueberry snack as you go for the most part. And the bushes covered a vast amount of the ground. After walking for a while, our first stop was at a cabin-like place with a balcony and some pic nic tables for public use. We rested there and replenished our bodies. From this location, I was pretty high up and I could see around the area, with blue skies and pure white clouds. It was breathtaking! I took pictures, of course. So here are pictures of the trip up until this point:
The adventure begins!
Cow dung!
Crazy (cool) walking surface
Picking blueberries. So fresh, so good!
Recooperating from Hiking Part A
Beautiful scenery from above
Yup, I was there.
Genevieve and I having a blast!
Sara and I
I saw mushrooms, flowers, and trees scenery that I thought were cool so, of course, I was very picture happy. I pretty much snapped a picture every chance I got between the uneven paths. The trail that we were on is marked by blue pieces of rectangular wood, and there were also plastic sheets of white with a logo on there to mark so a competition/race that was going on. It was pretty cool. We were sure to never get lost because we always knew that we were on the same path we started with. There were also little creeks/water paths with mini waterfalls along the way, and yes, you guessed it, I took pictures.
Cute mushroom
Pretty
Single file hiking
Cool trees
More hiking
Follow the blue on the trail!
More markings along the trail so everyone knows where they are.
Blueberries as far as you can see
Miniature lake
Miniature waterfall
After a while longer, we reached a second place to rest. Two interesting things happened at this stop: using toilete and drinking natural water. First, the people who led us showed us a little water path that had safe drinking water, so each of us tried it. It was a bit brownish-pale, like tea, but it tasted nothing like tea. However, it didn't taste bad either; it tasted fresher and better than the tap water, but I still couldn't get over the fact that I drank water right on a path and it was clean and really good. After that I asked to use the toilet, just to see what it was like. And surprisingly (but not really), the toilets were really clean and did not smell. There was a little shak/shed-sized cabin with two toilet stalls. The seat and cover was made of strong styrofoam. It was very clean and I was very impressed. You guessed it, I have pictures:
Anita and I
Getting clean drinkable water from that little stream
The toilet shak
Norwegian Port-a-Potty (a toilet stall in the little toilet shak)
The rest of the trip was really cool. I saw really cool looking and huge mushrooms. Also, at this point, I stopped caring that I shoes and feet were wet and soggy and became very comfortable with walking on uneven surface. And just when I thought that I had survived the day of hiking without falling, I fell. I thought I had avoided, for once, some random moment of clumsiness, but no, I fell. It wasn't a bad fall; in fact, I fell on a very soft area of thick and soft grass and bushes. It didn't hurt at all, but it was kind of wet. I have to say, that was a pretty funny moment. I wasn't even embarassed. Then eventually, we reached the main dirt road that led to the cars and we went home. The hike came to a conclusion and I had an amazing day. It was so exciting and I felt so... I'm not sure, but it was such a natural and fresh feeling.
Huge mushroom. It reminded me of the story when all the little critters took shelter under one small mushroom during a big rain.
More blueberry bushes as far as the eye can see.
Throughout the hike, I talked with a few people and had some really interesting conversations. Sara (one of the liasons) and I were talking about berries (blueberries to be exact) and ended up talking about pancakes, and she said that Norwegians eat that as a real meal. They would only eat it with jam, however, and not with syrup; that is an American thing, as well as eating it for breakfast. She also said that Norwegians don't eat waffles for breakfast, but as a desert/pastry to compliment coffee. I had many more interesting conversations with other people as well. One interesting thing I learned from Anita was that here in Norway, students can enroll in what is called a Folke Skole (or something like that; it translates to People School). It's basically a school where people don't learn the typical way with class and exams. Instead, they go on trips, go camping & hiking and do other life skill stuff while meeting lots of people. She says that some people think that this is a waste of money, but others find it very valuable. I found this very interesting. Also, Anita isn't from Hamar originally, so we decided that she will also be my exploring buddy and we will explore Hamar and the places around Hamar together.
All in all, today was very fulfilling day. I can't wait for the next hiking trip!
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