Kattateateret + Skiing Hemsedal

March 05, 2018

Kattateateret + Skiing Hemsedal

As I sit on the train writing this, looking out over towering mountains, snow-covered rivers, and little red farmhouses, I can't help but think about how incredibly lucky I am. There are so few people in the world that get to have these types of experiences and fewer still that get to have them with such amazing people. Several days these past weeks on the way back from school or wherever I may have been, I looked around me, not completely convinced this was actually happening. I am literally living a dream I've had for several years now, and I'm scared I'm not appreciating or taking advantage of it enough. If only you all could see what I'm looking at now... The camera will never do it justice.

This week was a continuation of the craziness that the end of winter (tell that to the weather) has become. Monday through Wednesday were looooong days. I had normal school during the day which was exhausting in and of itself after a tiring "vacation" the week before, and then theater stuff after. On Tuesday I was at school from 8:15 am to 9:15 pm. Gym the next morning was a bit of a struggle to say the least. My job with the theater was with the makeup group again, although I ended up doing mostly hair!!! Not at all a problem for me; if you don't know, I love doing hair. The only real hair job was curling two of the actors hair because they were supposed to be the same person as another actor who has really curly hair. I think my biggest accomplishment is managing to curl the boy's hair in a way that looked kind of natural!! He has a lot of hair and it took quite a while to curl, so I was pretty impressed with his patience, haha.

Part of the reason I was at school so long on Tuesday was to see the play! Throughout the weeks I had heard and seen little bits of the show, but technically wasn't allowed to be in the area while they were doing run-throughs so I was really excited to see what all the hard work had been for! I'm lucky enough to live in a place in the US with a really great arts scene and friends who do theater, so I've seen some really impressive teen acting. This show was right up with there with the best. The whole production is student-made, with the exception of one adult director. You would never know watching it though. Eight incredibly talented actors and six multi-instrumental musicians plus student-run lighting and sound and costumes and makeup came together to create something hilarious and beautiful that made you think about the political world as well (it's Katta, what do you expect?).

Thursday was the first day I was at home for dinner or really at all in the afternoon in a really long time. I can't describe how good it felt to lie in my bed for half an hour without anything I had to be doing for the moment. That being said, I did have things to do, one of them being pack!! I'm the kind of person that loves to pack to go somewhere but hates packing to go home or unpacking when I get back. This time I was packing for something that I was really excited about (not that I'm usually unexcited about going somewhere). I was going to go downhill skiing for the first time in Norway!! Some random history about me: I've been skiing since I was two or three years old, and used to really enjoy it. A few unfortunate falls and about twelve years later and I had lost a lot of my interest in skiing. At that point we were still going skiing most weekends and I was NOT into it, but when we stopped skiing so often, I began to miss it. Last year during February vacation we went skiing out in Utah and I fell in love with it again. I decided not to take my ski stuff with me to Norway with my mostly because it was a bit of a logistical nightmare, but I did kind of regret not being able to just up and go skiing with my host mom at the mountain close to where we live. When I got an email from YFU volunteers about a ski trip to one of the best-known ski mountains in Norway, Hemsedal, I reeeaaallllyyyy wanted to go. So I figured out a way to rent skis (Norway is so cool in that there are ways to rent outdoor equipment for free if you're under 18) and bought my train tickets.

On Friday, I got up a little earlier than normal and trekked my way to school with all my ski stuff. I looked a bit ridiculous, but if nothing else, incredibly Norwegian. After my classes ended, I made my way to Oslo Central Station. It was not a fun trip, to put it that way, but finally I was there with the other students and after a little bit we got on the train. The train ride itself was a little under three hours and it was light enough for most of it to be able to see a good amount, but the weather was a little cloudy and I didn't realize quite how beautiful it was until now on the way back.

When we got into Gol, we walked to the bus station and took a bus to Hemsedal. There was a little confusion over the place we were staying, and all fourteen of us ended up sitting in a restaurant, and eventually eating dinner, at a place called Hemsedal Cafe. That place deserves a prize for their kind staff and patience with everything. A few hours later, we made it to where we would be staying which was a huge room in the library/religious building. I've always wanted to sleep over in a school, and this was as close as I've gotten so far. We all went to bed not too long after to get some rest before skiing the next day.

I woke up a bit earlier than I would have liked on Saturday, but used that as a reason to get ready and out as early as possible. There was a little more confusion but by about 10 am, I was out skiing and it felt really good! I spend most of the day skiing with my Finnish friend Kiia, who happens to be lucky enough to also live in Hemsedal. She showed me all the best trails and we went to all three peaks on the mountain to find the best views of Hemsedal and the incredible mountains surrounding it. On one side of the mountain it's like a moon landscape, completely white mountains above the tree line that don't have very deep valleys between them. On the other is the contoured valley of Hemsedal (dal means valley) and the quickly-rising mountains beyond that. It was one of the most incredible views I've ever seen. Good views are possibly my favorite thing in life. THIS was why I came to Norway.

After a full day of skiing, including a trail that goes from the top of one of the peaks down to the town center, we all went to a pizza place for dinner and then back to our house thing where we played some games like the Norwegian version of Cards Against Humanity (a good way to learn some vocab) and hung out. I was exhausted and was, as usual, one of the first people to fall asleep but it was about the best sleep you can get with a towel as a pillow.

This morning was just chilling and packing up before we went back to Gol to take the train back to Oslo, which is what I'm doing as I'm writing this. I apologize for such a long blog post, but there was quite a bit to cover :) Look out for next week's post to hear about another ski trip!

Word of the Post:

Å stå på ski = to ski

I wish the camera did the view more justice, but this is the best I could get!