The Glacier Hike

So on Thursday the entire school headed off to some town (i cant remember the name) and we dropped our stuff off at a kindergarden and then began the 2 hour hike up the mountains to this beach like spot right by the huge waterfall that was the melted runoff of Norways 3rd largest glacier. There was a huge bay-like pool at the bottom and it was super clear and bright blue in the sun. Some people went "swimming" in the huge pool after the warm hike but by "swimming" i mean running into the water and back out to dry off and get dresses, i stood in the water to cool off as i forgot my swimsuit and was only able to stand for a minute or so as it was ice cold.

We made some campfires ad grilled some food and once everyone had had their fill, 10 or so of the people continued up the mountain with Steinar (the principal like person....they dont have principals) and the rest either headed back to the school or lazed about a bit before finally heading back. I was one of the few to go up to the glacier with my friend Tina. It was a very hard hike, especially after the 2 hour one getting there. It was all uphill with tons of rocks and super muddy and slippery. There were times when i saw the girl in front of me sink into the mud up to the top of her boots, as i was in tennis shoes i hopped about trying to avoid the mud at all costs. When we finally made to the glacier everyone was exhausted. Steinar told us some of the history of the glacier and we just sat admiring it. It was ice blue and quite immense with a huge waterfall flowing out from under it. Everyone began heading back and Tina and I hung back to take some pictures. We headed back down the mountain to find two guys (i feel bad but can't remember their names) crawling down off of an immense rock that had, presumably, fallen off of the mountain a long time ago. They said that if we were looking for good photo opts. then we had to go up there. Tina looked unsure but i scrambled up the rock and froze at the top. Layed out before me was the most gorgeous sight i had ever seen. It wasnt the glacier, it was where we were headed. Tina joined me and we both stared at this unreal beauty. In front of us, two huge mountains, covered in trees met, making a v-like opening. In front of the opening was the bright blue bay that people had swan in earlier and behind the v were more mountains in a faded light, looking almost like a painted backdrop for a movie set. We sat on the rock forever looking at the mountains and behind us at the glacier and even down at a valley type of place at the base of the rock that looked like the setting of a national geographic movie. Finally deciding it was getting late we headed back.

One the way there and back we had to pass through a couple of sheep pens. Some of the sheep were very happy to see us and followed along until we reached a gate, others (mainly the males) trued shooing us away but there were 80 of us and a few of them...we win. We slept in the gym of the kindergarden that night and headed back to the school the next day, stopping at an ancient mansion that had housed maney of Norways barons. We got a tour through that and then it was back to school. I fell asleep as soon as I got to my room, missing lunch and almost missing supper. That was one of the best trips I had ever taken.