Happy new year to all; January has come round quickly and I seem to have brought the snow with me!! This edition’s article is going to recap everything that happened over the last few weeks of November and December.

Friday November 21^st

Tonight the international students visited the Olympic Park in Lillehammer. We began with the Bobsleigh, six of us sat in a bob raft which looked like a rectangle bath tub made out of a crash matt! It didn’t look like it would travel fast but it felt like being on a roller coaster and you could feel the G forces pushing you downwards. It is definitely an experience worth trying. After we split into two teams and competed in archery, paint balling, team tasks and a maze and after had a bon fire inside a tipi; it was a very competitive evening!

Saturday November 22^nd

I took the train to Oslo to meet my brother; Andy and his friend lee, we spent the day catching up and looking around the city. In the evening we met up with some friends from Lillehammer had dinner and went to some bars.

Sunday November 23^rd

Travelled to Gothenburg city the second largest city in Sweden. We went to a theme park called Liseberg.  In the winter only a few attractions are open and the park is transformed into a Christmas Market, with a giant light show and ice rink. We tried several times to win a 2kg Toblerone but failed!

Tuesday November 24^th

Returned to Oslo yesterday and flew to Tromsø early this morning. Tromsø is situated in northern Norway in the Arctic Circle and daylight hours were only between eleven and half past one at this time.  This was very strange to get used to even though I am already used to a shorter day!  Today we walked around the island and relaxed to be fully prepared for Wednesday’s activities.

Wednesday November 25th

Today we went on an adventure package trip, leaving around nine and drove into the mountains. Firstly we went on skidoos; it was a bit like driving a jet ski. It felt very surreal driving into the mountains; all day we had heavy snow and due to this it was hard to distinguish the sky and the floor! It was very exciting just to hear the roar of the engine in otherwise complete silence. It also took a lot of physical effort to lean and keep the skidoo balanced and upright, if you fell off by tipping over to the side you needed someone else to come and pull the skidoo off you!

We had a short break and ate a meal with reindeer meat, before realising we were going to see the reindeers next and felt a bit cruel! The reindeer were lead by a man of the Sami culture. He was dressed in traditional Sami clothes made out of reindeer