Our class’ experience with the Food Studio Winter Wilderness Experience, and the Norwegian concept of friluftsliv (outdoor life) was certainly an interesting (and very snowy) one.
We left our hotel and met one of our hosts, Ingvar, at the train station. We took the T-Bane and walked into the woods to the camp he and our other hosts had set up for us. They had built a makeshift bench of sorts out of snow, with blankets and animal furs laid across the top, circling around a fire pit. A tepee was only a few feet away, with another fire pit inside. We helped to carry supplies in from the road where they had parked.
The three hosts taught us some tricks to get the fire started, and together we chopped wood into smaller pieces to feed the fire. Another group split off and figured out how to open vents on the top of the tepee, and lit another fire inside it. They distributed sandwiches with cheese, spinach, mushrooms, and mayonaisse to toast on a cast-iron griddle we placed over the main fire. Ingvar made popcorn, and Cecelie made hot ginger toddy. After each person had a chance to toast their sandwich, Ingvar began to make and hand out pancakes.
We all rotated between hanging out in the central fire pit and spending time in the slightly warmer – but way smokier – tepee. After lunch, we gathered everyone around the central fire pit to share how we felt being outside had impacted us emotionally. By now we were all getting a bit chilly, so after the sharing circle, we hiked to a ski lodge to get some drinks, warm up fully, and use a real restroom rather than the woods. Finally, to finish off the day, groups split off; most people went ice skating (courtesy of Cecelie) and everyone went to their separate dinner plans.
Our experience with the Norwegian idea of friluftsliv reinforced several of the ideas that were planted by our readings; that time spent outdoors, even in snow, is rejuvenating especially when phones are mostly put away, and allows us to grow closer together as a class/friend group. All in all, it was an exhausting, cold, and pretty fulfilling day of fun and group bonding.