NORWAY I

Trying to be a sportive Norwegian...

Sports have always been a big part of my life. I usually practice every day and I have been doing competitions since I was a young kid. Therefor I was thrilled to hear that Norwegians are particularly sportive people and I was curious to see if there would be a big difference to Liechtenstein. Every single sport one can imagine, including quidditch or underwater rugby, was proposed in the sport program of my new University here in Trondheim. I decided to join the running and cross-country skiing team. We were about 80 people who met three times a week to go running together. Planned all by students, the practice was very well structured, and people were motivated to push to their limits. However, the most striking part for me was our Wednesday evening practice, which was held in the only indoor track hall of Trondheim. When I entered the hall for the first time, I was so surprised. The track was packed with people. At least 50 people were doing some intervals on the track, sprinters were stretching in the middle area, some people were doing high or long jump and there were even some teenager practicing pow vaulting. Coaches were motivating their athletes and yelling their stopped times. These athletes were not only young people but from all ages. Even a group of elderly men was racing around the track, surpassing some of the younger runners.

After warming up, we started to do some intervals on the track, however it felt more like running on a packed highway. Before starting we always had to wait for a gap in the dense running field to be able to start running without bumping into each other. However, it didn’t really bother me, because the whole atmosphere on this indoor track was just motivating. I had never seen or experienced something like that before… After some weeks of running, I was asked if I would like to join my team for a competition held on the indoor track of Trondheim. It was a 3km race, organized by the local running club. I had to register with an estimated time and was put into a heat. What I didn’t know, was that there were 5 different time heats and each one of them had at least 50 people running together, again of all ages and gender. It felt amazing to not only see young athletes but people of all ages, simply trying to run as fast as they could.

I had also been told, that cross country skiing runs in the blood of every Norwegian. Therefor I brought my skies to Trondheim, to experience it myself. I soon realized, that as long as it was snowy, it was completely normal for Norwegians to run around with cross country skies everywhere. For instance, in the city center, taking the bus or on the University campus. I even saw multiple people with cross country boots in the supermarkets. Going on the slopes, on a snowy sunny day there were a lot of families just as I expected it. But Norwegians are not afraid of bad weather, so if the snow was good, but it was storming or snowing, there would still be so many people outside. Despite having about 300km of slopes in Trondheim, it was hardly possible to be alone in the slopes. Families were even taking their babies in special sledges onto the slopes and children who could barely walk were already racing down the hills on their little skies. So, I think it is actually true that Norwegians are born with cross country skies on their feet. Just for fun, I joined the cross country team of the University for a few practices. This meant 2 or 3 hours of nonstop skiing through the area of Bymarka, the biggest ski region of Trondheim and also gave me a good possibility to get to know some Norwegians, since me and another Swiss girl were the only internationals in the team.

For me, this special sportive atmosphere is surely one aspect, I will miss when coming back to Liechtenstein. Norwegians don’t care if the weather is not perfect simply enjoy moving and to be outside in the nature while running or skiing. I will therefor definitely try to be a little more Norwegian.