Well supposedly it is a tradition to jump into the fjord while you're student teaching here. Today the sun was out but it was a high of 6 degrees Celsius so roughly 42 Fahrenheit. So not really your ideal swimming weather. I decided today was the day. We couldn't wait any longer as the sun is only out once a week and it is just going to continue to get colder. All of the girls were finally convinced and we all put on our fjord jumping clothes.
By the way there is a reason for my choice of clothing. I will explain. Workout shirt: dries quickly. Army PT pants: waterproof and the outer shell dries quickly. Shirt tucked in: because I'm afraid of things in the water and I like the least amount of skin contact possible. Tennis shoes: I hate these shoes and there are sea urchins on the bottom of the fjord floor I wanted to avoid.
Now you all know about my ridiculous fjord jumping outfit. On with the story!
Here I am prejump! I claimed my spot!
Hannah gave us the count down. However, this was of no importance to me. Because I am a huge wuss and have a ridiculous fear of large bodies of water, I decided I would wait until someone else started to leap off the dock. Fortunately for me everyone started leaping at the end of Hannah's countdown so I jumped just a split second after everyone else began their plunge. I wanted to make sure I wasn't the only person to go through with this crazy idea. At this time the two gentleman fishing a few docks down were very intrigued about what was going on over here. I think we might have just claimed the strangest foreigners title.
So as I stepped off I plugged my nose and closed my eyes and mouth, thinking about all of the things at the bottom of the fjord and how I am a horrible, horrible swimmer. I hit the water and thought I was going to drown. I thought I was dying and fought to get to the top of the water.
At some point I opened my eyes under water...I have never done that in my life. It was awesome though I watched as I finally broke through the surface and didn't even lose a contact!
Breaking the surface was an amazing feeling until I realized I was in a freezing cold fjord and I thought I was going into shock. No, don't worry. I wasn't going into shock.I was just very dramatic. I'm just ridiculous and over analyze everything. I was perfectly fine other than freaking out and thinking about how crazy I am to be doing such a thing. I realized I needed to get to the ladder because I'm a horrible swimmer and the bottom of the fjord is a long way down. I wasn't about to spend time treading so I decided to quickly swim to the ladder. Swim is funny to say when telling this story because there was really no swimming involved in anything I did. I freaked out so bad that my arms were flailing and I swear my legs weren't even working. Granted we did decide to jump in after three of us had just finished an 8.5 mile long hike!
I had no control over my body. I literally don't even know how I stayed afloat. I remember making it to the ladder, one of the girls was reaching the top and another was about to get on. I was thinking to myself, "Oh, I will just tread here until she gets up the ladder, then I will start climbing." Hahahaha...that's funny. That thought came and went and the next thing I know I'm RUNNING up the ladder next to her! I made it on the dock and couldn't believe I survived.
Here we all are post fjord jump. We're all happy to be alive!
Later the girls laughed at me and talked about how they knew I was freaking out before and during the jump. Jennifer said that the last minute before the jump I just shut off. I was focused and not thinking. hahaha! Kim said that when we were swimming to the ladder she saw the look on my face and said if she knew me as a crier that I would have been bawling so she decided to let me get to the ladder first. Boy, am I glad she did or I may have just given up! haha! Jennifer was the first one to the ladder. She was trying to climb but the steps were so slippery she kept sliding off. She said at one point she looked back at all of us and saw Hannah behind her, calm and making her way to the ladder, followed by me, Steph, and Kim, all frantically "swimming". She said she wished she could have taken a video with her eyes! hahaha!
Needless to say I don't think I will be doing this again although I know I am perfectly safe. I didn't even come close to touching the bottom so no need to wear shoes and fear the wrath of sea urchins! I'm glad it's done though! One less thing to worry about! For those of you coming next semester to student teach. Get it over with! hahaha! And no, you won't touch the bottom jumping from the dock! And make sure you figure out the shower dilemma upon returning to the cabin. Five fjord soaked girls standing on a rug by the door is only so entertaining! hahaha!
Well this is my last post for the night. This week I will be sure to actually post about SCHOOL as there is much to reflect on!
Thanks for stopping by!
Takk
(Thanks)
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