Folktales

I think how it is

to be a young woman is chaos.

There is no other word that fits.

Of course it's chaos.

You're figuring out your life.

Bad bitches, to the left.

I overthink everything.

Like, I think a lot of what people think about me.

And... and you get tired of it.

The two last years, I have a lot on my mind.

My dad was killed.

Not many people know it. Not... I don't talk about it.

It was like a smack in your face.

You just see him walking out the door

and never coming back. It's so sad to think about.

I have, like, a memory of me and my dad driving

and seeing a car with dogs

like he was going to train, like sled-dogging,

and it just stuck.

And, like, just one day, somebody told me

about Folkehøgskole, and you can do it there.

So, yes.

I can feel it... very much. It's like a push behind you.

Yes. So, maybe it's him telling me that I need to go.

Who knows? Who knows?

Mm.

We are so glad to see you here,

all of you students.

Welcome to Pasvik Folkehøgskole and to this Folkehøgskole year.

We are a small school, but we have had students

from all over the world.

It's a lot more than a gap year.

We want our students to develop themselves,

try to find a new version of yourself.

Welcome.

Perfect. That's it.

Hmm.

My dad asked me to not be so annoying

to, like, everybody.

But... Not start quarreling.

Mostly that.

I think, like, I'm nice, but then again,

I'm kind of annoying.

Yeah, I think that's how people would describe me.

Yeah, I know they do.

They tell me all the time.

So, I don't have a lot of friends.

I find the thought of, like, finding friends

and keeping friends especially hard.

I am afraid for being lonely another year.

Being an outsider.

Okay, good morning!

I'm always a little bit nervous

when it's my first word of the day.

Today I'm going to talk about the brain.

We live now in a modern world.

Things are going quite fast, but we still have the same brain

as we had 10,000 years ago.

So, what happens when our 10,000-year-old brain

meets this, the modern world?

The life and environment we have now

is quite confusing for our brain.

The screens everywhere,

the phones around you all the time,

and we feel alone.

When you think about how people were living

10,000 years ago,

they were out hunting, gathering, sleeping outside.

So, this year we really hope

that we can wake up your Stone Age brain.

- I heard the birds just now. - Yeah?

I can hear it.

I don't know which bird it is.

Me either.

Okay, so, you will very soon

be responsible for taking care of the dogs in our dog yard.

In this dog yard, you will see that we have

a lot of different personalities.

Some are a bit shy.

Some are old and calm.

Some are young and very energetic.

And we want you to pay attention to that

while we're walking around.

So, this is Odin, Unka.

They are Siberian Huskies.

We got them from Russia, five, six years ago,

and they have the most beautiful voices.

His name is Billy.

And you can see he is very energetic.

So, he's not afraid of people.

He's also very eager to pull.

And he is quite smart.

He's just not so good at showing it.

Okay, we'll move on to Dia.

It's short for Diamant. "Diamond." She's a bit shy.

Probably, you will need to go up here

two or three or four days before she feels safe.

Dia, Dia, Dia.

Okay, Dia.

Dia, Dia, Dia.

If you sit on the small step there...

- Yeah? - Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Try. And try... Just sit there a little bit.

Yeah. Try to call her name.

Dia.

Dia.

Very good, Romain.

Just take it all the way out.

And then you have this knot that you make

with holding it like this, and then turning once,

and twice, and then putting it in.

And then you remember how to take in the rope?

- Mm? - Not really.

Wait, is it normal to do it with one hand?

- Yeah. - Okay, well...

I'm not really a confident person, and...

I struggle with it.

The first thing I will think is always going to be

negative and scared.

I don't know what to do about it.

I dropped out of high school.

I just couldn't do it.

Each year gradually got harder for me

'cause I just couldn't focus,

and I felt like it was not something I really wanted.

I was like, "Why is it not working?"

"Why can I not do this?" "What's happening?"

And so I was like, "Maybe it's because I need

some different type of life path."

I've never done anything like this before.

I didn't have a lot of time to think about it.

And so, yeah.

So far, I don't really regret it.

I hope to overcome

social anxiety, stuff like that.

Hi, baby!

Hear, King Neptune!

Hear, King Neptune!

For all the years that has passed...

For all the years that has passed...

...and all the years that is to become...

...and all the years that is to become...

...we the people from...

...we the people from...

...Pasvik People High School...

...Pasvik People High School...

...will baptize ourselves in the Barents Sea!

...will baptize ourselves in the Barents Sea!

Swim!

It's bear safe.

Whoa, whoa!

Is there just one day

where we don't have to get wet shoes?

Sautso.

Oh!

It's okay to make mistakes,

but we need to be safe.

You are responsible for another living creature,

an animal, a dog, or several dogs.

We are not here as individuals, we are part of a bigger group.

So, we need to make an environment

where we can trust each other and you will be prepared,

you will be focused, and you will be in the moment.

Romain...

you know what I like about Billy?

What you like?

What I like about Billy.

Well, what is there not to like about Billy?

Tell me.

Like, I prefer Billy over Mjød...

- Yeah. - ...because Billy,

he seems more social.

- Yeah... - Mjød is like,

- "Ah, just give me the rubs." - Yeah.

Billy is like, "Hey, come to talk to me."

"Come to talk to me, I like talking."

In the beginning,

the students think it's all about the dogs.

So, we use the dogs.

We use this beautiful and tough nature.

We use the team.

But the dogs are just a method.

Of course, we have a higher goal.

The higher goal is a human being.

The dogs teach us to be more human,

maybe more patient.

And we might pay attention to others even more.

And I think that

when the students discover this part

of dog mushing,

it becomes so much bigger.

Spoke too soon.

Don't brake, don't brake!

And you can just brake a little

around the curve, but not like hard braking,

because then you're going to slam into something.

So, later this winter,

we will drive downhill.

So, we take it step by step, yeah.