So my life in the arctic started on Tuesday, August 9th at 2 pm. Thats when i landed in Longyearbyen, where i will be living for the next ten months studying at UNIS (University of Svalbard) to become an Arctic Nature Guide. I arrived on a beautiful day, sunny and warm (6 degrees) without many expectations of what this year is going to bring.
I have almost been here a week now, and i must say it looks very promising and i already understand why people keep on living in these harsh conditions for so long. The way of life is very "easy living", the motto being: it will work itself out. Things change very fast here, a lot of people are coming and going and all the seasons but the winter is very short. It makes you enjoy the small things in life and people here try very hard to just live in the moment. I think its what makes them so happy and easy going. Everything usually does work out for the best and if it doesnt, in such a small place, you know you have the community watching your back.
Since ive arrived ive had 6 degrees and sun, rain, fog and 2 degrees, snow and 2 degrees, rain and 6 degrees and so on... You never know what your are going to wake up to, thats for sure. The school days are mostly practical, which is good for me, since the eight hour lectures i find quite hard and i think will be one of the most challenging things for me this year. Spending 4 hours walking around outside looking at flowers is not too bad though, and i can say with pride that i know about three types of arctic flowers so far by heart.. many more in a bit, im working on it!
Ive also spent A LOT of money buying equipment, and have probably contributed to most of the staffs wages this month. And even though the equipment is tax free and we get percentages, i cant say its cheap, not even close.
In our class we are 17 students, 13 guys and 4 girls (women i should say). We are all very eager to learn and very eager to get out on our first trip and get our new equipment dirty. In short we are a very excited group of people with empty pockets and new equipment. Our teacher Sigmund is highly qualified and has gotten a lot of very good guides and arranged for very good lecturers for us this year so i think it will be a very good learning arena. SIgmund himself is part of the international mountaineering association and is one of only 15 people in the norway who has the degree he has. i dont know about you, but I think thats quite impressive.
I live in a barrack (student housing) sharing a toilet and shower with 6 people and kitchen with 12. We are mixed together with all the other students at UNIS and so I am surrounded by people from all over the world that are very smart (most of them are scientists) and very interesting to talk to. I have just come back from a chocolate party in Barrack 10 (I live in barrack 3) where we have had chocolate cake, banana cake with chocolate on, chocolate (white and dark), hot chocolate and chocolate cookies and biscuits with geologists, biologists, guides and technical scientists. Interesting combination for sure.
To sum it up, life in svalbard so far has been expensive, very interesting, cold, warm and very fun. And no, i have not seen a polar bear.. yet.
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