Emily and I began our journey together from London, with a 13 hr lay over in Oslo. We were waiting for the boys Sam, Emily and I used our time to explore Oslo, mainly the Opera house and a few touristy places. Once back in the airport we met up
with Felix for the next part of our journey. Once on the plane I was asleep before take-off
but Emily kindly woke me up in time as we flew over Svalbard, to see the breath
taking views. It is at this point I must apologise I
totally forgot to take any photos in all of my excitement. Since, I have realised my camera
charger did not make it into my bag, so for now you will just have to make do
with everyone else’s photos, sorry. Rather excitedly we made our way to the accommodation
and were soon up exploring the local town and local mine. A big
thank you to Christine for meeting us that first night and giving us a lot of
tips, introducing us to Svalbar, the local pub! On one of our little explorations we found a good site to party outside:
Lucy Hyam
Overall, the outdoor activities here have exceeded all my expectations, and I am looking forward to the next adventure: a geology field trip to Nordenskiölbreen.
Flying into Longyearbyen over the sharp-edged mountains of Svalbard, it was obvious that we have found a great playground to explore. For the lack of a rifle and appropriate training, we felt rather confined on our first day. We thus stayed within the valley and visited the local coal mine on the slopes above Nybyen. This little walk through history reminded us of the reason for people settling this far north about a hundred years ago.
The next day, Sam and I (Felix) did not want to lose any more time: we joined a group of students on a hike to Platåberget — the plateau mountain looming in the west over Longyearbyen. Our first encounter with reindeer and a spectacular view of Longyeardalen were among the highlights of this walk, and talking to fellow students about their experience at UNIS made us even more excited about the opportunities this year has to offer.
By Wednesday we were really eager to get out again, since none of us can really sit still for a whole day. This time, Lucy joined our geology class for a hike up Sarkofagen, a 500m tall hill south of Longyearbyen. Again we were rewarded with some great views, as well as some fantastic fossil finds in the moraine of the Longyear glacier on the way down.
Felix
Lucy and I (Emily) are taking the Arctic Technology course, we are just 8 in our class and all girls! A first for UNIS!
Lucy and I (Emily) are taking the Arctic Technology course, we are just 8 in our class and all girls! A first for UNIS!
A mandatory part of
all courses is to take part in a safety course. This consists of how to handle
a rifle and survival suit training as well as how to use various pieces of
equipment when on excursions. The rifle training was really fun and we all
passed and are now allowed to carry a rifle if we need to. Our lecturer accompanied us for the training and took some photos of us looking
pretty professional!
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| © Nils Roar Salthun |
Survival suit training was the best part of
the safety course as we all got to jump into the fjord. We were all a little
sceptical that our suits would be entirely waterproof but we all escaped with
little more than a soggy bum. As you can see we were all very happy in the
water! (getting out wasn't so fun- something similar to a pod of bright orange
beached whales.)
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| © Nils Roar Salthun |
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| © Nils Roar Salthun |
We've only been here
a week but already we've seen and done so much. A polar bear was seen on the
other side of the fjord, around 5km away and here are some photos taken by a
lucky cameraman.
We’ve also seen
Arctic Foxes, Reindeer and lots of birds- we've been very lucky!
Poor Lucy had her
first encounter with an angry Arctic Tern and got a nasty dent in her head.
On Saturday I went Husky sledding which was a
good way to see a little more of the island.
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| © Emily Hill |
Hey there. Sam here to give you a bit of information about the two modules Felix and I will be studying in our first semester here at UNIS. Even after significantly upping my efforts to get away from Felix this year, I seem to have managed to land in the same two classes with him. Currently we are both studying AG-210 and AG-211, otherwise known as The Quaternary and Glacial Geology of Svalbard and Arctic Marine Geology. Both courses take full advantage of Svalbard’s excellent present day cryosphere and its unique geology by offering a number of fieldwork opportunities throughout the term.
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| The Barracks, Sarkofagen and Trollsteinen |
With Arctic Marine Geology starting on the 8th of September, Felix and I set our sights on preparing a 5 minute introductory powerpoint to deliver to our class 2 days after our arrival in Longyearbyen. It was interesting to hear about our classmates' backgrounds and their experiences with glacial geology. From living in Scotland all my life my experience of present day glaciers, or ice that isn’t a salty, muddy slush for that matter, was limited. However after receiving our first few lectures over the forth coming days I was re-assured that my knowledge of terrestrial Geology, provided by Dr John Howe at SAMS, was more than adequate. Felix and I found ourselves drawing many comparisons between the formation and geology of Scotland and Svalbard over the week.
Following a cruel morning of lectures on Saturday morning after a fun filled evening, Felix and I are fully prepared for our adventure starting tomorrow. Well, I’ve not packed yet so I best be off! Sam
