Thursday 14 July 2011

The summer school comes to an end – 8th July 2011

As you can probably tell, I have skipped a few days with the blog. I know I originally said I would blog every day, but sometimes life just gets in the way; in this case, life is the summer school and the resulting very little time off. I’m sure my ramblings aren’t interesting to most people, but to those who were excited about my antics, I apologise.

Following a speedy recovery from the previous days near death experiences, the last week of the summer school began with a pleasant boat trip up Isfjorden to Nordensjoldbreen (the Nordensjold glacier) and the abandoned Russian mining settlement of Pyramidden. The glacier, as one would expect, was amazing, especially for a geography geek like me...what made it even better was the whisky on the rocks that we were served, the “rocks” being glacial ice! The whale that was served for dinner, however, was not so pleasant. Needless to say, I didn’t eat it. Pyramidden, by contrast, was an extremely eerie sort of place which gave me the definite heeby jeebies, just like its counterpart, Barentsburg, which I visited last year. I don’t know what it was, but I did not get a good feeling from the place; our “tour guide”, however, thought it was the greatest place on Earth! Saw a fair amount of wildlife whilst on the ship: many puffins, other Arctic birds, and even an Arctic Fox. Unfortunately no polar bears or whales.







The rest of the week flew by so quickly, but a few highlights included:
- Being attacked by yet another Arctic bird...I was casually walking across the tundra to a tent where some evening activities were being held, and all of a sudden some massive bird swooped by and hit my head with its feet! Scared me half to death...
- Watching people complete the “Arctic beer challenge” – drinking a can of beer whilst shoulder deep in Arctic water. People’s facial expressions were priceless!
- A trip to the dog yard to visit the huskies
- On the way to the above, running frantically down the road in order to avoid being attacked by the Arctic Terns. I have no idea why so many birds were attacking me this trip...
- Baking skillingsboller, my favourite traditional Norwegian delight!
- The final farewell party – details not needed here...
- The fact that the weather was so crappy for most of the two weeks, but cleared on the final evening: typical
- And many, many more...!



Before I knew it, the summer school had come and gone. It was great being back on Svalbard, and I learnt a hell of a lot. More importantly, however, I made some good friends and laughed A LOT! Next stop, Oslo!

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