Long Study Tour: Greenland 1

Last week I experienced the four most amazing consecutive days imaginable on my long study tour to Greenland. Pictures don't capture just how fantastic the trip was, and neither will these posts, but I'll try...

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Monday, October 21

Mew helped me pack. Not.

The trip started with my 4:30 AM alarm. I packed a few last items, had leftover crepes for breakfast, and arrived absurdly early at 5:45 for the 6:15 meeting time. Thanks for the ride, Ove!

After checking in, we had plenty of time to stroll around the airport, though some people opted to take a nap instead! We also got our Kangerlussuaq Awareness Tests (KATs, which led to many amusing phrases), a packet of questions about the regional ecology, geology, culture, and history.

The flight took off at 9:00 Copenhagen time and landed four and a half hours later at 9:30 Greenland time.

Everyone whipped out their cameras as we got off the plane, but our fingers got cold pretty quickly! It was about 20 F. It looks like the sun is just rising, but that's how the sky looks for most of the day because the sun is so low.

 We settled into the hostel, and our professors wisely gave us an hour to play outside.

Right outside the hostel

Weeeeeee fresh snow! Too powdery for snowballs but excellent for snow angels and drawing!

Then it was lunchtime: the first of four consecutive lunches of identical horrible sandwiches. These sandwiches were the worst part of the trip. (They weren't actually that bad, just bland, squishy, and repetitive. I did appreciate the fresh vegetables.)

After lunch we took a bus tour of Kangerlussuaq. The town of about 550 was originally a U.S. military base and airport; the architecture and infrastructure recall the former American presence. The buildings were plain and rectangular, though brightly colored. (No pictures--they weren't particularly striking.)

The first stop was at a sled dog kennel. Dogs are not kept as pets in Greenland, but rather as working animals. They run around freely during the summer and pull sleds for hunters and tourists during the winter.

Sled dogs in training

Later we stopped for a geology/ecology talk at a smooth, curved cliff. While the rock and lichen were interesting, I couldn't stop thinking about my painfully cold toes--I hadn't expected to be outside for so long and was in tennis shoes!

The rock face was smoothed by glacial meltwater rivers. Lichen are still able to grow on the smooth surface because a) they're super tough organisms and b) the rock face is fertilized with raven poop!

Dinner was at a one of perhaps three restaurants in Kangerlussuaq. Vegetarians got some Thai-esque stir-fry and salad with a pink mayonnaise-y dressing (I was not a fan); everyone else had muskox meatballs.

That night Henning (the Arctic prof) gave a lecture about the Northern Lights, and I went outside a few times looking for them. Instead, I got some long, bright shooting stars and a lovely night sky.

Norway Part 3: Bergen

Greenland posts to come! I wanted to finish Norway first.

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Tuesday night/Wednesday, October 2

I was a bit sad about missing the views on the train between Finse and Bergen, but instead Lisa and I got to hang out with two increasingly drunk Norwegian expats who gave us some good travel tips. We got to the hostel around midnight.

The next morning, Lisa and I made breakfast in the hostel and walked down to the harbor. After seeing the fish market and tourist info, I went out for a solo hike from Floyen to Ulriken, two of the seven peaks surrounding Bergen. The hike turned out to be harder, longer, and windier than I had bargained for, especially after two hiking days in Finse, but I enjoyed the scenery and the challenge. I met a really nice Norwegian woman on the way up, and we ended up hiking the remaining 5 hours together.

Bergen from the top of Floyen

Me and my new friend Eva! She's an artist living outside Bergen. We talked about food quite a bit during the hike, so at the end we just had to go get... 

Fish and chips! The most expensive fish and chips I have ever and will probably ever eat. But they were really good.

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Thursday, October 3

I took a day trip to Os, a small neighboring town, with Lisa and another DIS student. We enjoyed the last day of good weather as we walked along the fjord and took a ferry across. 

Norway is so, so beautiful... when it's sunny!

I had waffles and jam for snack before heading back to Bergen, where we went to Pingvinen for a super traditional Norwegian dish.

It's a stick-to-your-ribs kind of dish: mashed rutabaga, potato dumpling, and various bits of lamb. The three of us split it, and I was full even avoiding the meat.

In the evening I spent a while on the computer seeing if I could do either a trip to Stavanger for an iconic hike or a short hut-to-hut trip, which was the original goal, but time, money, and weather were against me. Instead, I found something to do over the weekend: a swing dance event!

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Friday, October 4

The weather changed to normal Bergen conditions: gray and rainy. Perfect museum weather!

Old fiddles in the university's Cultural History collections

A poor picture of a great blueberry-filled roll

After a quick ramen dinner, I took a bus to the Kom Og Dans (Come and Dance) weekend swing event. I'd had trouble figuring out the class schedule, which was in Norwegian, and I kept bumbling around even after asking for an English explanation. In the end I took a Country Two-Step lesson and a Norwegian Swing lesson, which was super helpful because most of the social dancing was Norwegian Swing. I befriended a female lead and her family; they were very kind and gave me a ride back after the party!
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Saturday, October 5

More gloomy skies... but they can't ruin a fjord cruise! I went with Lisa and another DIS student, and we befriended three Swedish study abroad students on the boat. Two were Canadian and one Australian; they were all hilarious.

The historic waterfront Bryggen in the morning mist

That evening I went back to Kom Og Dans for a line dancing lesson followed by salsa and swing social dancing. Being an outsider was a curious experience; everyone asked why I was there, and the director asked for dance venue suggestions in California. While no one went out of their way to bring me into the group, everyone I talked to was friendly and welcoming. In any case, I was thrilled to have a chance to dance West Coast Swing!
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Sunday, October 6

I started the last day at the Hanseatic Museum where merchants gathered in the middle ages and the early modern period. Then I went out for--guess what--more dancing. I took a West Coast Swing lesson as a lead and learned a new pattern.

By dinnertime I was at the airport with Lisa, Bert, and a few other DIS students. I had all my remaining food for dinner.

A balanced meal: bread with sauteed onions and cabbage, followed by cherry tomatoes, jam, cheese, chocolate, and potato chips

I arrived at Nina and Ove's after midnight and was up at 6:30 the next morning. Getting back into academics was a bit rough with such an abrupt end to a long, exciting vacation!

On the platform at the train station. Not a bad way to get back into classes :)

Norway Part 2: Finse

Monday, September 30

Lisa, Bert, and I got up early to catch the 8:05 train to Bergen. We had some bread and jam at the train station. Henning, our hostel roommate, happened to be on the same train; he and I sat together and both took tons of pictures. Only a few of mine turned out, but the entire train ride was amazing.

The scenery grew increasingly beautiful and strange as the train gained elevation. We passed lakes and green pastures, followed a river up yellow-tinted mountains, and rode through a high valley filled with rust-colored trees. At the highest stop on the line (though we didn't know it at the time), Lisa ran over to my seat with a wild proposal. 

"Jessica, do you want to get off the train?"

"... what?" 

"Do you want to get off the train? It's so beautiful. Let's just get off here and go hiking."

So we did. You should've seen Lisa when we got off the train--she was jumping up and down and nearly crying, and I was laughing and smiling and breathing in the delicious air. We went into the one open hotel in the town of approximately 5 buildings, got a room that was way out of budget, and took off for the nearby glacier.

View from our window

We were giddy pretty much the entire hike from the spontaneity of the trip and the unearthly scenery.

We couldn't read the Norwegian signs, so we decided to go off trail once we had a good view of the glacier. But it was hard to make a direct trail with all the rocky slopes and cliffs obscuring the glacier at various points, so we ended up scaling this rocky bit unnecessarily. 

WHOA IT'S A GLACIER!!!

AND I'M HERE. WHAT IS THIS.

We crossed this meadow/pond (which we called a glacial prairie) on the way back.

After a wonderful shower, we had a couple hours to relax before the three-course dinner that was included with the room. I worked on my essay some more, but really I was just watching the sun set over the glacier.

Across the room was a middle-aged couple with some serious PDA. They were really nice when I asked them for hiking suggestions.

The dinner started with a small scallop served with three different sauces. My main course was a pan-fried white fish, and dessert was a combination of fruity sorbet and cheesecake. (Unfortunately I don't have food pictures.) It was a lovely dinner, and I appreciated it even more after the half-day hike. I went to sleep very happy.
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Tuesday, October 1

Another hiking day! The Finse Hotel's breakfast buffet was a great way to start. I had three courses and packed sandwiches for both lunch and dinner. (Only lunch was technically included, but there was nowhere else to get dinner.)

My sampler crackers. Clockwise from top left: Norwegian sweet brown cheese, brie, strawberry jam, blueberry jam, peanut buter, apricot jam, smoked salmon

Not shown: bread, eggs, mini pancakes, oatmeal, and yogurt.

View out the window at breakfast

Then it was time to hit the trail! Per receptionist's suggestion, we headed toward a cabin by a lake

This picture makes the hike look epic, but at this point, we had just walked up from the buildings on the right.

Another glorious day with glorious views

 In the first few kilometers we got spectacular lake views, a lively glacial stream, and dramatic rock steps. We stopped for lunch at a small lake.

Cucumber, smoked trout/salmot, and cream cheese

Then we got a bit lost. At this point we had gone off trail and were navigating with land forms and a topographic map. The thing is, there were a lot of small ponds, saddles, and peaks to confuse, so we weren't where we thought we were on the map. But we knew we couldn't be too far off because we could see the glacier and the train tracks to the southwest! Eventually I climbed a high peak to get a good view, and we got back on track.

Even the ground was beautiful and fascinating.

View of the lake from the hut.  We intended to come from the right side of the lake, but we came from the left because we'd gotten lost. But because of that, we got great views of the valley below (beyond the bottom left corner of the picture) as we crossed to the hut!

The elusive hut

Looking toward the valley below the lake and hut

 Around 3 it was time to head back. Despite getting mildly lost again, we made it back with a good hour of daylight left, so we chilled for a while on a rock overlooking the lake.

Last lake picture, I promise.

Dinner was another sandwich. The hotel was kind enough to let us stay until 8, when we left Finse by train to spend the rest of the week in Bergen.

I am grateful to Lisa for this trip. It showed me the value of spontaneity and flexibility, and I will carry the beauty and wonder I experienced with me for a long time to come.

Norway Part 1: Oslo

This blogging thing is hard. I've been back from Norway for two weeks, but it's been the busiest academic two weeks of the semester. Yay midterms! But I'm heading off to Greenland on Monday, and the weather is now cold and gloomy enough to stop distracting me, so I thought I'd better put these up.
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Friday, September 27
Names are changed.

I started my travels with Lisa, who is in my Climate Change class, and Bert, whom Lisa and I met through Facebook. We left Copenhagen at 4:30 on an overnight ferry to Oslo.

There was a hot tub!

Our cabin

Goodbye, Copenhagen!

Wind turbines off the coast of Zealand 

Sunset over the ocean

I sat out on deck for as long as I could, enjoying the blue sky and blue water as I attempted to write an art history essay. Eventually, though, the wind drove me and my companions inside. We went to sleep early so we could get up in time to for the next morning's sunrise over the fjord.
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Saturday, September 28

I woke up around 6, watched the sunrise, and took a dip in the hot tub before the ferry docked in Oslo at 10. After dropping our stuff off at the hostel, the three of us walked around the main pedestrian street, saw the Munch exhibit at the National Gallery, and found an ethnic grocery store for dinner supplies.

View from the ferry

Looking down the main street toward the palace

This made me so happy. I refrained from taking all the sauces with me, but we did buy some fresh flatbread and canned hummus as a snack, as well as produce and eggs for the next day.

Whole wheat ramen (bought in Copenhagen), tofu, spinach, egg, and salmon soup powder (from CA)

We cooked dinner in the hostel with our roommate Henning, a German guy studying to be a music teacher. It was still early--we hadn't eaten a proper lunch and got hungry around 4--so Lisa and I took a walk around the hostel. We saw several cute cafes and wanted to stop for dessert, but there was pretty much nothing under $20--Norway is expensive! So we got ice cream instead.
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Sunday, September 29

Museum day! Lisa, Bert, and I got a 24-hour transportation pass so we could jump around to various parts of the city. A short ferry across the harbor brought us to these:

Model of the eponymous ship at the Fram Museum

Really old ship at the Viking Ship Museum

Back in the main part of the city, we visited the Nobel Peace Museum, walked through a medieval fortress, and went on the Opera House roof.

The Nobel Field with all the laureates

Walking up the roof of the Opera House

Dramatic view from the top of the Opera House, which reminded me of the end of Harry Potter 7 Part 1 (the movie)

These Tai Chi practitioners may have been promoting that night's Chinese culture show.

We went for Indian food in an ethnic neighborhood for a late lunch/early dinner.

Lisa and Bert were tourist-ed out at this point, so I went by myself to the Vigeland Sculpture Park, which turned out to be my favorite part of Oslo. The clouds were just clearning when I got there.

Bridge with sculptures

The fountain wasn't running, but these were still cool statues.

Looking back as I climbed toward the main sculpture.  The structure in the background is the nonfunctional fountain; beyond it is the bridge.

The main sculpture

There was still light when I got to the hostel at 6:30, and I was on a roll with all this tourist stuff, so I took a quick solo trip to the botanical garden.

Not at its peak, but still pretty!

Thus concluded my stay in Oslo. There was still much to do, but I was ready to leave; the city felt rather cold with all the new construction on the waterfront, and sad with the many homeless on the streets. On to Bergen!