So we've made it, we've reached the half way mark of our time here! Meaning that sadly we only have 9 weeks left in this incredible place but luckily for the majority of our Arctic Scottish colony we're off on our two week jolly holidays. I mean technically it's a two week reading break, but with only one assignment due in 5 weeks we thought this would be the perfect chance to do more exploring and soak in more of the beautiful views before the dark season creeps up on us too much!
Thanks to UNIS and they're helpful logistics department, we were able to borrow anything we needed, including our groups rifle (for polar bear protection not for selfies) and start planning all our hikes. These two weeks off also gave some people a great opportunity to have some of their families visit bringing great care packages filled with food, and an even better opportunity to show off about all the amazing things we might have actually started to take for granted here, such as walking on a glacier. Never would have guessed that would be a regular thing to do, but a Svalbard life is no ordinary life.
The first one to leave for a hike was Fred. As part of a group of four, he went on a three day hike to Colesbukta. It took about eight and a half hours for the about 27 kilometres. The old, but amazing Russian cabin was a great surprise after the long and very wet hike. After arriving there the stove was lit and fed with Russian coal, which was collected along the old train tracks from Grumant to Colesbukta. On the second day the ruins of Colesbukt or Grumant harbour were explored and we tried to get over to the other side of Colesbukta, which was impossible due to the heavy rain and the river carrying to much water. On the third day we managed to hike back in first perfect conditions, until very thick fog limited the sight and orientation became quite hard. We made it home safe anyway and had a nice post hiking dinner at a local pub.
Our first wee donder for Vicky, Hope and Sally was out to the Global Seed Vault, an ultimate back up plan of 2.5 billion seeds from 4.5 million crop varities from almost every country in the world. We decided to have our lunch and vaults door. Luckily we hung around long enough to see the inside, some very important people came past while we ate our chocolate and being our normally nosey selves we had a quick glance in, just a little, of this planet saver. Our next little hike was out to Longyearbreen to show Chris, Vicky's boyfriend, the glacier and maybe spot a few fossils. Sally and Hope interchanged there days out with attempting to do the essay, while Fred and Vicky had loved ones to entertain. Another beautiful hike was to Sarkofagen where we went over every type of terrain from glacier to moor to rocky plato, luckily for us though the sun was shining just on the horizon giving us one last chance to eat our sandwiches in the sun. We discovered an ice cave and one of the deepest melt water channels so far. As always we had to stop off at the shop before returning home for some much needed cookie replenishment.
A good thing about Longyearbyen there always seems to be something on; so half way through our holiday (reading weeks) OKTOBERFEST came to Longyearbyen. It was a three day event and we chose to partake on the second day. It was an experience! It was a very unexpected mix of lederhosen's, beer and what sounded like scottish ceilidh music but Norwegian style. After getting ready the normal student way; taking way too long and with a few cheap ciders in hand, by the time we eventually turned up the party had definitely already started and within 10 minutes of being there we were already told we had to stand on the tables and attempt to sing along. Overall it was a very fun night meeting lots of great people, each with their own polar bear encounter story, and best bit of all for Sally and Hope was the first bus ride up to Huset (our local version of Skip).
Towards the end of our two weeks off a group of us decided that a night away in a cabin would be good (Procrastination Alert!). Our plans were met with a few obstacles, apart form the fact that it was a very spur of the moment trip. The initial plan was to follow the road out past the airport and go to Bjørndalen but we were told that the student cabin in the area had burnt down (just our luck!), so on to plan B which was Todalen. We knew there was a cabin there we just had to find out how to rent it; so after a few different phone calls and a taxi to the start of Todalen (we were kinda running out of day light) we were on our way! After a slippery 4 and bit hour hike we reached our adorable home for the night; we got a fire going and got our dinner cooking (pesto pasta, a student dietary must). We chatted the evening away trying to remember the name of one of the desperate housewives (it was Lynette btw) and then got settled in for the night. The next day was beautiful and frozen we made good time on the hike back, mainly sticking to the river bed so we could play on the ice.
Until next time,
- 80% of the Scottish Colony
The first one to leave for a hike was Fred. As part of a group of four, he went on a three day hike to Colesbukta. It took about eight and a half hours for the about 27 kilometres. The old, but amazing Russian cabin was a great surprise after the long and very wet hike. After arriving there the stove was lit and fed with Russian coal, which was collected along the old train tracks from Grumant to Colesbukta. On the second day the ruins of Colesbukt or Grumant harbour were explored and we tried to get over to the other side of Colesbukta, which was impossible due to the heavy rain and the river carrying to much water. On the third day we managed to hike back in first perfect conditions, until very thick fog limited the sight and orientation became quite hard. We made it home safe anyway and had a nice post hiking dinner at a local pub.
A good thing about Longyearbyen there always seems to be something on; so half way through our holiday (reading weeks) OKTOBERFEST came to Longyearbyen. It was a three day event and we chose to partake on the second day. It was an experience! It was a very unexpected mix of lederhosen's, beer and what sounded like scottish ceilidh music but Norwegian style. After getting ready the normal student way; taking way too long and with a few cheap ciders in hand, by the time we eventually turned up the party had definitely already started and within 10 minutes of being there we were already told we had to stand on the tables and attempt to sing along. Overall it was a very fun night meeting lots of great people, each with their own polar bear encounter story, and best bit of all for Sally and Hope was the first bus ride up to Huset (our local version of Skip).
Towards the end of our two weeks off a group of us decided that a night away in a cabin would be good (Procrastination Alert!). Our plans were met with a few obstacles, apart form the fact that it was a very spur of the moment trip. The initial plan was to follow the road out past the airport and go to Bjørndalen but we were told that the student cabin in the area had burnt down (just our luck!), so on to plan B which was Todalen. We knew there was a cabin there we just had to find out how to rent it; so after a few different phone calls and a taxi to the start of Todalen (we were kinda running out of day light) we were on our way! After a slippery 4 and bit hour hike we reached our adorable home for the night; we got a fire going and got our dinner cooking (pesto pasta, a student dietary must). We chatted the evening away trying to remember the name of one of the desperate housewives (it was Lynette btw) and then got settled in for the night. The next day was beautiful and frozen we made good time on the hike back, mainly sticking to the river bed so we could play on the ice.
Until next time,
- 80% of the Scottish Colony
