Greenland Part 2: Kicking Ice and Taking Names
First of all, I'm totally behind on comments. Which is, I don't know, freaky? I never thought I'd have enough comments to get behind on comments. I'm coming, I promise.
The really sad thing is that I am no longer in Greenland proper. Last night we took an overnight flight back to Copenhagen. And I really, really didn’t want to go. Copenhagen is nice, it’s just very Danish. There are no glaciers, no Aurora Borealis, no sled dogs, no ferries.
Disko Island: Just a short, 5-hour ferry ride from Ilulissat, this island is home of the Arctic Research Station. Someone had connections (probably our grad student in charge or Professor Charming Climate Curmudgeon) good enough to get us in there for two nights. It was awesome. We all had individual cubbies and access to this huge, beautiful kitchen. The first afternoon, we went on a long hike that I think, had Risk Management been there, would have given them an aneurysm. It was awesome, but it involved quite a bit of jumping from trail to trail across spongy no-quite-perma-frost and some fairly steep basalt slopes right down to the edge of the water. It was awesome. Plus, later that afternoon, six or seven of us totally jumped into the Arctic Ocean. It was fucking freezing, but it was so worth it. I swam in the Arctic!
Ilulissat Again: I really, really love this town. We stayed another two nights at the small hostel there. This time I actually got a chance to hike up to the Jakobshavn Fjord/Ilulissat glacier. This one is especially problematic for scientists. It’s moving really, really fast and nobody can explain why. It also has a tendency to swallow people’s research equipment alive. It makes glaciologists look dumb in meetings.
The Ferry: A day in two nights in what essentially amounted to steerage on a larger ferry. I was cool with the whole 8 people to a room thing, except for the part where there was no door, just a curtain between you and the rest of the boat, and then we had mixed gender rooms. That was...interesting? Anyway, it was fun. Once again, I was one of the lucky few not seasick.
Nuuk: The capital city of Greenland has about 15,000 inhabitants. While we were here, we stayed at the Nuuk Sports Hall. I guess it was kind of like staying at the Y? If the Y were undergoing 24 hour renovation? And sat right next to the housing projects? And there was no separation of the genders? Just a huge concrete room filled with bunk beds and a kitchenette? I finally exercised my “too old for this shit” clause and started bunking with the grad student in charge in a tiny room off to the side. We actually ended up talking quite a bit before bed about the trip, grad school, etc. And, to be fair, the water pressure in the gym showers was amazing.
While we were there, we met with a history professor from the University who walked us through the History Museum there and then showed us around the old town where the first European-style building built by a white dude is still standing. On the hill above the town, the missionary who brought ‘civilization’ out here is memorialized in a huge station, arms spread, like some bizarre Arctic version of the Jesus outside Rio de Janeiro. We also met with the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which was kind of a big deal. That night, we had the most amazing Thai food I have ever eaten in the course of human events. Seriously. We all wanted to ask these people what the hell they were doing in Greenland, but we were too afraid of offending them. Actually, two of my course mates split the “Greenlandic Sushi” platter which included, among other things, raw whale meat and whale skin with an inch or two of blubber still attached. Apparently it was awesome? I stuck with chicken curry. Later that night I SAW THE AURORA BOREALIS HOLY SHIT Y’ALL! It seems a lot closer to the ground than it does in pictures. It was green and waving back in forth kind of like in Balto.
The next day we met with a secretary from the sitting government who showed us around parliament. Then we walked across town to the University, the only one in Greenland, where about 200 people study. The buildings out there are unbelievably beautiful and modern, designed by some random Danish firm. Everything is made of polished concrete, faces south, and roofed by cedar. We heard a presentation from the only person who’s ever done a Ph.D. about potential Greenlandic self-government/independence, we talked to a marine biologist from the nearby marine center who specializes in shrimp (“because they’re practical”), and then we got the chance to talk to students from three of the major schools at the University: Greenlandic Language and Literature, Administration and Social Work. Science education costs too much, so science students are exported for college. But if the Greenlandic university offers your course of study, you HAVE to study there as opposed to abroad. At our table was a young woman named Mike (‘Mickey’) who grew up just south of Ilulissat. She’s young, married, and the first one in her family to go to college. Her brother doesn’t want to go to high school, even, because the kids today ‘have issues’. Actually, there are only three high schools in the entire country. If you want to attend one, you have to move to one of the three cities that hosts one and live there as a boarding student from the age of 16 on. It’s all free, but the distance between home school is an issue. As opposed to 2 hours on I-40, it’s expensive flights on Air Greenland or weeklong ferry rides, either of which may not even be available during the winter due to weather/sea ice.
This place is awesome.
Anyway, last night was a ‘free’ night, which mostly involved our consuming an unreasonable amount of unreasonably expensive alcohol. The grad student in charge really didn’t care, because she was out drinking with Professor Climate Curmudgeon working on her Ph.D. thesis proposal. She’s getting her doctorate in glaciology and then planning to go on to Copenhagen U to work on the Greenlandic Ice Sheet in particular. She’s pretty great and she finally admitted to me that she has no idea who let her in charge of 14 college students and what the hell they were thinking. Then we woke up at ass thirty again, in defiance of the laws of college liver metabolism, and got on a plane to Kangerlussuaq where we were informed that there were two 5-person rooms available, 2 singles for Gerard and Michelle, and two 2-person rooms available. Possession, as they say, is 9/10 of the law and 100% of the reason I hip-checked a perfectly sweet sophomore with my 40 lb duffel bag to beat her to one of the double rooms. Totally worth it. It’s HUGE, like a grown up hotel room size! And it had more than one lamp! And an actual desk to type at! Victory was mine!
At least until today. I'm back on "The Civilized Continent" which is really not all that civilized and is lacking in both glaciers and sweeping vistas. Also, I couldn't sleep on the plane and if this little brat of a kid crawls under the table and plays with my power cord again I'm going to dropkick his ass all the way to Sweden. Right. Time for more coffee.
ETA: LJ Question.
I'm going through and tidying up Casualties, blah blah blah. Anyway, does anyone know of a way to fit a lot of text into one entry? I'm a little OCD and it galls me to have to split up a chapter just when I've decided I like the way it looks. Is there a way around this or do I just need to suck it up and go to my happy place?
The really sad thing is that I am no longer in Greenland proper. Last night we took an overnight flight back to Copenhagen. And I really, really didn’t want to go. Copenhagen is nice, it’s just very Danish. There are no glaciers, no Aurora Borealis, no sled dogs, no ferries.
Disko Island: Just a short, 5-hour ferry ride from Ilulissat, this island is home of the Arctic Research Station. Someone had connections (probably our grad student in charge or Professor Charming Climate Curmudgeon) good enough to get us in there for two nights. It was awesome. We all had individual cubbies and access to this huge, beautiful kitchen. The first afternoon, we went on a long hike that I think, had Risk Management been there, would have given them an aneurysm. It was awesome, but it involved quite a bit of jumping from trail to trail across spongy no-quite-perma-frost and some fairly steep basalt slopes right down to the edge of the water. It was awesome. Plus, later that afternoon, six or seven of us totally jumped into the Arctic Ocean. It was fucking freezing, but it was so worth it. I swam in the Arctic!
Ilulissat Again: I really, really love this town. We stayed another two nights at the small hostel there. This time I actually got a chance to hike up to the Jakobshavn Fjord/Ilulissat glacier. This one is especially problematic for scientists. It’s moving really, really fast and nobody can explain why. It also has a tendency to swallow people’s research equipment alive. It makes glaciologists look dumb in meetings.
The Ferry: A day in two nights in what essentially amounted to steerage on a larger ferry. I was cool with the whole 8 people to a room thing, except for the part where there was no door, just a curtain between you and the rest of the boat, and then we had mixed gender rooms. That was...interesting? Anyway, it was fun. Once again, I was one of the lucky few not seasick.
Nuuk: The capital city of Greenland has about 15,000 inhabitants. While we were here, we stayed at the Nuuk Sports Hall. I guess it was kind of like staying at the Y? If the Y were undergoing 24 hour renovation? And sat right next to the housing projects? And there was no separation of the genders? Just a huge concrete room filled with bunk beds and a kitchenette? I finally exercised my “too old for this shit” clause and started bunking with the grad student in charge in a tiny room off to the side. We actually ended up talking quite a bit before bed about the trip, grad school, etc. And, to be fair, the water pressure in the gym showers was amazing.
While we were there, we met with a history professor from the University who walked us through the History Museum there and then showed us around the old town where the first European-style building built by a white dude is still standing. On the hill above the town, the missionary who brought ‘civilization’ out here is memorialized in a huge station, arms spread, like some bizarre Arctic version of the Jesus outside Rio de Janeiro. We also met with the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which was kind of a big deal. That night, we had the most amazing Thai food I have ever eaten in the course of human events. Seriously. We all wanted to ask these people what the hell they were doing in Greenland, but we were too afraid of offending them. Actually, two of my course mates split the “Greenlandic Sushi” platter which included, among other things, raw whale meat and whale skin with an inch or two of blubber still attached. Apparently it was awesome? I stuck with chicken curry. Later that night I SAW THE AURORA BOREALIS HOLY SHIT Y’ALL! It seems a lot closer to the ground than it does in pictures. It was green and waving back in forth kind of like in Balto.
The next day we met with a secretary from the sitting government who showed us around parliament. Then we walked across town to the University, the only one in Greenland, where about 200 people study. The buildings out there are unbelievably beautiful and modern, designed by some random Danish firm. Everything is made of polished concrete, faces south, and roofed by cedar. We heard a presentation from the only person who’s ever done a Ph.D. about potential Greenlandic self-government/independence, we talked to a marine biologist from the nearby marine center who specializes in shrimp (“because they’re practical”), and then we got the chance to talk to students from three of the major schools at the University: Greenlandic Language and Literature, Administration and Social Work. Science education costs too much, so science students are exported for college. But if the Greenlandic university offers your course of study, you HAVE to study there as opposed to abroad. At our table was a young woman named Mike (‘Mickey’) who grew up just south of Ilulissat. She’s young, married, and the first one in her family to go to college. Her brother doesn’t want to go to high school, even, because the kids today ‘have issues’. Actually, there are only three high schools in the entire country. If you want to attend one, you have to move to one of the three cities that hosts one and live there as a boarding student from the age of 16 on. It’s all free, but the distance between home school is an issue. As opposed to 2 hours on I-40, it’s expensive flights on Air Greenland or weeklong ferry rides, either of which may not even be available during the winter due to weather/sea ice.
This place is awesome.
Anyway, last night was a ‘free’ night, which mostly involved our consuming an unreasonable amount of unreasonably expensive alcohol. The grad student in charge really didn’t care, because she was out drinking with Professor Climate Curmudgeon working on her Ph.D. thesis proposal. She’s getting her doctorate in glaciology and then planning to go on to Copenhagen U to work on the Greenlandic Ice Sheet in particular. She’s pretty great and she finally admitted to me that she has no idea who let her in charge of 14 college students and what the hell they were thinking. Then we woke up at ass thirty again, in defiance of the laws of college liver metabolism, and got on a plane to Kangerlussuaq where we were informed that there were two 5-person rooms available, 2 singles for Gerard and Michelle, and two 2-person rooms available. Possession, as they say, is 9/10 of the law and 100% of the reason I hip-checked a perfectly sweet sophomore with my 40 lb duffel bag to beat her to one of the double rooms. Totally worth it. It’s HUGE, like a grown up hotel room size! And it had more than one lamp! And an actual desk to type at! Victory was mine!
At least until today. I'm back on "The Civilized Continent" which is really not all that civilized and is lacking in both glaciers and sweeping vistas. Also, I couldn't sleep on the plane and if this little brat of a kid crawls under the table and plays with my power cord again I'm going to dropkick his ass all the way to Sweden. Right. Time for more coffee.
ETA: LJ Question.
I'm going through and tidying up Casualties, blah blah blah. Anyway, does anyone know of a way to fit a lot of text into one entry? I'm a little OCD and it galls me to have to split up a chapter just when I've decided I like the way it looks. Is there a way around this or do I just need to suck it up and go to my happy place?