Sam Black here and I'm back on Svalbard. I've been here for the past two weeks and sadly now, Its time to leave. So, for old times sake, here's what I've been up to.
Now I wouldn't say my trip to Svalbard was for business or pleasure. Over the past 13 days I've been carrying out my dissertation lab work alongside a marine molecular biology masters course. Firstly let me highlight that I'm no molecular biologist. If only I'd known what I was getting myself in for...It's been a tough week of learning the ropes of DNA extraction, PCR and all the various lab protocols to avoid contamination etc. Safe to say I'm now pretty skilled with a pipette, or at least I am when this repetitive strain injury in my shoulder goes away.
I arrived on the 1st of November to a wet Longyearbyen. I was informed, by almost everyone I met, that all the lovely snow had recently melted. This big melting event had left a town of deadly ice where 'friction' is a cruel mistress. Arriving back during term time left me feeling nostalgic. At first I felt intimidated with all the new faces but I quickly settled in. The first week of lab work involved meticulously weighing out small pieces of sea weed, DNA extraction of said small pieces then learning about how to run PCR's. It was a steep learning curve but incredibly I made it through the week in one piece and on schedule.
In the evenings I joined back in with the sports I used to play; volleyball, basketball and football. The world famous Longyearbyen vs. Barentsburg sports competition was taking place that weekend, so I was keen to get into the team. As the temperature had dropped over the week and the snow had returned I took a trip on Saturday morning to the ice caves with 3 Danish anthropologists who I'd had over for dinner earlier in the week. The glacier and the cave had changed dramatically over the summer, it was incredible. I couldn't recognise any part of the cave. I took some quick photos and headed down to down in a hurry as I was up against the Russians in the volleyball team at mid day.
Volleyball went well and in the end we won by only 2 points! Funnily I was interviewed and filmed by the BBC who are producing a docu-soap series up here over 8 months. After looking into the camera numerous times I doubt my mug will be on your screens any time soon. I was roped into refereeing the football game straight after where Longyear lost 4-2. I'll leave that one off my C.V for now. Basketball was great fun and we won by a large margin.Afterwards we all headed to a nearby restaurant and ate a lot of free pizza and drank a lot of free beer. Longyearbyen now has its own brewery producing some fine beer - I can highly recommend the pilsner, pictured here. The night ended in the only club on the island, Huset. I found myself sliding my way home on the ice at 4am under the northern lights - old habits die hard here on Svalbard!
The following week of lab work didn't go as smoothly as the first where I spent three days trying to fine tune my PCR set up. After numerous tries I found the magic formula and managed to get the successful products I needed. Sparing you the details, the rest of the week involved selecting the samples that I wanted to use, washing them over magnetic beads and preparing them to send them away for sequencing. Easier. Said. Than. Done. This weekend I've managed to fit in a trip to the mine, a night in the pub playing pool and some fat bike rides in the valley.
Then today at 6pm, after my 60th hour in the UNIS lab, I managed to finished my lab work (for now). What a relief! I've heard a picture says a 1000 words, so here's two that sum up my time here.
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Me: 2 weeks ago
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