Hello everyone!
It has been a while since we posted something. We will try to post a little more frequently in the next few weeks! I (Holger) don´t really know where to start, so maybe I´ll just start by telling you about what Matthew and I do in our biology class besides of normal lectures. Last week we had a role playing exercise, where we had to hold a summit about climate change in the Barents Sea. 6 groups had to defend their position and if possible find agreements and make deals with other parties. Matthew was part of the oil lobby whilst I represented the Russian government. Naturally we had common interests in the economical exploitation of the Barents Sea, but "unfortunately" we failed to find a strategy how to expoit the oil fields, mostly because of the strong opposition from the WWF, green energy alliance, Norwegian government and the Sami council. This exercise went on all day and we had to stay in character all the time, as the coffee break talks are often the most important part of this kind of summit. Other than that we also have lab sessions, where we dissected Arctic cod, learnt to distinguish the most common copepod species and identified common phytoplankton.

You probably also want to hear about all the things we Arctic students do outside of class!
Last week the Russian students organised the weekly "Friday Gathering" with Russian food, Russian music and LOTS of vodka. Jamie even participated in the party games they prepared. You see him on the photo getting spoon-fed with yoghurt. The fastest team wins!

A little bonfire under the Aurora borealis, just outside Brakke 13! (photo: Matthew)

Of course there is a lot more to do then partying! The winter sport season finally started as the sun is slowly comming back now. We can´t see it in Longyearbyen yet, only if we hike up the mountains, but it is bright for several hours over the day anyway. The most popular hike is up Trollsteinen or Sarkofagen, two mountains directly next to our baracks in Nybyen. Even for these relatively easy hikes safety is very important. We can´t leave town without a rifle, flare gun and avalanche equipment (shovel, avalanche probe and beacon). Most of the stuff we can borrow from the student equipment, and we can apply for a welfare rifle every week as well. However, due to a large number of new master students it is a little bit too much of a lottery wheather or not I can get a rifle and student equipment, so Matthew, Jamie and I bought our own avalanche gear.

View of Nybyen and Longyearbyen from the Larsbreen glacier on my way to Trollsteinen. 

 

 

 

 

 

View of Adventdalen from the top of Trollsteinen.

 

 

 



The view of Adventfjorden opening into Isfjorden, also from the top of Trollsteinen.







Finally all three of us also have our own snowscooters so we can finally start doing all the great trips around here! Last Monday Matt and I were planning to go to Foxdalen on my snowmobile, because Matt still hasn´t dug out his skidoo. We wanted to visit the ice caves of the Scott-Turner glacier in Foxdalen. However, this was my first snowscooter trip and it ended rather soon in the next trench, for which I totally blame my passenger (It's always the passengers fault, Matt)!! But I also didn´t cover myself in glory for I managed to flood the two stroke engine of my skidoo because I had it on full choke when I tried to restart it. Long story short, we couldn´t restart it again. Luckily Matt could take another skidoo, so after a rather embarrassing start we had an amazing trip after all!
I wouldn´t be able to describe the beauty of the caves, I'll leave you with a few pictures, see for yourself!! (thanks for your pictures Matthew!)