At the start of 2013, we started looking at vacation options
for the summer. We were looking at either Europe or Iceland. I was particularly
interested in crossing the Arctic Circle, and there are cruises
from Iceland to Greenland. There is even one that takes you to the town of Qaanaaq, which is over 77°
north!
On February 18, I got an email announcing the Norway Field
Course. I was immediately interested, because it included a stop in Longyearbyen, which is almost
a full degree north of Qaanaaq, although its name is not a palindrome. We
worked out all the details, and somehow made it happen.
When we arrived in Oslo, a rainstorm greeted us, and we
needed to learn which of our credit cards we could and couldn’t use. We met up with the class and enjoyed
$10 hotdogs; this would be the first of many expensive dinners.
We were given a checklist of glacier related formations to
check off during our journey, we figured out blog duties, and we were off to
Svalbard!
Svalbard was definitely the highlight of the trip, and I
hope that I can get back some day! I also have becoming interested in Tromsø, and I would love
to visit that city as well. I wish we had better weather in Svalbard, but
taking a zodiac out on the Arctic Ocean when it’s choppy and rainy was a great
way to feel like we were on an exciting adventure. I stayed up quite late the first night and enjoyed the
endless sunlight! I think I could get used to living there, well except for the
prices.
Once we left Longyearbyen, we headed to Stavanger. We took a
fjord cruise through Lysefjord to see Preikestolen. The weather
was not the most cooperative, but that meant that there were less people on the
sightseeing deck! We also got some great photos of Preikestolen in the dense
fog!
We hiked to Preikestolen the next day, with thousands of
other people. We got to see glacial potholes on the trip, and we focused on the
geology of the area.
We headed to Bergen next, where we learned about the
cultural geography. We were led around town by a professor at the University of
Bergen, and he had a lot of good answers about my questions on glacial isostatic
adjustment. We took a short hike up one of Bergen’s seven mountains, and
learned a lot about the city. We visited the Hanseatic
Museum, and learned about what life was like in Bergen during the Hanseatic
period.
We ventured into Norway’s interior, and into the land of
glaciers and Stave
churches!
We visited with family of our professor, and we enjoyed
trout with a dessert of redcurrants
and cream. We also had an
opportunity to learn about the refugee center in Vang.
Some of us hiked Besseggen, which was not an
easy hike, but it was a lot of fun.
I’d have to rank it as my second favorite hike of the trip, with the first
being the glacier hike in Longyearbyen, because I think glaciers are amazing.
After Besseggen, I was a little tired, so I’m glad the next
day consisted of visiting Stave Churches, and having dinner with some people
from the University in Oslo.
On the final day, we visited some museums. The Viking Ship
Museum was pretty cool, I can’t believe how well preserved some of the
boats are! The Norwegian
Folk Museum was really incredible, and we spent the rest of our day there. We learned about the Sami people and
their culture, we visited a stave church inside the museum, and we learned what
life was like in Oslo in the recent decades.
It was quite a trip, with a lot of incredible stuff packed
in! I wish we had more time above the Arctic Circle and, if I go back, I will
definitely find a way to visit Tromsø and visit their botanic
garden. The area around Vang was amazing and gave us tons of opportunities
to check off items from our list of glacier related formations.
The trip provided a lot of great memories, great photos, and
amazing experiences!
--
Jim
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