Svalbard to Italy - Watts up with that?!

After 5 tough weeks whizzing around the Arctic island of Svalbard, I'm now taking a much needed family holiday (does sarcasm work on a blog post?!) in the Italian Dolomites, having stopped off in Venice for a couple of days with my brother Tom to break up the journey. I can't quite believe I was ever on Svalbard, having now been back in slightly more habitable environments for just over a week.

Just after finishing my last post my brother Tom joined me up at 78°N to make the most of some free Svalbard accommodation (on my floor). Luckily, after some intense days in the field, I had the Friday off so was able to join Tom for a stroll up a nearby hill. Unfortunately, I was rifle-less so walks had to stick within the safe confines of the polar bear signs. To refuel after a photo filled walk, we stopped off at one of the two cafes in Longyearbyen for a bite to eat. That evening was the weekly Friday gathering, so Tom and I joined a group from my course for drinks in the uni canteen followed by a trip to the northern-most brewery in the world. On the walk along the road to the brewery the sky was painted green by the northern lights; Tom's first experience of the aurora borealis!

The next morning, I had to leave Tom for a good lie-in after a late night dancing, as I had

a session in the computer lab, learning how to process the GPR (radar) data from the previous week in the field. I managed to get the afternoon off so I could join Tom at the Svalbard Museum (very interesting) followed by a scrumptious dinner at a restaurant called Kroa. Due to a mix up with our order, we got a free panna cotta to finish off our moose burger and klipp fisk (a dried and then dehydrated white fish, very Norwegian and delicious).

Northern-most church - Photo credit to Tom

I had a full day in the lab on Sunday, GPR processing and trying out some chemistry on the snow and ice samples we'd collected. Luckily Tom was booked on to a snowmobile trip across to the East coast, so I wasn't abandoning him on this occasion! On Monday, I again left Tom to a chilled morning as I had a seminar to attend but was able to join him for late lunch at the cosy, knitting cafe and a stroll around town. On Shrove Tuesday, after some mandatory pancakes, a group of us checked out Longyearbyen's other museum, about expeditions to the North Pole. While this was packed with information and numerous artifacts, it was a little heavy going so after a couple of hours wading through the story boards we headed back to my place before I had to pop across to uni for some lectures and presentation preparation.

Seal steak ft. Tom

That evening, Tom and I tried out another of Longyearbyen's eating spots with a trip to

Mary Ann's Polar Rigg

'Mary-Ann's Polar Rig'; a quirky restaurant just outside town with abundant plants and stuffed arctic animals, including a polar bear popping through the wall. Tried more delicious klipp fisk and a seal steak (a strong flavour, like beef but with a subtle liver taste and incredibly dark). The next morning, it was time for Tom to head home, so I waved him off on the airport bus and returned to uni to work through the final push. We had presentations to give that afternoon, so it was a full-on morning preparing but once those were over, we could chill, all that was left of the course was a jolly to Barentsburg, one of the other, smaller settlements on Svalbard.

Andy, our course leader, organised for us all to make the 2-hour snowmobile ride up and over the back of Longyearbreen glacier and through a network of valleys to the Russian mining town of Barentsburg. We were lucky enough to have a clear sky day and once over the back of Longyearbreen this meant we were even able to soak up some sun (quite a novelty!). From the exceptionally scenic ride over, we entered the somewhat less attractive Barentsburg. There was no doubt that this was the Russian settlement (possible due to the Svalbard Treaty); the place consisted of a handful of mismatched communist style blocks with a large Lenin statue in the centre. Just in case we were in any doubt, a ping from my phone welcomed me to Russia!

We all stopped here for lunch in the one and only restaurant in town before taking a quick look around and hopping back on the snow scooters for a somewhat eventful journey back. I was on the back of a scooter driven by Martim, the Brazilian from Stockholm uni (in hindsight a questionable choice). After a couple of near topples as we veered to the side of the track, we reached a steep slope with a snowy lump at the top. Those ahead of us whizzed up and around this lump.

When it came to our turn we zoomed up the slope, to the left of everyone else's route, headed straight for a steep wall of snow. Took off from said snowy slope and landed sideways, flipping the scooter and being chucked off the back. Luckily, we just ended up with a slightly painful shoulder on my part and a broken wind screen, I wasn't feeling so confident for the final 40-minute drive back to UNIS from there! Other than the tumble it was a great final hurrah for the course and I'd thoroughly recommend if anyone happens to be in Svalbard (maybe just find yourself a driver whose spent a bit more time in snowy environments).

Welcoming the sun back to Longyearbyen

he final Friday came around and as we began to say goodbye to some of our new-found glaciology friends we said a big hello to an old acquaintance. It was the day of the sun's return to the town of Longyearbyen after 5 months of darkness. The entire town (all 2000 of them) turned out to celebrate by the little church on the hill. The school children sang some jolly songs to welcome back the sun and we danced and chanted as the first rays appeared over the peak of Nordenskiöldtoppen. This was all followed by some good Norwegian waffles and then back to our place to prepare for a good night of partying.

After a day of cleaning and a short walk through bitter winds on Saturday it was a super early start to catch the plane back to London, via Oslo, leaving behind my weird yet wonderful, Arctic abode. I'm determined to make it back there some day.

Arriving back in the UK seemed very surreal; while everyone was bundled in coats to ward off the wind I basked in the bright sunlight, rolling up the sleeves of my t-shirt to enjoy the novelty of being outside in less than 3 layers and marvelling at the greenness of the trees. I quickly got used to British life again in my 4 day stop off back home in Bucks and it was great to catch up with a few friends and even manage a stop off at Challoner's, my old school, to present 'life in Svalbard' to the GCSE students there.

My month at 78°N was incredible and I was so fortunate to take part in a huge range of

Longyearbyen from above

unforgettable experiences and meet so many lovely people along the way. I haven't had too much time to miss it yet, what with Venice followed by a sunny week skiing with the family, I'm starting to wonder if the past 5 weeks were all just a slightly topsy-turvy dream. It's going to be quite a shock to the system, finally returning to Stockholm this coming Monday, I hope I can still find my way to my little apartment!

Now to prepare for copious amounts of field work in Northern Sweden and Southern Norway, at least I can't say my job's boring!