Svalbard life can seem a little bit bubble like at times, remote and a little world with quirks all of its own, but the bubble has a permeable surface for sure. There is a lot of talk about Svalbard being a future and indeed present hub of the Arctic, usually from a logistics point of… Read More
Category: Phd Life
4th July – Putting a price on it
One of the things we tend to think about when the word ‘value’ comes up is economic value, how much can we get for our money. In Svalbard the answer is usually a lot less than you might hope for and after a while you have to stop being shocked and grumbling because it gets… Read More
10th June – Gratulerer med dagen Longyearbyen!
Happy Birthday Longyearbyen, 108 today! Today is Longyearbyen Day, which has been celebrated since it’s centenary in 2006. To mark the day there were a few historical things going on, which I attempted to join in with. Longyearbyen has certainly seen a lot of changes in it’s relatively short lifetime (a quick version from the… Read More
7th June – Getting out
Bit of an extended post today since I have skipped a couple…. Staying here in Longyearbyen for any length of time, people start to become concerned that you manage to find your way out of town and experience some of ‘the nature’ here. Though Longyearbyen has just about everything one needs, after a few weeks,… Read More
2nd June – It’s good to talk
Today the internet and mobile network was out for a few hours. It doesn’t sound drastic, and it wasn’t. Not really. It did stop me in my tracks for a while though. This phenomenon is becoming more and more rare and it’s amazing how much we rely on staying connected. I was going to check… Read More
1st June – Chance encounters
Today I met someone who just picked up an email I sent months ago when I was looking for somewhere to stay in Svalbard. We are, hopefully, going to help each other out on our respective research projects, and it’s going to be great 🙂 These are the kind of things that often get left… Read More
31st May – Trying and research
I’ve had a day focussed on tourism today, one way or another. It’s actually ‘low season’ at the moment, between the busy snow-scooter, skiing – filled March and April and the summer season proper, although there are still visitors about here and there. So, like the tourist operators and service providers, I have been gearing… Read More
30th May – Water above and below
Another week of extremely interesting conversations, but photography-wise, I’ve been lacking in inspiration on what to share. It has been grey, cloudy and mizzly these last few days. The mountain tops have dissappeared from view under cloud and I remember now this is very much like how it was when I arrived almost a year… Read More
28th May – Everything’s political
(For anyone not of the right age and taste in music to get the Skunk Anansie reference, this blog title needs screaming loudly and with passion!) As mentioned last week, Environmental Protection is a big talking point in Svalbard, as is the future of coal mining here. The ‘paradox’ between the two, is perhaps no… Read More
24th May – time for tourism
Takes one to know one, so they say. In that spirit we booked ourselves on a guided walk up a glacier and into an ice cave as an exploration into tourist mode and a bit of a day off. Of course it wasn’t, but it was heaps of fun in the sun! Along the way… Read More
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