Matters of Money

The best way to spend 20 Kroner on Svalbard:
-- Take a taxi with 7 friends so you don't have to walk the 3km home in the blizzard with winds so strong it's knocking people off their feet. We are accumulating a bit of a snow drift in the entrance hall from a tiny crack in the door. Classes have been canceled for today and tomorrow, and we are all hibernating in our barracks.

Me with the statue in the middle of town. At the time it seemed like a good idea to take a self-portrait with a statue during an epic blizzard.

The best way to spend 10 Kroner on Svalbard:
-- A beer at the weekly 'Friday gathering' that is held in the school cantina. After class in the evening we normally sit around a fire place telling stories and slacklining between the room's pillars.


--Bake a loaf of bread. Bread is ridiculously expensive here, so most people bake their own. The barrack always smells lovely. I make all of my own food in the kitchen across the hall from my room. Staples include anything frozen or packaged. Fresh produce and dairy products are about 5x more expensive here as in the states (No joke. About $2 for a banana, $4 for a small carton of yogurt, $6 for a small pack of lunch meat).

RJ's delicious italian-esque bread recipe a-la svalbard

The best way to spend no money on Svalbard:
--Dig a hole, build a bonfire, sit around it while warming your hands, look up and enjoy the stars and the moon. Do you know how glorious it is to have an almost-full moon? It's like a miniature sun, hovering just high enough in the sky to cast an eerie glow on Longyearbyen.

Last Friday's evening entertainment. It was another pinch-me experience (am I really here right now? Is this all a dream?).

Photo credit: Alexis

--Go to class. UNIS is fully funded by the Norwegian government, so there isn't any tuition. Courses are revving into full swing. My schedule has changed a bit-- I'm taking Arctic Environmental Management and Physical Geography of Svalbard. My geography teacher is a hilarious Scottish grandpa-like man who is very excitable and loves glaciers dearly. He has us all looking forward to a trip into several ice caves next month. I'm also sitting in on a glaciology course and a history of Svalbard course (just for fun).

--Visit the library to escape the weather. There are always cute children there, plus a good selection of books in English, Norwegian, and Thai (the second largest country represented in Longyearbyen, strangely).


--Do anything outside. Skiing. Ice caving or climbing. Snow-mobiling. Sledding. Hiking. Skating. You name it, we do it. I'm living in an untouched wilderness, and I'm going to do my best to explore it while I'm here.

(OK, maybe not while this blizzard continues)