Ablation studies part two

July 8th 2013 11:41 PM 

We left HQ early this morning for Point 660, which made me both excited and incredibly sad. For one, it meant that we'd be completing our ablation study (I wrote about the first part here: http://wischmeyertravels.blogspot.com/2013/07/hello-to-everyone-back-in-usa-but-with.html), and I'd be able to set foot on that gorgeous ice sheet again. However, it also meant that my time here is coming to an end. It seems like three months have passed since were were last on the ice sheet; I've learned so much and have made so many new friends in these short two weeks. I can't even fathom leaving. 

Views from the drive: 

Anyways, those in my car found out at Point 660 that we had sped right past an umimak (name the animal!) en route, which made me very angry and determined redeem myself (to my credit, though, the umimak was on the opposite side of the car). Everyone else was bragging about their amazing pictures when we met up at 660, especially Samantha. Somehow she has the best fauna pictures of us all, despite the fact that my camera could kill her camera in a cage fight. After the gloating was over, we all started on the hike up to the ice sheet. This time around I essentially ran up the mountain, having gotten over my fear of falling on the Fourth of July. Greenland changes you. 

We did, however, spot an ukaleq.

There was an air of excitement as we walked toward our test site and started to see the bamboo sticks poking out of the ground. Nanoq congregated around our bamboo stick and someone whipped out a measuring stick; the surrounding ice had melted a whopping 39 cm in seven days! Wow. Although it IS currently the melting season in Greenland, seeing such drastic change in so short a time was an incredibly powerful experience. 39 cm may not seem like much, but when multiplied over x number of miles the ablation starts to add up. 

Nanoq! From left- right: Ronin, Makka, and Michael

Before this trip I'd always hear about ice caps melting in Anarctica, the North Pole- anywhere far enough north or south. I'd listen, half-interested, to horror stories about dying polar bears, greenhouse gases, a rise in sea level, etcetera, stories meant to scare the general population into making a change. The reality of the situation is far more drastic than most people understand. All of my experiences here -standing in front of the Russell Glacier, digging for fossils, measuring biodiversity- have taught me one simple fact: ice is melting faster than it can be replaced. This is going to have enormous consequences on the lives of the Greenlandic people, on the lives of everyone in the world! Think of global warming as a freight train. It may seem harmless, rolling slowly over the tracks, but it's also huge and weighs thousands of tons. Once that train starts to gain speed, it's going to take colossal energy to stop. 

After everyone finished collecting data (severely geeking out over our results), we had some time to take pictures. The entire JSEP crew took a few group shots, which I'm sure turned out phenominally with such a gorgeous backdrop. Then Samantha, Josephine, and I took a bunch of silly pics together, many of them involving us jumping off of "ice dunes" with our hands in the air. Considering I am almost a foot shorter than Sam and Josephine and consequently had a vastly greater fall than either, this was probably not a very intelligent move on my part. As it turns out, falling on your hands on sharp, melting ice is not very kind on the skin. Samantha fumbled a few times as well, and we both left 660 with blood on our hands (and hers on my shirt). 

Greenlanders! From left-right: Sandra, Nuka, Fred, John-Peter, Lana, Naasu, Makka, and Michael

Americanos giving Ronin's signature thumbs-up! From left-right: Lynn, Samantha, Gracie, Sheryl (back), Chloe, Ronin, Sam, and Britta

Danes! From left-right: Kasper, Skipper, Marie-Louise, Thomas, Josephine, and Rikke

Sam and I are ready for our close-up

My awkward jumping. I'm sorry, I am what I am. 

Marie-Louise and I lagged a little on the hike back to our cars, enough that the rest of the students had already wandered off by the time we finally made it back. We decided to hunt for a GeoCache around the area that the JSEP 2012 students had placed last year. It took a few minutes, but we found the Cache without too much trouble and opened up the activity log. You wouldn't think there to be many active GeoCache-rs in Greenland, but that little logbook already had seven or eight pages of signatures! Marie-Louise and I added our own and closed the book, adding to the Cache two Danish toy pigs that I had stashed in my backpack. It was neat looking at all of the small items in the Cache; my favorite was the scorpion lollipop left by Sydney Barnes from last year's JSEP team. I can only imagine the faces of the JSEP 2014 students as they open it up next year. 

On the drive back home we stopped at two small bridges, taking measurements on the depth of the river at certain points on each bridge. We'll use this data later to calculate how much water is moving through the two areas on average (just like our studies at the Watson). On a side note, Makka almost fell into the river a few times, and it scared the living daylights out of me. Is this how other people feel about Calamity Grace? I don't know. I feel as if everyone's desensitized to my misfortune by now. 

We continued on to HQ and along the way managed to spot that umimak from earlier! I didn't have my camera with me, since it was in another car, but maybe it was better that way. Staring at the umimak through a lens would have detracted from the beauty of the moment. 

Today at dinner I did not hesitate to buy a muskox burger. It was absolutely delicious, much better than your typical freedom burger in the U.S. Sam and I had strawberry mousse for dessert. If you have the option of dessert, always take it. 

The evening was filled with project work and a short presentation on whales by Kasper. His presentation was hilarious because he and the other teachers had a snarky banter going on the entire time. It was also fascinating, don't get me wrong; Kasper is insane and goes whale-watching in his kayak, so he had a couple of really excellent videos of breaching whales. In one of the videos a young whale nearly leaps onto his kayak! It must be incredible to live in Greenland, so close to these magnificent animals. Kasper claims he can hear whales breaching from his house in the mornings ... All I can hear in the mornings are airplanes and train whistles! 

We ended the night with brownies from Sheryl, a sad but delicious reminded that Greenland and I have only two days left together. :{ 

I don't know how I'll be able to say goodbye. 

Lightning radar day

July 7th, 11:29pm

We began the day with a discussion on fossils, focusing on the small fish fossils found commonly here in Kangerlussuaq. Although Skipper and Rikke led the talk, everyone contributed with questions and commentary. Even Kasper, who hates rocks and everything to do with them (for example: instead of saying, 'you rock', he says, 'you plant'), had a few things to say on the subject. The laid-back atmosphere of our classroom made paying attention so easy; I've realized over the past couple of days that I learn more quickly when I'm being talked with rather than talked at, and I think many of my classmates would agree. Our teachers give us structure and guidance, but it doesn't feel like we're being held captive to learn. 

We then went to the airport's weather station for a lecture on meteorology. It was actually fairly interesting; the meteorologist showed us how she interprets satellite images from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to gauge the safety of air travel. It struck me just how different her job is from the work of other scientists we've met. While they dissect known information to formulate new ideas, she evaluates new information in the constant pursuit of certainty, of safety. It's an inverse relationship I imagine looking something like this: Known <-- Research --> Unknown. I'm sure any type of science works in both directions, but if I had to choose I'm not sure which I'd prefer. 

Our weather lecture

Anyways, the main point of the meteorologist's lecture was that while automated forecasts are technically correct, it takes skill to be able to give value to those forecasts. It's comforting to know that technology hasn't made us humans completely unnecessary yet, even with something as precise as weather. 

We stopped at HQ for a quick lunch, then drove to a dusty, wide plain lining the fjord where our teachers claimed there were tons of fish fossils. Coincidentally, the area was right behind the airport- and more importantly, very near the sledgedog pens! Ten-month-old puppies ran out to greet us as soon as we stepped out of the trucks, and though Rikke told us not to pet them (after all, we were there for science), I think everyone broke down and hugged a puppy before we started walking. Four of the puppies even followed us to the plain, where they helped us search for fossils. 

Puppies! The sledgedog pens are to the distant left, behind Skipper and Josephine

As it turned out, there were tons of fossils lying around. It was easy to distinguish them from regular rocks because the fossils were smoother, more spherical, and had different coloration. Samantha found a full fish imprint right away, which we were both very excited about; I grew steadily less excited as time passed and I wasn't finding one. However, I did find smaller fossils, among them a fish vertebrae, fin, and head. To my delight, I also dug up a rusty hunk of metal and a shell casing, which Lynn said were probably remnants from WWII. 

Samantha's fish. Note the vertebrae

Metal-thing

Later, my group video-taped me as I gave some background on our fish fossils. About 8000 BP (Before Present, or before 1950), the sea level in Kanger was much higher than it is today. In fact, the entire area was underwater. However, the ice sheet began to retreat slowly toward the center of the continent, which had two main consequences. ... Firstly, the melting ice reduced pressure on the continent, causing it to gradually rise above sea level (much like holding a toy boat underwater and then letting it bob to the surface, but of course over the span of thousands of years). This forced the water to flow off of the land and back into the ocean. Secondly, the moving glaciers pushed sediment down into the fjord, which rapidly covered the remains of small fish and shells, essentially trapping them. Those stranded fish skeletons eventually formed fossils. 

Fossil hunting

Michael's amazing finds

We were just getting back into our trucks at the sledgedog pens when Britta started talking in an awful baby-voice to the puppies. The ensuing conversation went something like this:

Gracie: If I were a  dog, I'd be terrified of you.

Britta: Well, my dog likes it. He's deaf.

I'm going to miss my teachers here so much. 

After fossils, we went to Kellyville, a small research facility on the outskirts of Kanger, to learn more about radar, solar flares, and the Northern Lights. As we drove up the rolling mountains to Kellyville, I wondered where exactly the research facility was hidden, but then I saw an enormous satellite dish poking above the top of a hill and immediately I knew. The dish was very animated, rotating and tilting as we pulled up to the tiny building next to it. Kasper told us that the researchers were just trying to show off, and that we should act impressed- but I certainly wasn't acting as I stared up at the massive structure in awe.   

We went inside the facility, which was also home to several of the scientists who worked there. (In fact, all of the researchers who work at Kellyville LIVE in Kellyville with their families, which I think is outstanding and probably a little crazy.) We then listened to a scientist present on radar ... in his living room, from couches and a dining table. In hindsight, I was glad that I had to sit at the table; some of the students -and teachers- started to doze off in their comfy couch seats. It had been a long day and we were all tired, but many of us were still conscious enough to learn about radar and its relation to solar flares/the Northern Lights. The best part of Kellyville, however, was a tour of the facility. Groups Umimak and Tuttu went first, while Nanoq and Ukaleq waited until they returned. 

While we were waiting, I introduced myself to a radar specialist who had been listening to the lecture at the table next to me. I saw an opportunity in this man to test myself: was I confident enough, did I have enough questions, could I hold an intellectual conversation with an adult whom I had never met before? I swallowed my nerves, and we ended up having a nice little chat. He was from California -a fellow American!- and was headed to Summit station to repair some equipment there. Like me, it was his first trip to Greenland, but he'd been to several other countries before to make similar equipment repairs. We talked about the radio and how important it is- and he told me about how his opinions on what could be changed to make a more efficient worldwide radio system. Eventually it was my group's turn for a tour, so our discussion came to an end. 

Although Kellyville is small, it's loaded with all kinds of equipment. Of course there's the enormous satellite dish out in front of the building; this emits a thin laser beam every night and records radar data. Apparently the beam poses a risk to pilots' night vision, so the researchers at Kellyville have to be careful not to use the radar when they know planes are flying overhead. We also walked past one tall, blue machine several times during our tour, which crackled faintly. The crackling noise was actually lightning from all over the world, which the sensitive sensors at Kellyville are able to pick up. Last but not least, the researchers also use a huge computer from the 1960's, which our guide assured us had been modified in the last 50 years. I was so impressed with all of the technology in the facility; it hit me then just how amazing humans are and how far we've come. We shoot lasers into the sky. We can hear lightning across the planet. ...And all of this technology has been developed in the last century! What's next?

Lightning machine. 

1960's computer

After Kellyville, we had dinner at the airport again, which was delicious. We had beef with french fries and a salad, straying into familiar American territory. Britta and I inhaled our fries and then spent a significant portion of dinner eyeing Lynn's, lying uneaten to the right of her plate. As we soon found out, Lynn was saving her fries for last. Britta and I are planning on buying a muskox burger tomorrow so that we can have those delicious freedom fries again!

We had to rest of the night to work, and I am glad to say that the sea tomato video is 99.9% finished. I'm really starting to dislike sea tomatoes at this point. 

Takuss! 

Greenlandic day

July 6th, 11:02pm

Today had a shaky start; I woke up a little later than usual because the Greenlanders were preparing dinner early in the morning, and it was difficult to get ready for the day with everyone else rushing around. I prefer to wake up before the other students so that I don't have to wait for a spot in the bathroom or kitchen and whatnot. There was also some confusion in the morning because some boys slept in, making us about 20 minutes late. Bummer!

Interesting cloud formations on the Volkswagon road

We took a trip to a lake near the ice sheet, meeting up with two Eric Post scientists, David and Sean, who were to lead us in a biodiversity activity. After we had split into two large groups, one for each scientist, our progress was halted by the presence of a large tuttu (reindeer)! The tuttu made a wide circle around us, stopping often to pose. My group with David had a pretty good view of the reindeer, but Sean's group was maybe twenty feet away from it at one point. It was really an amazing specimen. Unfortunately I didn't bring my zoom lens on the field that day, but I will definitely bring it tomorrow.

David (L) and Sean (R)

Britta, Samantha and I also worked on some GLOBE stuff

Our tuttu. Please take a moment to appreciate Britta's comment about it stabbing me with its antlers, and also my flawless animation transition:

Our work was in a grassy plain to the side of the lake. The Eric Post scientists want to know how much the area's biodiversity will shift with climate change. Right now the majority of the plain is covered by grasses, but shrubs may gradually overtake the land as the temperature warms. Today our job was to take measurements on the current biodiversity of the field. Each group set up a huge 50-meter by 50-meter grid, marking its intersections every ten meters. We then went to each intersection with a 1-meter by 1-meter PVC pipe frame, laid it flat, and recorded the plant species we could see within the frame. We also had to estimate the percentage of the square that each plant species covered; given that there were about ten people in my group, this was the most tedious part of the whole process. Everyone had a different idea of what percentages to record. A typical conversation would go like this:

Ronin: Shrubs- 40%.
Samantha: I think it's more like 45%, with 55% grasses.
Josephine: Shrubs- 48%.
Grace: Why 48%?
Josephine: I like 8's!
Lynn: How about 43% shrubs and 57% grasses?
Everyone: Agreed.
Sheryl: Oh look, is that horsetail?
-collective groan-

Us doing work

I could see this research being fun if one had a small entourage, but since many bodies mean many differing opinions, working on that field was the most painful three hours of the entire trip so far. By the end of our activity, everyone had about had enough of forbes, horsetail, willow, and grasses. David gave us a short lecture on his research, and then the majority of students had a break while group Tuttu interviewed the scientists. I took what Lynn called a "tundra nap", and it was glorious. Moss is surprisingly soft and warm; I could definitely do fieldwork in the future if it meant more tundra naps.

View of the ice sheet from the plains

We packed up and headed back to the cars. I rode in Rikke's car with her usual group: Marie-Louise, Josephine, and Samantha. Sam fell asleep on the ride home, and you can bet she was confused when she woke up at the sledgedog pens! Rikke took us there instead of going straight back to HQ so that we could have a couple of minutes to play with the puppies. If this trip has taught me anything, it's that I love Rikke, I love Greenland, and I especially love sledgedog puppies.

When we got back to HQ, everyone was just heading back to work. My group, Nanoq, really got down to business. I labored over our sea tomato movie and finally finished it (disclaimer: it is boring. Also, I can't stand sea tomatoes), Ronin wrote our PolarTrec blog entry for the day, and Makka and Michael prepared dinner with the other Greenlanders.

We had an official dinner at the airport: pork with saurkraut, potatoes, and gravy. It was alright. I think I'll order a muskox burger the next time we're at the airport, though. Samantha and I shared a donut-type pastry afterwards, which was -of course- delicious.

After dinner, no one was feeling especially productive. We were all tired from fieldwork, even if we hadn't done much intense physical activity today. ...One thing about this program that is new for me is the exhaustion; though the days are fun and I'm learning a lot, we're being worked pretty hard. It's great. There's no better feeling than knowing you've done the most with the time you were given! ...Which reminds me that I only have a couple of days left here in Greenland ...

A little after 8pm, everyone was called downstairs for a meal of fried fin whale, potatoes, and smoked salmon on bread. It was all delicious, especially the whale! A local woman sang us two of her original titles, and they were beautiful. It's strange to hear music being sung in another language; there's something haunting about the way Greenlandic sounds to a beat. Everyone loved it.

Potato, whale, and smoked salmon

Let's see if this video works ...

We went outside to play "Inuit games", which were basically a bunch of variations on the classic egg-on-a-spoon race. My team lost about every single time, but it was only because we had all of the short people, and by extension, short legs. More games were waiting inside: a seated elbow-pulling game, a middle finger tug-of-war (I faced Samantha and dominated), a head-strap tug-of-war, and a game of strength where you have to keep your body rigid as you're picked up by the elbow/feet and pulled across the room. As you can imagine, everything was extremely entertaining to watch.

John Peter (L) and Nuka (R) showing us how elbow-wrestling is done

The Greenlandic students had prepared another small meal for us: apples, dried cod, raw fin whale, and raw narwhal. Let me start off by saying that the dried cod was excellent, as were the apples. The raw whale, however, went down "sideways with teeth" (insert an obligatory nod to Mr. Sharos here), especially the narwhal. I gagged a bit on the narwhal, and actually thought I was going to throw up; the texture was just ... Not pleasing in the least. It was rubbery and crunchy, and I foolishly swallowed it whole. I will spare you more unsavory details; yes, there are more. Many more.

More pictures from the night:

Fred not having any of Ronin's shenanigans

Me killing Samantha at middle finger-pulling

Head tug of war with Josephine (L) and Chloe (R)

At one point during that little meal, the lights turned off and flickered. The door to the spare room opened, and Sandra, Lana, and Makka came out of the darkness, hunched and swaying. Their faces were painted black with red markings, and they wore dark clothing. They grunted as they lurched around the room, occasionally sneaking up behind someone and growling menacingly in his or her ear. It was frightening, to say the least! I thought Sam Blair next to me was going to have a panic attack. A couple of tense minutes later and the three girls retreated back into the spare room; the lights came on and we applauded as they came out a second later, smiling and happy! We got the backstory to that little performance: if their children don't go to sleep when told, Greenlandic mothers put on masks, sneak into their child's room, and pretend to be spirits to scare him or her. Outstanding.

From left to right: Makka, Lana, and Sandra with their game faces on

There was some Greenlandic "cake" ready post-dinner, which tasted like Irish soda bread. Delicious! I saved some for lunch tomorrow.

Overall it was a great day. I'm dreading my departure!

Aviaja day

July 5th, 11:24PM

Today Aviaja, a Greenlandic PhD student, came to work with us. She was scheduled to arrive at 9am, but you know how Greenlandic airports are; seeing as her flight was delayed, we had an extra hour to clean up our tables and work on various projects.

Aviaja arrived at ten and began presenting at ten-fifteen. It was amazing how different the atmosphere was for this scientist than for the others; all of the students sat up straighter, took more diligent notes, and asked more questions than usual, especially the Greenlanders. I think it had something to do with the fact that we had only seen Danish and American scientists thus far in our trip- you could definitely see the Greenlanders' eyes brighten as Aviaja translated into their native language (while the Greenlanders can all speak in Danish and English, none of the Danes or Americans can speak Greenlandic). Aviaja is also young, stylish, friendly, and speaks Greenlandic, Danish, and English flawlessly- not to mention incredibly successful. She was brilliant. I know the rest of the JSEP crew would agree with me that hearing her talk today was nothing short of inspiring.

Also, she wore glasses chains. I knew those were coming back.

Aviaja's lecture covered a variety of topics. First she talked about biotechnology: how biology is applied to industry to create useful products like detergent, food products, soap, etc. She also spoke to us about the Ikaite columns in southern Greenland, which are unusual because they contain bacteria that thrive in low temperatures and high pH. Since you can't find these conditions in many other places on the planet, Aviaja says that the Ikaite columns are very important to research. She and her mentor Peter want to apply the low-temp-high-pH bacteria to laundry detergent, which could save huge amounts of energy every year.

Ikaite columns

The last topic Aviaja spoke about was Greenland's very healthy potatoes. In southern Greenland, where the climate isn't so extreme, farmers have been able to grow potatoes and other underground vegetables. What is special about these potatoes is that they grow in fungal-resistant soil, since the climate is still too cold to support fungal life. Given this, the Greenlanders don't have to use pesticides or other chemicals to keep their potatoes alive! I thought this was really awesome but a little worrying. While climate change may make growing vegetables easier in Greenland, it may also change the properties of Greenlandic soil, creating a more suitable environment for fungi and other pests. And again on the flipside- if Greenland can grow its own vegetables, pesticides or not, it might become more independent from Denmark (although Greenland is no longer Danish territory, Denmark still has a great deal of influence here). Climate change is definitely a two-sided coin. I see the need for strong Greenlandic leaders in the next few decades!

When Aviaja was finished we headed up to the salt lake. It was much easier driving there than biking there, as Ronin and I knew very well. (It's a good thing we didn't try to continue on the salt lake path yesterday, because we still would have had a LONG way to go.) The salt lake was very beautiful, of course, with fields of shrubs and flowers surrounding it. There was lots of evidence of wildlife; bones, tracks, and scat was everywhere. Muskox and reindeer come here often to satisfy their sodium fix, Kasper told me- much like horses and salt licks. As for why the lake is salty? I'm still not sure, and neither is Kasper. Skipper says that it's just because the mineral composition in this valley is special; how so, and why, I still do not know. I'm not sure there is an easy explanation.

Salt lake

360-view of Salt lake

After we collected some samples for our water/soil tests (no phosphate in either the soil or water, surprise surprise), Aviaja had a couple of activities prepared for us at the lake. We received four petri dishes (two of them had sugar-rich nutrients, and two of them had protein-rich nutrients), two falcon tubes, and a couple of sterile loops. Michael partnered with me; together we collected soil and water samples in the falcon tubes, then streaked the samples onto the sugar/protein plates using our sterile loops. My plates looked horrible because I didn't adjust my plates to the light and couldn't see where I was streaking, but of course Michael's were immaculate. In the next few days we'll monitor our plates and see which ones grow the most bacteria.

Salt lake

Later at the lake we went on a plant hunt! Each pair was handed a list of plants to find and bring back to Aviaja. Michael and I split up to cover more ground, and I found niviarsiaq- he found almost everything, including niviarsiaq. So much for splitting up.

View from the mountain above Salt lake, where we were dropped off and picked up

360-view from above Salt lake

We took our plant samples with us back to HQ, and once there we listened to Aviaja talk a little bit about every plant on the list. She had chosen them for their value in Greenlandic folk lore and medicine- it was pretty neat to hear all of these seemingly insignificant plants' little quirks and backstories! Here are some of my notes:

Rhododendron

• used for teas and spices; smells nice and used commonly in Greenland

Fir clubmoss

• people who were done living in society and chose to live in nature changed into these plants
• can fly, can talk to animals, and has other mythical powers
• very "hairy", looks like fingers coming out of the ground

Common juniper

• functions as a contraceptive and treatment for diabetes and arthritis
• apparently gives good taste to tuttu- thanks to Kasper for that little gem

Roseroot/King's Crown

• enhances focus and concentration
• stress relieving, has been used in Chinese medicine as well
• can actually be found in pill form in America
• I need to find this and consume it

Niviarsiaq/River Beauty

• the national flower of Greenland

Arctic blueberry

• antioxidant, very healthy

Aviaja closed with a short talk on how important it is for more Greenlanders to invest themselves in science, essentially because the entire island of Greenland is a lab on climate change. There is so much research just waiting to be done, and who better to do it than the Greenlanders themselves! Sam Blair also pointed out that new Greenlandic resources uncovered by glacial melting might be exploited by other countries if the people of Greenland don't take a more active role in the management of their country's environment.

Probably the most moving thing for me to hear was Aviaja's response to someone's question at the end of her presentation, "So how many Greenlandic microbiologists are there?" She smiled a little and responded, "Just one. Me." I sincerely hope that changes as a result of this program, and I think it will. It was obvious that Aviaja's talk had a huge impact on the Greenlandic students.

After Aviaja was finished, we had free time before dinner to work on our projects and whatnot. Makka and I are still stressing over our stupid sea tomato video, but it's coming along. Dinner was great because Samantha and I got ice cream afterwards, and Kasper bought us more hot chocolate mix. At nine we finished Independence Day, and then Samantha and I had a 10:30pm hot chocolate walk to one of our favorite spots by the river.

Tomorrow is Greenlandic cultural day! I'm not sure what to expect, although Rikke asked me not to wake up so early because the G-landers wanted to prepare for dinner in the morning. I have a feeling it's going to be good!

AMERICA

July 4th

I woke up early again today despite everyone else having an extra hour of sleep. After showering I then woke up Samantha and Ronin, and together we began decorating for the big day ahead! It was really fun to sneak around, hanging red, white, and blue everywhere like patriotic ninjas. We woke up Sam and Chloe at 7:30 because they wanted to sleep in, and they helped us finish hanging decorations.

But by far the best part of the morning was the Americans' wake-up call. We marched single-file into the dorm hallway, singing the national anthem and opening doors as we went. Actually, that's inaccurate. We screamed the national anthem and threw open doors, because that's how Americans do things. Go big or go home, right? (I would also like to mention that Sam messed up the lyrics to our national anthem and it created a few seconds of confusion as we tried to remember the correct words.) After all of the students were awake (none too happy about it), we Americans went upstairs to the teachers' dorms and tiptoed into the hallway. After a short discussion, we decided on how exactly we were going to wake the teachers up ... The first half of the anthem we sang softly (and beautifully. It was actually very nice), and then, bam. We screamed the last half at the top of our lungs from "AND THE ROCKETS' RED GLARE". The teachers loved it! Britta, Lynn, and Sheryl came out of their rooms and joined us in singing, while the Danish teachers just kind of looked out of their rooms and laughed at us. Everyone was thoroughly awake: mission accomplished.

We finished our SPRINTT assignment in the morning, and then broke for lunch. Lynn made PB&J sandwiches for everyone to try- it was delicious! They don't sell peanut butter commonly in Greenland or Denmark, so PB&J was a new experience for the majority of the JSEP students. It was funny watching them taste it for the first time; suddenly I understood what I must have looked like trying patte or the nasty, salty licorice. Josephine gave Samantha and I a few wary looks but eventually tried the sandwich. She didn't like it because the peanut butter stuck to her throat, and later said, "Well, I think this was my last peanut butter sandwich." Then, after a second: "But at least I tried it." And that's really what this program is about: trying new things and meeting new people to broaden your knowledge on such different -but uniquely beautiful- cultures.

After lunch, we had a Skype session with a scientist named Sebastian, during which I may or may not have dozed off a little. Sebastian's work is pretty interesting, though; he knows a lot about the overall melting trends of sea ice and the ice sheet. Sea ice, for example, will be gone soon if melting rates continue. The ice sheet will not be gone anytime soon, but its mass balance is decreasing very quickly. It was pretty powerful to look at all of Sebastian's graphs and evidence after we had just been on the ice sheet and seen a glacier. Everything seemed so much more real and urgent.

We had free time between 1pm and 6pm. Some students went on hikes, and others went down to the airport and walked around for a while. Kasper drove Ronin and I down to the airport, where we and a few other students rented bikes for the day. I picked out what I thought was the nicest bike available, but Fred pushed me and stole it (grr), so I had to settle for some dingy piece of scrap metal. Not more than two minutes later, I turned a little too hard and wiped out on it! Or, rather, off of it. The Greenlanders all thought it was hilarious ... and okay, it was pretty funny. My leggings ripped, knee gashed and bloody, I pedaled back to HQ with Ronin trailing behind. Needless to say Fred was not my favorite person at that moment!

Back at HQ I showed Britta my battle scars and grabbed a bandaid; then Ronin and I started up the road to a salt lake Kasper had told us about. This turned out to be an awful idea. Not only was the road uphill but also extremely sandy- my bike veered dangerously close to the Watson at one point because it's surprisingly difficult to steer when you're pedaling through sand. Ronin thought I was dead and so did I, but I managed to right myself and continue on, up the road and toward the salt lake. Sort of.

The road we climbed up. It's steeper than it looks, and keep in mind that it wraps around the whole mountain.  

Eventually we had to dismount and push our bikes up the mountain because it was impossible to pedal. Skipper drove by and offered to drive us to the top, but I foolishly declined. About an hour later, Ronin and I finally reached the top, sweating and swatting mosquitoes like madmen (although I had found a beautiful yellow quartz on the side of the road). We gave up pretty quickly when we saw the road climbing higher and higher, up several MORE mountains- and no salt lake in sight. Luckily the trip wasn't a total waste. John Peter came out of nowhere and waved us over to where he and a couple of other Greenlanders were standing. They had spotted two Umimat, or muskoxen, down on a grassy plain below. This was extremely good luck considering the JSEP team last year hadn't seen any muskox during their entire trip! In my mind, this justified my and Ronin's trek up the mountain. I watched the umimat for a couple of minutes, quiet. It was nice to just sit and enjoy being here, in Greenland, with the muskox below and purple mountains behind them.

Our view 

By the time I was finished, only Ronin and Fred were still waiting for me. Since Ronin and I really didn't want to climb any more mountains, we decided to return to HQ with Fred. Us three were biking down the mountain together (flying, more like it) when I noticed a couple of lumps in the sand coming quickly toward me. I tried to brake, but of course my brakes decided to break at exactly that moment! Thanks a lot, Fred, for this jewel of a bicycle! I hit that sandbar and went flying over the handlebars, yelling an impolite word as I did so, and skidded a little before coming to rest on my back in the sand. Fred was in front of me when I fell, but he stopped and ran back up where I was laying; Ronin also stopped and came to see if I was alright. Fortunately I wasn't badly hurt, and I was even feeling good enough to tell them to "leave me here to die". They continued down the mountain on their bikes, but I limped back across the Watson bridge on my own two feet, which come with fully functional brakes already.

Fred and Ronin were waiting for me on the other side of the bridge. I was actually in a pretty good mood by then, having found some niviarsiaq on the side of the road and still excited about the muskox sighting. It was here that I received one of the best compliments ever from Ronin: "You're more of an Alaskan girl than most Alaskan girls." Beaming, I returned to HQ and wiped away my blood with alcohol wipes from the yacht first aid kit. Then Ronin and I started to help out with dinner, Britta teasing me all the while.

Band-aided up

We had quite the American menu planned out. I started baking bacon in the oven for bacon cheeseburgers, and Lynn had beans and brownies cooking (separately, of course). Lynn had also brought graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows for s'mores!

After hearing about our muskox sighting, however, Lynn and Britta wanted to go out and see the umimat for themselves. Naasu and I joined them in a car ride (thank goodness) up the mountain to see them, and although we couldn't find them at first Naasu managed to spot them in the end. Muskox have surprising good camouflage, especially when their great white horns are facing away from you. They look like ordinary boulders. With my "ultra-zoom" lens I got a couple of really great pictures, but of course before we headed back I fell thigh-deep into a rabbit hole. Cue the Britta sass.

Spot the umimat!

Naasu lookin' cool

Lynn (L) and Britta (R)

We got back to HQ and resumed cooking; the other Americans also returned from their hikes and helped out. Ronin and Sam had a heated argument about who should be the "Grillmaster", but Ronin came out on top. He was extremely proud of himself, and kept shouting "AMURICAAA" as he was flipping burgers on our makeshift grill. I set the table, and by about 6:30 we had a class-A American barbecue! There was hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, potato salad, chips, (Danish) pop, brownies, and cupcakes. De-e-elicious.

The Grillmaster

Decorations!

Our delicious American buffet

It was a really fun night. The chaps from Dartmouth college even came over for some classic Fourth of July, as did a couple of other scientists from the KISS building. Fred found a guitar somewhere, and during dinner we all sang classic songs like "Stand by Me" as Ronin grilled nearby. Lynn brought out supplies for making s'mores, and I stuffed my face, earning me the nickname "S'mores" from Fred. So now I'm Chicago, Calamity Grace, and S'mores. Clearly I'm making a name for myself here in Greenland.

Sing-a-long time by the grill

Later we played an Alaskan tug-of-war game, had wheelbarrow and potato sack races, and even played a game of capture-the-flag. When we were all too tired to move, we then watched half of Independence Day. I really loved this ultra-patriotic Fourth of July! It really brought out us Americans' true colors- red, white, and blue.

Wheelbarrow races

Note the cheater. He was also a Boston Bruins fan. Coincidence?

Takuss!