Gracie On The Go : Sledge puppies

June 30th, 11:15PM

Today was a-maz-ing.

First of all, I woke up before wake-up and got to stand in line for the shower … It doesn’t sound glamorous, but I was really excited to be on time and not tired for once.

We spent the rest of the morning out on the field taking samples, first at a landfill and then at lake Ferguson. The landfill was absolutely disgusting. There were bones, bundles of fur, plastic, and insects everywhere. And the smell was nearly unbearable; everyone had their sleeves over their mouths. We took soil and water samples and then high-tailed it out of there. The soil had a high phosphate concentration, but was low in nitrate. The water, however, had very low amounts of both phosphate and nitrate.

Ronin, to me: "You have to be in one of your pictures." And so we have our first photo of Grace, in front of a large and smelly pile of decaying garbage.

This basically sums up my landfill experience

Lake Ferguson was the complete opposite of the landfill, as it was blue and sparkling. It reminded me of Lake Michigan, but cleaner! There was no phosphate or nitrate in either Lake Ferguson’s soil or water; after my group had finished testing, we spent some time wandering around and just enjoying the view. I sat on a rock and stared out into the water, and Rikke (one of our Danish teachers) joined me after a while. We talked about geology, and she taught me how to find garnets around the lake. I’m horrible at finding them- try as I may, I never seem to see the red-spotted rocks that Rikke claims are “everywhere”. Almost all of the other students have found them! I think my biggest goal in JSEP is to find a garnet by the end of the program. I’m not here to make friends, folks. I’m in it to win it.

Lake Ferguson

Testing samples!

Approximately 200-year-old lichen.

Samantha (US), Josephine (DK) and I walked about halfway back to Kanger when Rikke picked us (and Chloe, who had meanwhile climbed across a whole mountain by herself) up and drove us back. I was really tired afterwards, and kept dozing off during our work time … But I enjoyed our time at the lake, and I especially enjoyed my walk with Samantha and Josephine.

I got ice cream for lunch, even though I needed Josephine’s help with translating. It was good! AND I got my first kroner change. It was both an exciting and delicious moment.

After lunch we had a SPRINTT assignment. I worked with Chloe (US) and Samantha, but fell halfway asleep because I was still so tired from field work. I twitched back to life after a couple of minutes, though, not to worry. We had a quick art lesson from Britta afterward, and each of us drew a flower. She told us to try and do some field sketches before the trip is over, and I fully intend to, even though Greenlandic vegetation is generally uninspiring.

Right before dinner we went to see some local sledge dogs. Needless to say I was very excited! Right when I stepped out of the car, ten-month old puppies ran out of their enclosure to greet me and the other students. I also got to hold a 3-week-old puppy, which was outstandingly adorable. When I gained enough courage, I even interacted with the adult sledge dogs. You definitely needed a little confidence to approach those dogs; they were chained up and friendly, but very loud and active. I might also add that all of the above mentioned dogs were raised by a Danish handler. The Danes treat their dogs like family, so they’re friendlier than the Greenlandic dogs, who are treated as working animals. So, although both types of dogs were present at the sledge camp, I chose to interact with only the Danish dogs.