Patte and Thai again

June 29^th 11:25PM

The strangest thing about this place is the quietness, especially in the mornings and nights. Almost no noise.  There are VERY few birds, cars, airplanes, and even people outside; it’s like Franklin Park when it snows. Absolutely, beautifully, silent.

Today was even better than yesterday. We split into groups and planned our research questions and agenda. Nanoq, my group, struggled at first- we had few ideas, and later when we searched for a good EarthCache spot, the language barrier made things a little awkward. That wore off once we climbed a horribly steep, sandy slope together- Michael (GR) wanted to place a Geocache there. Everyone really came together in the heat of the struggle … Well. Actually, we all laughed at each other the whole way up, but at least that broke the ice. I was equally slow in climbing back down the slope- in fact, I slid the whole way on my butt. I told my mom I’d come home in one piece, not with a broken face!

Makka and Michael

I was highly pleased when the Greenlanders tried Garrett’s popcorn and LOVED it. The Danes? Not as much. They were very confused as to why anyone would put cheese/caramel on popcorn. The Danes, as I soon learned, fill their Garretts void with a pig-liver spread called ‘patte’ (it was alright at best), and a white-dusted licorice candy. They told me that the licorice was good, that it was candy, so naturally I assumed the white powder all over it was sugar. Everyone watched me carefully as I tried a piece, and voila- salt. Salt, salt, salt, salt, salt. It was disgusting, but at least my pain made the Danes laugh.

After lunch we practiced Excel –I partnered with Samantha- and watched a few student videos from last year. I’m excited to get going on our own videos! We have a huge selection of equipment to use, including a laptop. I’ll try to share pictures when I can, but we have a limited amount of bandwidth and I have to compress all of my pictures before posting them. It’s a very tedious process, and I wish I could keep you all up-to-date, but I’m not sure that I’ll be able to. Sorry!

We had Thai again and today I sat with Frederick (GR) and Kasper (teacher from DK). They’re excellent conversationalists despite the language barrier, but I still wish that I could communicate my thoughts more effectively. Communication is a recurring problem here … maybe when we all start to get know each other better, it will become easier. Or so I hope. I doubt I’ll be able to learn Danish in only a few days.

After dinner, we walked to the airport (about a twenty-minute walk in each direction) and exchanged dollars for kroner. I’ve heard the ice cream is pretty outstanding in Kanger, so I can’t wait to buy some with my new Danish cash.

We had personal presentations at around 7pm, which lasted until 11! They were very interesting to watch, though. Everyone comes from such different places around the world; I feel so grateful to be here and experience so many cultures. I hope my own presentation wasn’t too boring, but it was unique in that no one else comes from a big city like Chi town. The city has a different kind of beauty than Greenland … a loud beauty. I know I’ve said this before, but Greenland is so quiet, so subtle.

Ronin presenting

Samantha presenting

Exhausted and going to sleep. I wish it were actually dark outside …

Day one

6/28, 4:00PM

In front of the C-130, ready to board

So, here it finally is- day one of my Greenland trip! Right now we're on a C-130 jet ... SO exciting for the first two hours, then steadily less exciting with every passing minute. We cycle between sleeping, eating, writing, and fiddling with our phones, although I seem to be awake when everyone else is asleep and asleep when everyone else is awake! It's pretty boring, but I'm still excited at the thought of our final destination.

Aboard the C-130

About the C-130. It's smaller than expected, with red straps that crisscross to form our seats. There are two lines of seats, each against a wall, so that each side is facing each other. There are small, circular windows every few feet- I'm near one. All of the rest of the cargo is strapped down. Two bathrooms: one near the back for the ladies (haven't had to pee yet and it's been four hours. Pretty sure that's called dehydration) and a urinal at the front of the plane, conveniently located RIGHT next to my seat. That's right. Every time a man has to go, I'm only about two feet away from tapping him on the shoulder, separated only by a curtain. G-L-A-M. O-R-OUS yeah.

My window

The porcelain throne, C-130 edition

The other kids seem just as excited as I am. When we got out of our bus to walk toward the C-130, ALL the cameras came out. I could see the bus driver laughing at us! -But I'm taking hundred of pictures and have absolutely no regrets.

Only a couple more hours until we reach Kanger ... guess I'll just stare out the window and get excited for everything that is to come.

6/28, 10:45PM

The C-130 landed safely! Hah. It is now 10:45 and everyone is just trying to get settled after our first day in Kanger. We arrived to a beautiful, almost unreal landscape: the mountains look like a fake backdrop. Kanger is located in a valley walled in by massive rock faces, making it a good choice for U.S. military presence in the first and second world wars. 

Very excited to be off the plane!

It’s very small- only about 500 residents, spread out across the valley in houses of all different colors. There’s a river –the Watson- on one side of the settlement, with a bridge leading out of the town and into the mountains. We were told that the bridge was underwater last year, and even now there are still small bulldozers sitting around the area, roped off by caution tape. It’s a strange looking river. The water is grayish because of all the sediment it carries down from the glacier, making it look like one of those stop-and-go clay movies.  Although it’s captivating to watch, we were ALSO told that if we fell into the Watson it would be impossible to rescue us, no one would try, and we would definitely die. To heighten the excitement, the banks surrounding the river have patches of ‘kviksand’. Despite the dangers, everything is going swimmingly. It feels good to be here. 

The city of Kanger

We exchanged 'tokens' at night, or little mementos from everyone's homeland. I brought painted lake rocks and pressed pennies from Navy Pier. The other US participants brought everyone a Huna Totem tote/notepad (Ronin, AK), New England maple candies (Sam, MA), a dream catcher (Samantha, NM), a lacrosse-inspired bead to put on his or her hiking boots (Chloe, MN), Virginia peanuts (Lynn, teacher, VA), an Alaskan pin (Sheryl, teacher, AK), and a NOAA pin (Britta, WA). The Danish students brought little figurine pigs, because apparently Denmark revolves around swine. And the Greenlanders have yet to find tokens, but we were promised them later in the week. 

Tokens from the other students!

A great day- so excited for the rest of the trip!

Albany!

It's been a jam-packed couple of hours.

My first flight went extremely well! It was very sad to leave the family behind, but security was a breeze ... Hallelujah! I was most nervous about check-in/security, but apparently I didn't look too suspicious. Whew.

I met up with Chloe and Samantha, two other U.S. students, shortly after, and made them try Garrett's Chicago style. Not sure if they were particularly impressed, or understood the importance of Garrett's in the Chicagoan's diet. We boarded at around 2:10, and luckily were able to sit together. They were nice enough to give me the window seat since it was my first flight!

Bye bye Chicago!

Flying was amazing. It was smooth and blue (although apparently "my sky is weird" and not as blue as Chloe or Samantha's) and generally the coolest thing I have ever experienced.

After arriving in Albany, we met up with Lynn and Britta, two Einstein Fellows, and Sam, another U.S. participant. It's strange to listen to everyone talk about their hometown; we're already all so different, and we haven't even met the Danes and Greenlanders yet!

Tomorrow at 4AM I wake up in preparation for our long 8-hour flight from Albany to Greenland. I hear the C-130's don't have functioning toilets, just a bucket and a curtain. It's going to be a very long flight.

One Day More

Hey all!

I've started this blog to record my JSEP 2013 travels, which, crazily enough, begin tomorrow. 

I applied to JSEP in February, and learned of my acceptance mid-March- three-and-a-half months have been building toward this moment, today, right now! Words cannot express how excited -and nervous, and panicked- I am to start moving, although, truth be told, I haven't even finished packing yet. It's hard to focus for long on any one thing. Thanks to my mom and sister Greta for keeping me busy- without them, I would probably be sitting on my floor, throwing things around in a frenzy.

Here's the JSEP 2013 web page: [x] Check the 'Journals' section for updates as the trip progresses.

Can't wait for this amazing experience to begin!