We had an amazing time in Disko Bay. 
The research station was so homey and the kitchen was amazing. Our third day in Disko Bay, after another lecture in the morning, Michelle, the grad student who is leading the trip, Girard, the accompanying professor, a few other of the more adventurous students and I went on another hike to attempt to reach the glacier near to town. 
We couldn’t find anyone who knew the route to get there, so we looked at the map and picked our way up a river to a boulder field that lead up the valley to the glacier. We got pretty close when we decided we should turn around, but it was a very fun hike. It was a little more intense than our previous hikes and involved some route finding, back-country, and boulder hopping and it was nice to get away from the WHOLE group and do something a little less planned. When we got back Lindsey, a girl on the trip who also
went hiking and leads climbing trips back in Seattle, and I made mulled wine by heating red wine and adding a little honey and cinnamon. It was delicious and really hit the spot after a cold windy hike. That night Christian, a guy from Arizona on the trip, made burgers and I made curry vegetables and garlic potatoes for dinner, YUM! The next day we got back on the ferry to Ilulissat, which was a little rough. A lot of people felt seasick and we didn’t get back to the hostel until midnight. The next day back in Ilulissat I took a hike by myself down to the Jacobshavn Glacier south of town, 
which is the most active glacier in the world. It drains 10% of the Greenland Ice 
sheet and it literally a river of ice coming out of the fjord. It is magnificent. I hiked out and marveled at the massive ice bergs cascading like an assembly line out of the glacier for hours. The next morning we had to Ilulissat, which almost feels l
ike leaving home since we had been in and out of and around that town for so long, 
and get on the ferry to Nuuk, the capitol of Greenland. The ferry is a lot like the ferry Mike and I took back from Alaska. We are in nice little bunks with 8 people to a room, but not too cr
owded and there is a cafeteria and a really nice seating area in the back that has lots of windows. We saw whales off the boat and the sunset was beautiful as I sat in the back and read. It was so nice to sit and read and enjoy the water and the ice and the beautiful colors. We spent two nights on the boat and got off in Nuuk, the capitol city, at 7am this morning. After being out in the tundra, Nuuk seems huge. It has a population of 5,000 and busses and bustles like a little city. It is also full of all these apartment blocks that were built in the 70’s where people live. They house 1% of the population and are a little depressing. After breakfast at the Seaman’s House, a cafeteria for fisherman which was pretty neat, we walked over to the National Museum and had a guided tour from a guy who worked at the University here. It was interesting to learn about the history of Greenland and how it was colonized. We even got to see the first rock house ever built. It was built by Hans Egede, a missionary who came in 1728 to colonize and convert (very successfully I might add) Greenland to Danish rule and the Lutheran Church. The Greenlanders used to live in turf houses in the winter and then move to seal-sink teepees near the sea in the summer. We also got to see their traditional outfits at the museum, which were very colorful and made of fur and beads and some colored cloth after the Europeans came over. After lunch we went to see another aspect of Greenland politics and hear from the President of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. It was a very interesting, passionate presentation and a point of view we hadn’t heard before. The next day we went to see the new Parliament meeting room that 
was under construction and heard from an under-secretary there about Parliamentary procedure for the Home Rule government and the upcoming referendum this November to move to Home Government (another step towards Independence, basically more responsibility moved to the Greenland government). The new construction project is to make the Meeting room for the 31 Parliamentary members larger, with a public seating area, and outfit it with microphones and capabilities to broadcast the sessions on national television. Then we went to the new University and heard from the President of the Home Land Rule Commission about the new Home Government Act and what that would mean for Greenland. The conclusion was basically that Greenland can and probably will become Independent in the future, but first needs to internally grow their economy by focusing on education. The University is the only one in Greenland and has a lon
g history, dating back from 1845, but this building, as well as the associated Institute of Natural Resources, is new as of 1998. They are very beautiful architecture, all large cedar panel with huge South-facing windows and passive solar heating in the concrete floors. The woman who talked to us at the Institute said they don’t have to heat the building for a large portion of the year or use lights, which is a no small accomplishment in Greenland. At the Institute of Natural Resources we heard from a biologist who was working on monitoring the shrimp catch. It seems our host professor knows EVERYONE here, which is very nice since we get to have the insider’s tour. That evening we went to a Thai restaurant in town, which had surprisingly good Thai curries and I “Greenland Sushi” which I had to try. It had sa
shimi cuts of Salmon, Greenlandic Halibut, shrimp, whale, and whale skin, and a few maki rolls. It was very interesting to try raw whale, and not as bad as I thought, it was actually pretty good. The whale skin was a little weird, but mostly it just had a weird aftertaste. Anyways, then we flew back to Kangerlussuaq and got in this morning at 9am. After dropping our stuff at the hostel and eating breakfast, a few other kids and I rented bikes and rode 50km down this HORRIBLE bumpy, rocky, washboarded dirt road to a glacier. Even though the road was b
ad and the bikes were nothing special, it was a beautiful ride and it was nice to see the ice again. Apperantly it is the “musk ox road” too, and we saw a bunch of vans of tourists on “musk ox safaris” but we didn’t see any ourselves. The next day we just had lectures and I went for a run and then had an all night flight back to Copenhagen, fun. Unfortunately I couldn't sleep at all, but now I am here and get to email all you fine people, which is awesome. Some kids on the trip and I are going to go to the Carlsberg brewery. On Tuesday I fly back home and am on to other adventures. Sorry it took so long to get this one out, Internet access has been spotty. Hope you are all well and talk to you soon!
The research station was so homey and the kitchen was amazing. Our third day in Disko Bay, after another lecture in the morning, Michelle, the grad student who is leading the trip, Girard, the accompanying professor, a few other of the more adventurous students and I went on another hike to attempt to reach the glacier near to town. 
We couldn’t find anyone who knew the route to get there, so we looked at the map and picked our way up a river to a boulder field that lead up the valley to the glacier. We got pretty close when we decided we should turn around, but it was a very fun hike. It was a little more intense than our previous hikes and involved some route finding, back-country, and boulder hopping and it was nice to get away from the WHOLE group and do something a little less planned. When we got back Lindsey, a girl on the trip who also
went hiking and leads climbing trips back in Seattle, and I made mulled wine by heating red wine and adding a little honey and cinnamon. It was delicious and really hit the spot after a cold windy hike. That night Christian, a guy from Arizona on the trip, made burgers and I made curry vegetables and garlic potatoes for dinner, YUM! The next day we got back on the ferry to Ilulissat, which was a little rough. A lot of people felt seasick and we didn’t get back to the hostel until midnight. The next day back in Ilulissat I took a hike by myself down to the Jacobshavn Glacier south of town, 
which is the most active glacier in the world. It drains 10% of the Greenland Ice 
sheet and it literally a river of ice coming out of the fjord. It is magnificent. I hiked out and marveled at the massive ice bergs cascading like an assembly line out of the glacier for hours. The next morning we had to Ilulissat, which almost feels l
ike leaving home since we had been in and out of and around that town for so long, 
and get on the ferry to Nuuk, the capitol of Greenland. The ferry is a lot like the ferry Mike and I took back from Alaska. We are in nice little bunks with 8 people to a room, but not too cr
owded and there is a cafeteria and a really nice seating area in the back that has lots of windows. We saw whales off the boat and the sunset was beautiful as I sat in the back and read. It was so nice to sit and read and enjoy the water and the ice and the beautiful colors. We spent two nights on the boat and got off in Nuuk, the capitol city, at 7am this morning. After being out in the tundra, Nuuk seems huge. It has a population of 5,000 and busses and bustles like a little city. It is also full of all these apartment blocks that were built in the 70’s where people live. They house 1% of the population and are a little depressing. After breakfast at the Seaman’s House, a cafeteria for fisherman which was pretty neat, we walked over to the National Museum and had a guided tour from a guy who worked at the University here. It was interesting to learn about the history of Greenland and how it was colonized. We even got to see the first rock house ever built. It was built by Hans Egede, a missionary who came in 1728 to colonize and convert (very successfully I might add) Greenland to Danish rule and the Lutheran Church. The Greenlanders used to live in turf houses in the winter and then move to seal-sink teepees near the sea in the summer. We also got to see their traditional outfits at the museum, which were very colorful and made of fur and beads and some colored cloth after the Europeans came over. After lunch we went to see another aspect of Greenland politics and hear from the President of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. It was a very interesting, passionate presentation and a point of view we hadn’t heard before. The next day we went to see the new Parliament meeting room that 
was under construction and heard from an under-secretary there about Parliamentary procedure for the Home Rule government and the upcoming referendum this November to move to Home Government (another step towards Independence, basically more responsibility moved to the Greenland government). The new construction project is to make the Meeting room for the 31 Parliamentary members larger, with a public seating area, and outfit it with microphones and capabilities to broadcast the sessions on national television. Then we went to the new University and heard from the President of the Home Land Rule Commission about the new Home Government Act and what that would mean for Greenland. The conclusion was basically that Greenland can and probably will become Independent in the future, but first needs to internally grow their economy by focusing on education. The University is the only one in Greenland and has a lon
g history, dating back from 1845, but this building, as well as the associated Institute of Natural Resources, is new as of 1998. They are very beautiful architecture, all large cedar panel with huge South-facing windows and passive solar heating in the concrete floors. The woman who talked to us at the Institute said they don’t have to heat the building for a large portion of the year or use lights, which is a no small accomplishment in Greenland. At the Institute of Natural Resources we heard from a biologist who was working on monitoring the shrimp catch. It seems our host professor knows EVERYONE here, which is very nice since we get to have the insider’s tour. That evening we went to a Thai restaurant in town, which had surprisingly good Thai curries and I “Greenland Sushi” which I had to try. It had sa
shimi cuts of Salmon, Greenlandic Halibut, shrimp, whale, and whale skin, and a few maki rolls. It was very interesting to try raw whale, and not as bad as I thought, it was actually pretty good. The whale skin was a little weird, but mostly it just had a weird aftertaste. Anyways, then we flew back to Kangerlussuaq and got in this morning at 9am. After dropping our stuff at the hostel and eating breakfast, a few other kids and I rented bikes and rode 50km down this HORRIBLE bumpy, rocky, washboarded dirt road to a glacier. Even though the road was b
ad and the bikes were nothing special, it was a beautiful ride and it was nice to see the ice again. Apperantly it is the “musk ox road” too, and we saw a bunch of vans of tourists on “musk ox safaris” but we didn’t see any ourselves. The next day we just had lectures and I went for a run and then had an all night flight back to Copenhagen, fun. Unfortunately I couldn't sleep at all, but now I am here and get to email all you fine people, which is awesome. Some kids on the trip and I are going to go to the Carlsberg brewery. On Tuesday I fly back home and am on to other adventures. Sorry it took so long to get this one out, Internet access has been spotty. Hope you are all well and talk to you soon! 
1 comment:
It's great to see your pictures and hear from you. We bought some beer from Denmark and had a toast to your travels.
Get some sleep! cheryl
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