Time goes so fast here in the Arctic. It´s already the end of February, the sun is so close to get over the mountains and I´ve been at the local government for more than a month now. As mentioned in my earlier blogpost my placement is at the technical department, where I follow one of the people responsible for questions regarding the environment. I really like this concept of having just one supervisor as it gets so much easier to understand and get into the every-day work, have good communication and be able to discuss why and how things are […]
Monthly archives: February 2021
10 posts
During my first week as intern I have been working closely with my supervisor. I was pleasantly surprised as I got to spend the entire week in the laboratory! We prepared many agents for a seawater nutrient analyzer machine, and then ran a few hundred samples from various biologist through it to test phosphate, nitrate, nitrite and silicate levels. I found it incredibly useful to see how an analysis as such is ran, as I have never gotten to experience it before; in a Bachelor program the “important/thorough” parts are done by lab technicians (students generally aren’t trusted not to […]
Hello again! We are now in the end of February, the sun is slowly on its way back making a sky of pastel colors and showing us the surrounding mountains of Longyearbyen. The transformation from completely darkness during the polar night truly has been an amazing experience. The lighter days has given better opportunities to explore Svalbard, and I have gotten to visit the ice cave on Scott Turnerbreen as well as Barentsburg. Earlier I had an introduction meeting with the staff at the Knowledge Centre, where I learned about what their work tasks at SIOS are. During the internship […]
Going on my second month in Longyearbyen I have now started to know my way around the surrounding area; the closest mountain tops; the neighbouring valleys; and two of the adjacent glaciers. It is truly amazing to live in what looks like a postcard. I am also starting to get to know pupils and staff at Longyearbyen school. I spent my two first weeks as an intern with the first graders, following their project about animal wildlife on Svalbard. I have also been on a ski trip to Bjørndalen with the sixth form students, where I got to talk a […]
Hello Again. The sun is on her way back 🙂 It’s more than a month for me already living in this small, fascinating place. I got to experience the cold and the arctic survival and safety course – also known as 1001 ways to die in Svalbard. This course is mandatory when taking semester courses and offeres a great practical experience which can be useful for any kind of fieldwork I’m going to carry out. Most interesting content from the outside: rifle training at the shooting range, getting out an ice hole on your own after jumping into in your […]
My name is Maren Christine Hansen and I am currently at the last semester of a bachelor in biology with the University of Bergen. I am originally from Tromsø, but I decided to move southwards because I wasn’t too happy about the cold and dark winters. My original plan was to take one semester in Hawaii to get some sun and warmth, but as I got more into different aspects of biology and climate change my interests gradually moved towards the arctic – especially when I heard about the opportunities on Svalbard and UNIS. This semester I will be joining […]
Heyo, I am Oline, a 28-year-old girl from Sandnes, Norway. I study biology at the University in Tromsø and am now located in lovely Longyearbyen for the last semester of my bachelors. These next few months I will enjoy having an internship at Longyearbyen School, in addition to work on a research project on reindeers in Bjørndalen. This blog is dedicated to share my experiences from my internship position, as well as my understanding of how to apply biology skills in elementary and secondary education. My previous work experience within the field of biology comes mainly from excursions and field […]
On the 17th of January 2021, I arrived in Lonyearbyen completely uncertain of what to expect. I am a biology bachelor student from Nord Universitet in Bodø, out on exchange for the semester. I consider myself extremely lucky, given that I’ve gotten a practical internship at UNIS’s arctic biology department during the mad times of COVID-19. The last months have been quiet and mostly spent at home (large parts of studying eventually happened in my blanket fortress), thus I expect one of my biggest challenges to be to start living by a routine again and show up refreshed and ready […]
Hej! My name is Emma, a biology student from Sweden who, until so very recently had no idea you could actually have the privilege to study here on Svalbard! I´m in my last semester of my bachelor in Biology and Earthscience and found out about UNIS out of total coincidence just a couple of weeks before the application date was due. It has always been a dream of mine to be able to come to the arctic as a field assistant or researcher so to really be here now, taking this so very practical course and AB-207 (Research project in […]