A week ago, I received the news that I was accepted to take courses at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) from August to December of this year. It's a long ways off still (82 days), but it seems like it's rushing up soon. There's so much preparation I need to do before going there. Buying winterwear, learning Norwegian, organizing my post-graduation plans, building up my endurance and upper body strength, practicing with a rifle (!?). That's right. Everyone in Svalbard is required to carry a rifle with them at all times to protect against polar bears, which outnumber people on this island to the far north. It's the northernmost place inhabited on Earth. And I'm going there to experience midnight sun, polar night, glaciers, bears, and aurora.
I could not be more excited, but the natural dangers plus all of the things I need to do to prepare for graduate school over the summer rather than in the fall now makes thinking too much about it feel like being at the bottom of the ocean. I've got a long to-do list, I can see the light of the future shimmering from the underside of the waves, but it's a bit hard to breath.
As I have purchased my plane tickets from Newark to Oslo, then Oslo to Longyearbyen, I feel like I can now say that I am going to Svalbard. Stupid Scandinavian Airlines. I feel like they should know that you need to fly through Oslo to get to Longyearbyen.
Some questions that will be answered by the end of this polar adventure:
Will I go crazy in the polar night?
What's it like to see the aurora borealis?
Will I survive going five months without seeing a fresh vegetable?
What's it like to hold a rifle? Heaviest thing, or light, like a child's toy?
Will I be able to shoot a polar bear to death if I need to? Would I hesitate? Or would I channel my animal instincts to fight to save myself and my friends? Will it weigh on my conscious forever? Or will it be another day in Svalbard?
Will I experience one of the many dangers of the Arctic wilderness?
Will I still want to be a polar geologist when I'm done with this adventure?
I love learning about the polar regions, reading about them in both fictional and non-fictional books, and looking at pictures of them. I write stories and draw comics set in these places. I have managed to follow so many arctic and antarctic Twitter accounts, that "Antarctica" is following me.
But I've always tended to be obsessive in my interests. This is the longest I've ever held a single interest, so I don't think it will fade, but only time will tell.
And the final and maybe most important question:
Will I get my graduate school applications in on time?!
