16th October 2022 | Postcards by Fabienne
Exploring Longyearbyen - together
Hej, hej
All right, I AM writing a newsletter this weekend – even though it is already Sunday evening. Things are super busy (and a bit stressful to be honest), but I was so much looking forward to documenting at least some of what happened up. First of all: It is getting really cold right now (felt temperature already dropped to -11°C) and daylight is vanishing rapidly. Second: Sven was here the last week and we had a lovely time together. We already agreed that this last time frame of being apart from each other including uncertainty about if and when we meet in between was hardly acceptable for both of us. And hence, a week was way too short…but now there are only six weeks left until I will go back to Germany.
Along with some things Sven brought from Germany, I received a cute letter from my parents and a fantastic care package from a friend within the same week!
So, what have we been up to?
On the first days, we stayed together in my room at the student housing. I was still occupied with some university-related stuff and Sven joined a small conference where I was presenting. We went to some student life related activities such as a board game and waffles evening, a more “sophisticated” student game night and bar activities. And in general, I just showed Sven the town and everyday life things up here.
On Sunday, we migrated to Svalbard Hotell Polfareren to have a bit more of a getaway and vacation feeling 😊. I forgot to take pictures of the room – so here is a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Lemming being re-united on the shelf.
We also went on a long walk/hike along the borders of where it is considered safe to walk without polar bear protection. And surprisingly, this still led to a 12km hike!
In the evening, we went to watch a movie in the cinema hall (yes, there is a cinema up here). You have to / are allowed to bring drinks and snacks yourself though. We watched Bullet Train which was – well – not what I expected it to be. But luckily I had Sven here to tell me when I can open my eyes and stop blocking my ears again.
We then had a late dinner by sharing Pizza at Barentz Pub. Which also was the first time I was eating out here in Longyearbyen.
Monday, we went on a boat trip to the abandoned Russian settlement “Pyramiden”. I have so many pictures to share that I might create a separate post. But here is a small sneak preview for you:
In the evening, we had dinner at Restaurant Nansen which was AMAZING.
Initially, we wanted to go on a hike on Tuesday morning, but the weather was not super great and we were both quite tired and feeling a bit sick. So we decided for a more chilled day by going to a café and just enjoying the time together. In the afternoon, I joined a small excursion for my course to the heliport rescue center – even more to talk about in another post!
Afterwards, we went on a dinner cruise with Hurtigruten. It was the same boat on which I gave my science talk, so I was looking forward to experiencing it together with Sven again. The food and service were really nice. It was super windy and wavy and the captain did his best to make it comfortable for everyone. Still, I would not recommend this trip at this time of the year anymore. When I made the reservation two weeks ago, I did not consider that it would already be pitch dark when going on the cruise and hence we could not really see anything of the beautiful landscape.
On Wednesday, we went to the Svalbard museum in the morning.
In the afternoon, Sven convinced me to go on a guided tour of one of the old coal mines. It was super interesting and we even learned about the Arctic World Archive, which is a facility for storing data inside the old mine and is utilised e.g. by GitHub to conserve open-source code!
We then enjoyed our last evening together at the Restaurant Polfareren.
On Thursday morning, we packed our stuff, I kissed Sven goodbye and got myself ready to spend the next night somewhere else again – at a remote cabin. This actually helped distract me from the farewell and – you guess it – is again something I will share in another post :D.
Fun fact: I took a picture when we were at the cabin and saw the plane with Sven leaving - and he took a picture at the same time of where the cabin is :D
Right now, I am back to the reality of having to deal with my course paper and making progress regarding my master thesis topic which is a bit nerve-wracking. And I am not going to start talking about what I might be doing after my master’s. But at least for tonight, I made this newsletter and enjoying a hot chocolate at my favourite café a priority 😊
Stay warm and cosy 😊
/ Fabi ❆⇞
PS: You get to choose the content for the next newsletter: