Hey,
Luci here :D

So whats new...
We are now getting some amazing light here and it makes for beautiful horizons/landscape photos - when we are not over cast or snowing - and there has been some beautiful pictures being taken and I have a few ok ones to contribute:

Figure 1 - Longyearbyen town - the sun is almost making it!!!!

Figure 2 - Student barracks and the sun on the mountains behind

Figure 3 - View across Isfjorden from the bottom of Longyearbyen town

Last weekend I ran another dive course in the pool with Caitlin, another instructor, which went really well and was good fun!!! Although a tad jealous of another group of students who went to the east coast on the snowmobiles and managed to see the mythical beasts (polar bears) which I am yet to encounter! :(

This week has also been great fun as I have had no lectures which means during the day (which is getting brighter and brighter) we can make the most of the daylight and study in the evenings!!! Thus I have been out skiing a few times - however its a fair bit different to the skiing I am used to as they haven't yet built chair lifts in the arctic yet!! That being said it is no less fun - just a lot more hard work!!! Myself and my friend Caitlin on Tuesday hiked up one of the nearby mountains call Trollstein on our Ranndonee skis with skins on (which stop you sliding back down hill)! It was the first time I had used these type of skis and they are pretty awesome! By the time we got to the top - I think it may have taken us longer than most - our legs were a little tired and shaky from the work and using muscles that have not been used in a while, but we still had big smiles on our face and a beautiful view!!! The ski down was great though and it was awesome to be back on the slopes, even if my legs had lost all ability to be controlled by my mind!

Figure 4 - Veiw from Longyearbreen glacier - with the sun

Figure 5 - Skiers Climbing up for the ride!

Then we went out on Wednesday again and this time took my snow mobile up with 2 sets of skis strapped to it and then we pulled two people on skis behind it - kinda like water skiing - which was really fun!! We all went up one of the glaciers behind our barracks and took turns skiing down a slope, Figure 5, and then being picked up by the snow mobile for another go - brill fun!!

Myself and Ribanna have combined some of our fun moments into a short video clip to show the SAMS students how much fun it is up here - you should apply it is really amazing!!! It doesn't show a great deal of our studies side - but believe me that does happen too! I thought it would be nice to attach it on here to so everyone else can see it :D (a couple of the photos are not mine or riba's so thank you Joran for lending them to us :D )

Figure 6 - Video of fun things in Svalbard

Its not the best quality to be able to upload it on here but hopefully its watchable....

https://www.dropbox.com/s/89r2d6st0fmpfjj/UNIS%20SAMS%20movie.wmv

Thats a better copy ^^^^

Also I, as the biology bachelor representative, joined a meeting with the heads of departments to give feed back on the courses etc. and have heard that they are aiming to shape up the Biology courses and make them even more hands on. They are hoping (not certain yet) to offer a almost internship week here in certain courses with respective companies on Svalbard - which I think sounds great and would give students a bit more experience of working environments!

This weekend I have also been out and about on my snow mobile again - although it was not the best visibility as it was snowing most the way there and back but still got some cool pictures of little ice bergs which have made their way on to the beach and a cool frozen waterfall.

Fig 7 - Ice

Fig 8 - More pretty ice blocks

Fig 9 - Frozen water fall with Ribanna and Ida

Thats all for now,
Luci.