Taking Advantage of Campus

Today was a slightly down day, especially compared to yesterday. Our professor was great and pushed back class until 11, so I got to catch up on some sleep. In the afternoon, we had a speaker come talk about how climate change and the biosphere interact with each other. She was probably our 5th or 6th speaker so far and I'm beginning to notice a pattern in all of their talks. Everyone's topics are overlap slightly and there always seem to be repeated graphs/diagrams. Which makes staying interested in the talks a little difficult, but sadly Alaska can't be all fun.

After we finished up with class, we decided to take advantage of UAF's campus and went ice skating. I really wish UNC had an ice rink on campus. That would totally make for some fun times. The guy at the ice rink even gave us a deal so we only had to pay four dollars instead of eight.

That's basically it for today. Tomorrow should be much more exciting though. We're skipping class for the day and visiting the permafrost tunnel and hot springs. It should be fun to go to such different temperature extremes in one day.

To end it, here is me with Santa. Meeting the big guy was such an honor.

Quite Possibly the Best Weekend Ever (Warning: Lots of Photos)

The past 3 days have been just incredible. Neither words nor photos will do them justice, but here goes anyway.

Friday
Friday started off normal enough with regular class in the morning and a talk scheduled for the afternoon. Sadly, our speaker was not about to make it, so our professor, Dr. Rial, substituted for him. However, it was our excursion after the afternoon talk that was so memorable.

Just a short drive from the UAF campus is LARS -- the larger animal research station. At LARS they do research on musk oxen, caribou, and reindeer, so we were all pretty pumped to check out these animals.


First, we came upon a giant area where the male musk oxen were. Apparently this is around the time where they butt heads to try and determine dominance, so we got to see a couple of their spats. The sound that two musk oxen heads make as they clunk together was pretty cool to hear. And to think that these fights were going on just a few feet away from us was unreal.


Then we moved onto the caribou and reindeer. Apparently caribou and reindeer are actually the same species, just caribou is the North American name and reindeer is the European/Asian name. There are some slight differences, like reindeer are slightly fatter and their antlers tend to stick out more. Since Alaska is located in the United States, most of the animals as LARS were caribou, but there was one reindeer that was pointed out to us. Below is a caribou. The photo is a little fuzzy, but he can be made out. I'm assuming he's looking so shaggy because he's losing his coat for the winter.


Friday was actually a pretty warm day. I know I don't have much to complain about since the temperatures are close to 100 at home, but still, here is proof that it does get warm in Alaska. This whole week I have been wearing shorts, and sometimes even then I get hot since the sun is always beating down on me.



Saturday
On Saturday, we woke up bright and early and headed out to a dam at Chena Lake that protects Fairbanks from floods. Our tour guide works for the Army Corps of Engineers and he brought us along the 8 mile earthen dam and then took us inside the part where they have the gates in case the river floods. Here's me on top of the dam. It's not a very flattering photo, but apparently I was excited to be there.


On our way back to our dorm after visiting the dam, we drove through North Pole, Alaska and we visited Santa's house.


I even got to sit on Santa's lap, but that photo is on someone else's camera. I'll be sure to post it once I get it.

Finally, Saturday afternoon we stopped by the Long Term Ecological Station. Our tour guide was a lovely man who enjoyed telling stories as he led us through the forest. First, we stopped at an overlook off the highway to check out the forest fire. Here's a shot of the smoke coming from the ground:


It's a pretty sad sight, but fires are part of some trees' natural cycles. Still, it's disheartening to hear that some summers 6 million acres can burn. I can't even fathom that much. If my online calculator is correct, that's an area that much larger than Rhode Island. Imagine an entire state just wiped clean because of a fire. Luckily, the rest of our tour was not as depressing as looking at a fire (which apparently started burning last summer), and after quite a bit of walking, we came upon one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen. Since Alaska is on the intersection of two tectonic plates, it has some pretty unique landscapes. We hiked to what was basically the edge of a cliff and down below us was a HUGE valley. This photo won't even begin to cover what it was like, but it does demonstrate something I'm beginning to quickly realize -- Alaska is nothing like I expected. The landscapes are so varied and I'm constantly surprised. I would never picture a giant grassland-type place to be in Alaska, but here is an example so obviously it is possible.


I guess grassland isn't really the proper way to describe that since there are still lots of trees. But still, that's not how I picture Alaska in my mind. This state just has so much to offer, and I think everyone could find something they want here.

Sunday
Today was possibly the best day of my life. If not, it was definitely the most beautiful. This morning we woke up at the terribly early hour of 5 am and loaded into our van for a drive to the Arctic Circle. The drive from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle was 150-200 miles (maybe?), which took about 5 hours each way. It probably should have taken a little longer, but our professor has a lead foot. Half of the drive was on the Dalton Highway, which is half paved and half unpaved. After a total of about 6 hours (round trip) on the Dalton Highway, I can definitely say that unpaved is much, much better, at least in Alaska. The paved roads were pretty uncomfortable and covered with potholes and dips because of permafrost. The permafrost beneath the roadway is melting and as it melts, the road settles. So you get ups and downs, all along the road for miles on end. The van definitely went through an experience to get us up there. Along the way we saw the Yukon River and for the majority of the route, the Alaskan Pipeline followed the path of the road. Here are some photos of what we saw on our trek to the Arctic Circle.



So after about five hours of driving, we reached it -- the Arctic Circle.


And that was it. It was a sign. Five hours of driving on terrible roads for that. Sure, it's cool. I mean, how many people can say that they've been to the Arctic Circle. However, this wasn't really all because that would just be crazy to drive all that way for a sign. On the way back, we stopped at one of the spots along Dalton Highway -- Finger Mountain. This was the experience of a lifetime. The views were incredible, every way you looked. I hope I will always be able to keep the images that I saw today in my mind because it would be a crime to forget what I experienced today. I took lots of photos, but really they are nothing compared to what it's like in person. Here are some photos and hopefully I did a semi-decent job of capturing some of the beauty.




Today, everything came together for some wonderful scenery. The sky and clouds, the grasses and flowers, even the rocks. It was amazing. I know the photos aren't that great, so you'll just have to take my word on it. But should you ever find yourself in Alaska, make a point to drive north on Dalton Highway to check out the views. You won't be disappointed.

The Few Bothersome Things about Alaska

So the past few days have been sorta busy, but not busy enough that I couldn't update this. It's just that I'm a tired person and I prefer sleep to typing on a computer. But here's a quick recap.

On Tuesday, we had a tour of the Museum of the North, which was pretty interesting. There were dozens of stuffed animals, like this giant bear:


There was also this awesome room called the Place You go to Listen. It was somehow hooked up to sensors that measure any earthquake activity and the northern lights, which are always around, even when it's near 24 hour sunlight. However, the constant sunlight means there is no chance of witnessing the northern lights, which just means that I'm going to have to brave the cold at some point and come back and visit.

Yesterday (Wednesday), we had a couple of speakers and we toured IARC -- the International Arctic Research Center. It sounds impressive, but the tour guide was awful. I've never met someone who seemed so incredibly bored to talk to a bunch of visitors. It was sort of upsetting, but she provided comedic relief, both during the tour and afterwards when we reflected on her blah attitude. Last night after dinner, everyone gathered around the table to work on some homework problems (it's not all fun here, I promise. Just probably 99% fun, 1% work), and then we went out for ice cream. I learned that cinnamon ice cream is incredibly tasty. Good bonding activities.

Today we had two more speakers in the afternoon. One of them was a hydrologist, which was of great interest to me since that's the field I hope to go into. It sounds like there is definitely some interesting topics related to water that could be studied in Alaska, so maybe one day I will find myself back up here. Before dinner, we played a round of bowling at the bowling alley on campus. If only Chapel Hill still had the campus bowling alley, life would be amazing. This one was a little unique because it never got your score correct. If you rolled a gutter ball, it often gave to 7 or 8 pins, which made me happy.

However, I have found a few down sides of Alaska. First, the bugs. There are too many (I think I've mentioned this). The second is the near constant sun. It really does mess with your head. This evening, several of my classmates and I were playing pool and one girl mentioned she though it was 8...except it was really almost 11. I don't think this is something that you can fully understand unless you experience it because it really is mind blowing. How can it be so sunny out at midnight? It is exciting to see at first, but it takes time to get used to sleeping while it's light out.

Yesterday, we saw that there was a forest fire off in the distance, and today the smell was quite noticeable in the air. I think we're safe here because I've heard it's across the river, but still, it is pretty upsetting to think about. So keep the creatures and the people who live in that area in your thoughts. I know sometimes fires are natural, but from what I understand they have been happening more frequently here, and that cannot be a good thing.

It looks like we have some great things scheduled for this weekend, and I'll be sure to post updates and photos.

(As a side note, sorry if I ever repeat anything. I'm struggling with remembering who I've told what because I'm keep confusing myself. I'm trying to keep this up to date. I'm calling and emailing Jeff a lot, so he hears everything twice. I occasionally call my parents. And I'm keeping a travel journal. Plus I'm experiencing everything first hand. That's a lot of the same thing, over and over. So if anything is repeated, I guess that just means that you can enjoy it twice)

Photos 1

After dinner this evening, we went for a hike and came upon a beautiful lake. Here are some photos from the past 2 days.

There was a polar bear in the Fairbanks airport.

Last night, we went to the Midnight Sun Festival, and this was what it looked like around 8 at night.


View from my window at 11:30 at night. Ignore the ugly screen. It's necessary for the ungodly amount of bugs here.


View from a part of campus. That's the town of Fairbanks, and way off in the distance (right about the middle of the photo) is Denali, aka Mt. McKinley. I honestly thought it was a cloud at first, but it's actually a snow capped mountain.


The gorgeous lake we found while hiking.

Welcome to the Land of the Midnight Sun

In one hour, I will have been in Fairbanks for a whole day. My flight (which also had 3 other classmates -- Lydia, Sam, and Field), arrived at the tiny Fairbanks airport yesterday around 5ish, which was like 9 pm at home in Raleigh.

But back up, first I had to fly from Raleigh to Minneapolis. Let me say that the airport in Minneapolis is HUGE! Like really, really HUGE. Thank goodness I had about a 90 minute layover, because it took me forever to figure out where I was and then even longer to get to where I needed to go. Also, airport food is crazy overpriced. And my bagel sandwich wasn't even that good. But it did its job and filled me until I had dinner 6 hours later.

I was on the first flight by myself, and it went decent enough. We were about 30 minutes late to board the plane, but it took off pretty fast after boarding. There was a nice lady from Minnesota who was sitting next to me, and she kept reminding me to not forget my bag (pronounced the Minnesotan way, which sounds very similar to the Canadian way) in the overhead compartment. All her reminding did the job and I did not forget my bag.

The second flight was a little over 5 hours, yet I survived it fine. I somehow ended up with a great seat because there was no row in front of me, so I had endless leg room. I watched one of the in-flight movies (Valentine's Day. It was cute), which helped the time go by. Then I just read, attempted to sleep, or looked out the window. Flying over the rocky mountains was amazing. I've only ever seen the Appalachian mountains, which are dwarfed by the Rockies, so it was incredible to get an aerial view of the snow capped Rockies.

After our flight landed, Field, Sam, Lydia and I piled into a pink taxi and made our way to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks campus, where we will by staying for two weeks. We quickly checked in (yay for having single rooms!), and then grabbed another taxi to get downtown to the Midnight Sun Festival. Apparently this is the largest event of the year, yet it was still pretty small. There were tents lining a couple streets which sold food and various crafts. A couple large tents were set up where bands were playing. There was steel drum group that was pretty enjoyable to listen to. While downtown, the four of us met up with the 4 other members of our group who were already in Fairbanks. We all spent a couple of hours walking around and taking random photos. Finally once we were done, we all squeezed into one cab (8 people, plus the driver, in a car meant for 7). The night was spent getting to know each other and listening to Sam and Field play their guitar and mandolin. It was most enjoyable.

This morning we had orientation for our class. Dr. Rial (our professor for the trip) went over our itinerary for Alaska, and the next three weeks sound like they will be incredible. We're going to the Arctic Circle, visiting a glacier, and taking a cruise to see some fjords. Plus we'll have tons of speakers and we'll be visiting several museums. I cannot wait for everything to get underway.

In about 30 minutes, my classmate Marty and I will be cooking dinner for the group. We decided it would be best to divide up the days and cook a group dinner ourselves, which will save a lot of money. Plus it will be good bonding time. Anything to save money makes me happy.

I'll keep the updates coming and I'll post photos once I get some transferred to my laptop. I think tonight some of us talked about going on a night hike (can you call it a night hike if the sun will still be out?), so maybe I'll post some stuff once I get back to my room tonight.

Today, Raleigh. Tomorrow, Fairbanks.

This time tomorrow I will be sitting on a plane on my way to Fairbanks, Alaska. Until yesterday as of 8 pm, my flight was going to be 3 legs, first to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, next to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then finally to Fairbanks. Apparently Delta did some switcharoo, and now I just have one layover in Minneapolis. I am a little disappointed to not be stopping in Wisconsin, but I promise that I'll get there one day. And I guess just visiting the airport doesn't really count. But tomorrow will definitely be a long day. I leave RDU around 11 am (eastern) and arrive in Fairbanks at 5 pm their time, which is 9 pm in Raleigh. A 10 hour travel day will definitely be tough, but maybe I'll be able to catch a nap on the plane.

This past week has been pretty crazy trying to purchase last minute things and trying to find space to cram random objects into my duffel bag. Even as I'm sitting here typing, I'm thinking of things I forgot to pack (sunscreen!), so I imagine this process will continue until minutes before we leave for the airport tomorrow. I did a weigh-in for my luggage, and at the moment it tops off at 45 pounds, just below the max weight of 50 pounds. I'm a little worried, but I guess my bag will just get lighter as time goes on as my toiletries get used and such. This does seriously limit how much I can buy, but I suppose I don't really have the cash to go shopping wild.

So when I haven't been thinking of lists of things to pack for my trip, I've been spending a lot of the past week trying to see some of my friends before I go. Jeff and I have spend boatloads of time together (which just makes me cry when I think about leaving since I'm such an emotional baby), and we found the best way to cap off our time together before Alaska. Last night, we went to see Toy Story 3. I have been looking forward to this for months. But before the movie, we were wandering around Target and Jeff spotted these gems:


Yes, we totally rocked Toy Story shirts to the movie. The only problem was that the shirts were technically boy's shirts, so they were rather short, but we made it work. That was a great way to spend my last Friday night in Raleigh for 7 weeks. Plus, the movie was fantastic. It was really touching and I actually cried during it, which I can't remember doing in a Pixar movie since Finding Nemo. Jeff decided to be a great friend and made fun of me as I teared up in the theater, but he was just jealous that his heart is made of stone.

Anyway, I should probably wrap this up. My family and I are celebrating father's day tonight with a family dinner at one of our favorites -- On the Border. Time to stuff ourselves with some excellent Mexican food.

Next time, I'll be in Alaska! Since I'm paranoid and have lots of privacy controls on Facebook, none of my parents friends (or my parents) will be able to see any photos I post there, so I'll be sure to upload some to here for anyone's viewing pleasure. I've heard Alaska is one of the most beautiful places to visit (that's what the worker at Staples told me today and I think he's a legit source), so I can't wait to experience everything for myself.

First Blog Post

So this summer I'm lucky enough to be spending 7 weeks in Alaska and Iceland. It'll definitely be a welcome vacation from the skin-melting heat of Raleigh. And since my parents are being wonderful and financing my trip, they are forcing me to keep a blog. So here it is. I guess I'll add photos and such once I get there, assuming I can figure out how to add them. It seems like a lot of people keep blogs, so they can't be that hard to work with. But here is post one. Expect more to come, I suppose.