Norway: Thoughts on Departing

Right now I am sitting in the Edmonton International Airport, waiting for my flight Amsterdam.  I will be visiting family there for six days before I go to Norway.  I have about 22 hrs of travel time ahead of me, as I fly to Toronto, then Warsaw (Poland) and finally Amsterdam.

I just said goodby to Nicole and to Jax and I am of many minds and emotions.

The husband in me is worried and a bit sad.  Today I felt not ready to leave, but realized that I would likely never feel ready to leave.  This will definitely be the time period that Nicole and I have spent apart in the time we have known each other.  I am sad because I won't get to see her, go on walks with her, do all the usual household things that normally seem so mundane and boring.  I won't even just get to sit and watch tv or read in the same room.  I worry about her, about how this separation will be for her.  I will be busy doing research, in a new place, meeting new people while Nicole remains in Edmonton, working, taking care of Jax and doing all of the household items, now without any help from me. I worry that she will be bored or lonely, that something will happen where I could help. I am also hopeful that from this we will both grow together. I have never really lived on my own, having moved from my father's basement to living with Nicole. I am not a great cook, but now, I will have no choice but to improve, or eat many many terrible meals.
Nicole and I talked a bit about this over the past couple days and we both realized how much more difficult this would be if there was no high-speed internet, no Skype or FaceTime. Imagine only having letters to talk to the person you love.

The dog owner in me is sad I won't be seeing Jax. Won't be walking with him, playing with him. Won't get to hear him bark or watch him play. Won't get to have him aggressively lick my face or stare at me until I walk him.  I won't get to smell that dusty but wonderful dog smell. For all I know, he will bark at me when I come home because he won't recognize me.

Even leaving my office was kinda strange.  I share an office with Alec, the other PhD student being supervised by Christian at the U of A. We see each other almost every day and talk about science, our research problems. We provide additional motivation to each other and try to help solve problems here and there, even just sounding out solutions to problems we have come up with.  Although we don't hang out much outside of work, Alec and I have many similar interests and thus I feel are good friends.  It was weird to realize that I won't be able to sound out solutions to a problem writing code or thoughts on analyzing Cryosat-2 data.


OKAY, enough feeling sad already, right?!

The scientist and adventurer in me is very excited and really looking forward to the trip. I'm going to NORWAY!!! Norway is a spectacularly beautiful country, mountains, fjords, and sparsely populated.  Tromso is a wonderful city, with lots to do and see. I've packed my camping gear, I am going to do some backpacking, even if it is just short weekend trips just outside of town, so be it.
And before that, I get to see my family in The Netherlands, something I only get to do every few years. I get to try to recall my knowledge of Dutch thought it is fading over time as I don't use it enough. Luckily it will come back a bit while I am there.


I will be working at the Norwegian Polar Institute at the Fram Center.  The Fram Center hosts numerous scientific institutes besides the Norwegian Polar Institute and I will get to meet and hopefully talk to and learn from the people in different disciplines. I will get exposed to new ways of looking at science and research and at my own research questions.
I will be meeting new people and making new friends.  I've been lucky so far that my travels across the world have given me friendships across the world, with people in my own research discipline and outside of it.
I'm going to be working with some exciting data that hasn't really been examined. Data that should provide some new insights into sea ice surface roughness properties and distribution.
I will be doing another research expedition by boat, a research cruise. 

I am going to be blogging during this trip, hopefully sharing more than just  thoughts. I want to share my adventures, the sights, the science, the people I meet with you. As I mentioned in the previous post, I will also share some more about the CASIMBO campaign in Alert this year.

Tromsø Norway: My home for the next 7 months

Hello everyone, 

You may or may not know that I am moving to Norway for 7 months. In September 2012 I applied for an international mobility fellowship to do research in Norway. The grant, funded by the Research Council of Norway, provides me with a stipend to live in Norway for 7 months. I will be working with laser scanner data acquired during a cruise I took with the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) in 2010. I will be working at NPI in Tromsø from early June until just before Christmas. 

I leave Edmonton today, heading first to The Netherlands to visit family and then to Tromsø. I will post some thoughts and feelings I have about this trip later today. I will try to blog on a weekly basis or more frequently while in Norway so that you can share in my adventure.

A quick note, I did not get many chances to blog while at Alert again this year. All the good weather just made me too busy, and unfortunately sleep had to take priority. The campaign was a huge success and I will try to provide some pictures, plots and stores over the coming weeks.

Okay, that is all for now.

Justin