HA DET BRA SVALBARD!

Longyearbyen early in the week.

Picture of the week: Ice was forming on the fjord as the sun almost touched the tops of the mountains.

After seven months full of life long memories, we said goodbye to Longyearbyen and Svalbard.  The temperature dropped to where it should be this time of year to bid us farewell (-15 to -20C), the clouds dissipated and it was light from eight thirty till 4 in the afternoon (with the sun still not over the horizon).  Our days were full of packing and finishing at UNIS.  I had severely underestimated the amount of time to pack as usual, so the last few days were not as calm as I had hoped.  We had a nice  dinner with our neighbors on Sunday, finished packing and while dropping off our boxes, Nicole and I were treated to another northern light show right over the town.  Monday night Nicole and I went to Mari-Anne’s for dinner.  The restaurant is in a glass room full of vegetation and humid.  For a few hours, we felt like we were somewhere else.  On Tuesday, the biology department treated me to a couple of cakes and presented me with a really beautiful piece of art.  They have been great colleagues and I will miss our interaction.  While the UNIS professors I worked with are very good in their respective fields and are productive in terms of students, course, research etc., they have a health approach to their work environment and I hope to bring a bit of that back with me.  While I worked at UNIS and the boys were having goodbye parties, Nicole did an amazing job with the cleaning.  Wednesday morning we finished up with the apartment, picked up two sad boys from school and checked in at the airport.  Pink was on the horizon when we took off and the sunset followed us to Tromsø.  We had a spectacular view of Svalbard on the trip south with blue light highlighting the snow covered peaks.  We made it to Oslo that night and it felt great putting our heads on the pillows! 

Nicole and Anders boarding the flight.

The view to the east on the way south.

The next morning, I went to the Fulbright office for the Fulbright seminar, hearing about everyone’s wok to date, while Nicole took the boys to the Nobel Peace Center.  The talks were really interesting from silicon crystals to predicting conflicts around the globe.  An amazing group of people!!  We then went to the US Ambassador’s residence for a reception and I and two others gave our presentations there.  We were honored to be hosted by the Ambassador and his wife and to have the Foreign Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, as the guest of honor.  Jørgen Berge from UNIS also attended and it was good for him to see the extent of the Fulbright program in Norway.  He later walked back with me to the hotel and said goodbye to Nicole and the kids. 

Anders with the plaques of the Nobel Peace Prize recipients.

Friday morning we hauled our bags across the palace grounds to meet the bus at the Fulbright office, loaded up and headed to the mountains for 3 days of skiing.  It was fantastic to spend more time with the Fulbrighters as they are called, downhill ski with Nicole and the boys and enjoy some good food.  The weather and snow conditions were fantastic.    We are in Lillehammer tonight and will take the train to Trondheim tomorrow. 

Arriving at the slopes... the view from our room.

The Fulbrighters haviing dinner at the resort.

Nicole took this shot on her walk through Lillihammer.

One more week in Norway before heading home and trying to soak it all up.