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Author: Hanneke

I started my first blog when I left the Netherlands (my home country) for an internship in Alaska in 2004, to keep my friends and family updated on my adventures over there. Little did I know it would be more than 13 years before I'd move back to the Netherlands! I spent a year in Toulouse (France) before starting a PhD in meteorology at the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UK) in 2005. That's when I started this current blog, first in Dutch but I soon switched to English. I really enjoyed life in the UK, and was actually planning to stay there after my PhD, but "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" and I ended up moving to Tromsø in Northern Norway in 2009. Tromsø is a photographer's dream, surrounded by spectacular mountains, with the light ever changing from the midnight sun in summer to the dark days compensated by aurora-filled nights in winter. I learnt Norwegian and got a job as a weather forecaster - I got thrown in at the deep end, doing radio interviews and speaking with fishermen with way-too-strong dialects straight from the beginning, before I was anywhere near fluent in Norwegian :D I survived though, and slowly started to do some research on the side. I got more and more involved in research projects and in August 2015 I moved 2000 km south, to Oslo where I started working 100% as a researcher. A year after moving to Oslo, I met Michiel at a music festival in Brussels :) and we started to travel very frequently between Oslo and Rotterdam, where he lives. You can't do that forever though, and I soon realized I found the perfect "excuse" to finally move back home, something I had been considering many times before. So since July 2017, I'm living in Rotterdam! I'm actually taking some time off before finding a new job, and I'm looking forward to lots of adventures in the near future - so stay tuned!
Les Houches

Les Houches

While Paul is (wishing he was) paragliding in Verbier, I am about 50 km away at a summer school on atmospheric boundary layers. Les Houches is right underneath the Mont Blanc and the summer school (at 1000m) has stunning views over the valley and the mountains. As in Verbier, the first 2 days here were rainy. And not just a little bit, more like a continuous downpour!

This morning we woke up to almost clear skies and amazing views. The restaurant has places outside too, so we can have our meals in the sun with a view – not bad! It’s been a bit of a soap opera though, with one cook going home ill, and his replacement starting drinking heavily yesterday and continued until after breakfast today. He kept crawling around and falling over and finally had to be taken to hospital at lunch time. The lunch was very chaotic and we all had to help out with serving. Of course this cook has now been fired, and the previously ill cook has returned. The food tonight was really good, so we’re all hoping that he will stay!

We had an hour free after lunch so we went for a very nice walk. I had to pay for it with getting sunburnt, but it was worth it. These photos are taken very close to the summer school:

The summer school is very interesting even though the subject is quite difficult. There are lots of Dutch people here so my Dutch can hopefully return to how it used to be. Ok, that’s all for now, I’ll try to post more photos soon. I just heard that Paul has had his first solo flight today, so hopefully he’ll post another blog soon too!

Beautiful Stockholm

Beautiful Stockholm

I’m in Stockholm for a conference (on boundary layers & turbulence) this week. It’s been a very busy week – the disadvantage of going to such a specialized conference is that I can’t really skip any sessions so I am usually around from 9:00 to 18:00 every day. I gave a talk yesterday, it went fine and it was a relief to have that done!

So there hasn’t been much time for sightseeing, and even most of the evenings were busy with receptions and conference dinners (at stunning locations!). Luckily the evenings are long – no midnight sun here, but it doesn’t get dark until midnight or so. Stockholm is an incredibly beautiful city! I’d love to spend more time here… The city is built on lots of islands, so there is a lot of water and ships everywhere, I love that. Here are some photos to give you an impression… they don’t really do the city justice though, as I have only been able to snap quick pictures while walking around town with a group of people.

Today is the last day of the conference, and it ends at about 15:00. So there finally is some time to see a bit more! I’m going to visit the Vasa Museum to see the ship that “sunk and then came up again” as my supervisor keeps calling it. Then I have to leave VERY early tomorrow (4 in the morning…) to fly to Geneva (through London). I’ll meet Paul there for the weekend, before he heads off to his paragliding course and I will go to a summer school in the French Alps. Busy busy… but enjoying myself!

Back in Tromsø

Back in Tromsø

Sorry for the long silence on this blog! Last Sunday, the KV Svalbard arrived back in Tromsø and Paul’s cruise is over now. I was supposed to fly here tonight, but I changed my ticket and arrived on Saturday instead. Paul knew nothing about this and it was fun to surprise him early Sunday morning – still asleep in his cabin, hehe.

They had an “open ship” on Sunday, for anyone interested in the ship or the science. The scientists presented what they had done on the cruise. Here’s Paul explaining how the Arctic Ocean works…

I was around for most of the day and later when I went home, I saw the ship going under the bridge on its way to the dock where they were going to unload the ship.

Tromsø has changed a lot since we were last here! Hardly any snow left except high on the mountains, trees are turning green and there are lots of flowers around. The weather has been sunny and warm as well, very nice! This was yesterday in the city centre…

I’m only here until Sunday morning, when I start my crazy tour of Europe – first a conference in Sweden, then 2 weeks of summer school in the French Alps and then a few days of holiday in Switzerland!! It will be very busy and lots of traveling, but I’m looking forward to it. Especially to being back in Switzerland (my favourite country!) – it’s been way too long since I was last there!

The midnight sun has arrived here so the days are very long. If the weather stays this nice, we’ll sure go for a couple of trips – as soon as the car is fixed! It’s been standing still for too long and the battery is completely flat. I’m going to buy a charger today so that should fix the problem. Hopefully more photos soon!