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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!
Spring in Norwich!

Spring in Norwich!

Today was such a beautiful day… temperatures over 20 degrees, a light breeze and lots of sunshine! After always needing several layers of clothing to go outside in Tromso, it’s such a luxury to just go out without even a coat! 🙂

I went to town with Karla and we decided that it was a waste to spend time in shops with such beautiful weather, so instead we went for a walk around the cathedral. All the trees are in blossom there, very pretty!

Of course we weren’t the only ones enjoying Spring time… 🙂

It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so I’m happy we went out and enjoyed today!

It’s strange to think Paul is in such a different world now… scroll down for his pictures of a polar bear!

Misty Norwich

Misty Norwich

Hello!

I’ve been in Norwich for a week now, quite nice to be back and spend time with friends!

The things you do for a free breakfast… today if you cycled to university you got a free breakfast, but supply was limited and they started giving them out at 7:45. We were so keen that we actually got there at 7:45!! I don’t think I’ve ever been at uni that early 😉 It was nice though, a beautiful morning, we ate our breakfast outside. We saw a hot air balloon coming over the university as well…

I’ve been working very hard – sometimes I’m at uni for over 12 hours which is very unlike me 😉 But I am nearing the end of my funding faster than the end of my research… I’m trying to work as hard as I can so I can finish as soon as possible. I’m so ready to find a “real” job sometimes, I even went to an open day about becoming a primary school teacher. Scary stuff…

Anyway, when I finally left university today, I noticed that there was a very spectacular case of ground fog. This type of fog is called radiation fog occurring on very clear, still days at sunset. The layer of fog was really thin, less than a metre in places! I tried to take some photos, I had to use my backpack as a tripod so I was a bit limited but I am still happy with the result! You can see people in some of the photos, they are taken near the student accommodation and I was not the only one fascinated by the fog.

Paul also sent me more photos and stories from the Arctic. The internet connection on the ship is very slow, so I’ll put those online for him. Coming soon!

Snowshoeing up Grønnlibruna

Snowshoeing up Grønnlibruna

Last Sunday we planned another attempt to the top of Tromsdalstinden (a.k.a. “The Beast…) but we decided to abandon that plan when we found out it was an extremely windy day. Tromsdalstinden was not actually visible (despite clear skies) because of all the blowing snow! Instead we drove to a village called Straumsbukta. We found a valley on the map that looked like it should be out of the wind. And indeed it was 🙂

The valley is very beautiful. In Summer there are marshes, now just mostly big empty spaces. We didn’t ski this time, we used the army snowshoes that Paul bought a few weeks ago for a bargain price. I am not exactly “army-sized” so they are a bit big for me but they work fine!

The second photo (below) is taken on the hill. Going steeply uphill is not that easy with such big snowshoes, and quite tiring – the trees became my best friend 😉 good for a little break.

In the middle of the forest we found tracks. We assumed from a skier, but when we looked closely, they were from a moose! Wow he made such deep tracks, very impressive! The tracks looked quite recent but we didn’t get to meet Mr Moose himself…

In the other photo I am trying to work out where we are… we actually climbed up quite a bit higher than we thought. Nice 😉

We had a nice view over the valley and the sunset – these photos are taken at 19:30, it’s getting very light up here these days.

We reached the top of Petterbolhaugen, at 367m. Click on the left photo to see what the army snowshoes are like! They actually have good bindings and quite good grip.

I was quite tired by the time we got up there, but we found that Grønnlibruna (400m) was blocking our view of Tromsø… and it was not that much further… so even though it was late, we decided to continue. It didn’t take that long, and the view of Tromsø was nice indeed. Unfortunately it had gotten too dark for good photos by then though. We got back to the car very late, and quite exhausted, but it was a nice trip!

Time is flying, and I’m soon going back to Norwich for a while. Paul is preparing to go to sea until early June, a very long cruise! They do get a few days off in the middle, at Spitsbergen, and I decided to fly up there as well, I’m very excited about going there!!

Spring has also arrived to Tromsø, even if it still looks very wintry. The constant dripping of the snow melting is getting louder and louder. Many of the streets are snow/ice free now – makes walking a lot easier 🙂 The birds are coming back as well, which is really nice. I’m passing through Tromsø on my way to Spitsbergen in early May, will be interesting to see the changes by then!