LCC students Victor Zhao’13 and Andrew Hamilton’13 had the opportunity to participate in ArcticNet’s Schools on Tundra program during the March Break.
“Students and teachers participating in the Schools on Tundra program [had] the unique opportunity to conduct authentic field research in the sub-arctic, engage with scientists working out of the [Churchill Northern Studies Centre] and participate in lectures and workshops. Participants also [experienced] the diverse geology, biodiversity, cultural history, and wild beauty that the area around Churchill offers.
The program was hosted at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC), a hive of scientific activity located outside of Churchill, MB Canada. Here, scientists are trying to increase our understanding of the changes that the sub-arctic is experiencing due to global climate change.”
Enjoy the blogs!
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
It’s around 9 pm Winnipeg time, 10 pm Montreal time, and even without the trip really beginning, I am, in a word, tired. After a delayed flight, Andrew and I arrived yesterday at around 4:30, and unfortunately we missed the first orientation activity, where the group just walked around Forks, a town named after the fact that it is at the fork of two major rivers, the Red River and the Assiniboine. We had a nice dinner, a highlight of which was Andrew ordering the “muddy burger,” a burger big enough that he had to cut it into pieces with fork and knife to eat it, and met the four girls and two other guys that formed our current group before we met the other two boys in Churchill. We had a nice time skating along a barely-frozen path that was also at times terrifying and quite painful due to the skates we were wearing. By lights out at 10:30, the four guys in our room still hadn’t showered or decided where people were sleeping, as we only had two beds for four people, and the sleeping arrangements were really only decided at 4 in the morning when Tyler, the boy from Iqaluit who had elected to sleep on the floor, decided that it wasn’t worth it and climbed into bed with Andrew.
After a restless night, we had a nice pancake breakfast and continued to marvel at Manitoba’s ridiculous course sizes before climbing onto our 45-hour long train ride. We’ve been on the train for about 9 hours now, and it’s been surprisingly… well, not eventful, but not the long, boring experience we had expected. Playing cards and looking at pictures of polar bears in anticipation of the next week and a half have been keeping the group occupied, as has sleep. Sleep has been great. That, as well as watching people stumble along the train, have kept me quite amused, and excited for the days to come. –Victor Zhao ’13