Longyearbyen, the solitary Norwegian town

Trip Start Aug 03, 2003

Trip End Jun 05, 2004

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Flag of Norway Longyearbyen, Norway
Friday, August 1, 2003

Longyearbyen was the first place where we really lived far from our families (quite far indeed, more than 4400 km away). It was a wise choice to start with such a difficult trip, because this would contribute to make easier the following experiences. Longyearbyen is special in many different ways. To start with something, it has a difficult access; it is only reachable by plane during the winter (with the subsequent problems for the supply of fresh food) and boat during summer time, beacause the fjord remains frozen a big part of the year.
It is supposed to be a mining town (1700 inhabitants), but its coal mining related activities are decreasing in favour of others as tourism and scientific research (being Svalbard a natural outdoor laboratory to test many important facts as the magnitude of the global climate change).

As students of science there we assisted to UNIS, the University Centre in Svalbard, which is the northernmost University campus in the world. It has a high quality of teaching as well, and access to important research facilities open to every single student. Due to its consideration as a key activity to maintain the healthy life of Longyearbyen, political centre of Svalbard as a Norwegian territory, the University receives a priority treatment even compared to other Norwegian Universities, in topics like budget, internationalization, and material resources. This allowed us to enjoy a whole undergraduate course on Arctic Geology without paying fees, including activities such as marine geology cruises in upper class Research Vessels, and field trips in snowscooters. The accommodation provided by UNIS is superb too. At reasonable prices, you can live in student barracks with an individual room per person, a bathroom shared with one more student and a kitchen for every seven students. This means a good mix of private and social life.

The life in Longyearbyen, though attractive, can be difficult sometimes too. Its latitude (78摸) means three months of polar night, with no lights in the horizon (what we got used to easily), and three of midnight sun (what was not so easy to get along well with). Of course, the temperatures are quite low, reaching -35慢 in wintertime and very rarely going above +10慢 during the summer. You'd better buy warm clothes if planning to go to Svalbard. The other inconvenient you might encounter there is the presence of Polar Bears, which sometimes may cross the town. Thus, every single student is obliged to follow and pass a Safety Course that teaches you how to deal with cold, glacier crevasses, polar bears (with a shooting practice included), survival suits in case of falling to the water during cruises, radio communications, GPS orientation, and other activities. But maybe the hardest (or the best?) thing in Longyearbyen is the relative isolation. There are no roads in Svalbard to connect different human settlements, and when you get out of the town you have to carry with you a signal gun and a rifle.

Apart from all that, the life of Longyearbyen is quiet and peaceful. It has its own hospital, sports centre, shopping centre (called Svalbarbutikken), primary and secondary school, church, and many funny outdoors and indoors activities (our level of skiing improved so much there...although it was not very high before). It is located in the lower part of a valley that has two glaciers (Longyearbreen and Larsbreen that allow you to enjoy in its moraine and ice caves) in its upper part, and has a waterfront in the Adventdalen fjord. Many visitors, as reindeers and polar foxes, can be seen walking freely through the valley (in spite of the omnipresent menace of hunters, who luckily are not allowed to carry loaded weapons inside the town). We enjoyed the benefits of the Longyearbyen community, making friends not only among students but especially among other inhabitants in town (our beloved Hilde and Sigve, who later on came to Madrid to visit us for a few days). But we have to make a special mention of one of our favourite phenomena in Svalbard, the Northern Lights, which we had never seen before and captivated our senses in a way only few things have done after that.

In conclusion, Longyearbyen is one of the strongest experiences we have had, and we would recommend it to anybody who has the chance to go.