Hello again everyone! Today I have been having an extremely (but much needed) lazy Sunday, so perfect for an update. On Friday we finished up the week long safety course. My group did CPR/first aide and logistics/lab on the last day so it wasn't as exciting as the other days but we did get out early so that was nice. A week of demanding classes from 8-4 definitely wore people out physically and emotionally from all of the drills/exercises as well as constant but necessary theme that Svalbard is an amazing place but a dangerous one also, where it is extremely important to be always aware of your surroundings and be prepared for the worst.

We had our safety test all day Saturday starting at 8am again, so no one wanted to get too crazy Friday night. I ended up going to the upstairs kitchen of my barrack, because I still have no one using my kitchen yet so it can get a bit lonely down there. Upstairs there were a lot of people around so we hung out for a while. That was the first time I have seen any television since I have been here, and man they really brought over the good stuff from the US to Norway. On TV there was The Simpsons, COPS, MTV cribs and the movie Dragonheart. Since that wasn't really happening we went to the other kitchen upstairs and played a game called Fantasy (its the same as charades) for a while. It got pretty rowdy and I really enjoyed the cultural mix we had going. There were mostly norwegians, but also people from Germany, Denmark, Russia, Canada and the US. I love being with such a mix of people from different countries all the time, definitely one of my favorite things about being here. After that we listened to music for a while and hung out, until finally going to bed around 2.

Saturday was safety test day. We woke up early and headed out. The weather was nasty; blowing hard and snowing, but I guess that was good, because it simulates an emergency situation. We hiked up about 20 minutes to the morraine of the Longyearbyen glacier behind the barracks. There were 3 different stations. At the first one we had to set up the emergency tents and perform first aide on hurt victims and get them into the tents. At the second station we set up crevasse rescue systems and lowered people down a steep slope with ropes, pulleys and a harness. At the third station we got beacons, probes and shovels and had to run around an avalanche and find the victims and dig them out. The exercises were actually pretty fun, and four hours went by quickly. We were able to do everything without too much trouble, although I can tell you I would not want to be stuck in an emergency situation with some of the people in my group. After we were done we hiked back down to the barracks and got on buses to go back down to UNIS. When we got there we had to take a written test and evaluation.

After we were done with all that I was exhausted, but the school had arranged a little party in the cafeteria (called the cantina here). There was pizza and tons of really cheap beer and hard alcohol so that was really fun. Everyone was drunk by 5 or 6 and it was nice to be able to let loose and hang out with everyone. We danced, drank and chatted for the next few hours. I met more people from all over the world which was really cool, although I couldn't tell you half of the people's names by now. Hopefully I will get those down soon. I actually met a girl from Whitehorse, who used to come to Juneau all the time to play soccer and knew a bunch of people from JDHS. She also may or may not have been the Whitehorse girl who broke my arm when I was playing soccer in middle school. At about 11 we decided to clear out of the school and head up to Huset, which is the local "night club". A bunch of people took a taxi up there because the roads were pure ice, but I decided instead to walk with a guy from Vermont. This was a huge mistake, we must have fallen a dozen times each and were both in some serious pain by the time we got to Huset. As soon as we got there it was no problem though and everyone started dancing. The crowd was hilarious at Huset. There were a bunch of us from the school, all dressed in long underwear and sweats and totally haggard from our long week. Then there were a bunch of little asian women decked out in dresses and clubbing attire, and a bunch of sleezy older guys in business suits. I had a lot of fun there. I finally headed back to the barracks around 2am with the guy from vermont, and a guy and a girl from Norway. I fell asleep as soon as I got back and was happy to finally sleep in this morning! I have been in a lot of pain all day though from falling so many times last night, so I have done absolutely nothing today, which has been much needed.

Tomorrow classes start so I am excited for that! Well that's all I have to report for now. Still dark out! I haven't gone crazy yet, but I would love to know what this place actually looks like. I have taken a few pictures so I will put them up on facebook and put up a link later. They are all dark though. Hope everyone has had a great weekend!!! Sara