Changes in Latitudes

When the weather is nice in Bergen it is a sin to sit inside! Marius and I got up and decided we wanted to hike form Mt. Ulriken to Fløyen. We stopped by the store to get a one time use bbq and some chicken wings, then headed up Ulriken. We were soon greeted by a girl who we became friends with at our friend's birthday party the night before. She and her boyfriend were also headed up Ulriken and decided to join us on a long day hike from Ulriken to Fløyen. It was predicted to take 5 hours. We got to the top of Ulriken around 12:30 and then made it to the finish around 5:00, and we even had stopped for about 45 minutes to make our bbq wings - so we made good time. We were so tired by the end of the day and fell asleep relatively early on the couch. Overall a great weekend! When the weather is so nice you practically forget about all the rain in Bergen that has been falling the past 3 months!  

This week I am supposed to have four lectures on "Acoustic Methods for Marine Biology and Fisheries," but the professor could only hold the first one due to the arrival of Prince Charles and King Harold. He will be teaching them a bit about acoustics this week. We were all feeling a bit downgraded for such late notice, but then also glad to know we were in such capable hands that he will even teach royalty! I will have to listen out for the 21 cannon shots tomorrow when the King arrives to town. Hopefully I can make it to the city center between lectures and see if anything is happening. Here is the link to the article in Bergen's newspaper:  Lars får besøk av prins Charles

 [The beginning of the trails were often only ice, so I relied heavily on Klister to make my skis stick!] This past weekend we went skiing in Geilo where Marius' work has a condo right by the ski slopes. Both Saturday (to Prestholtseter and back) and Sunday (to Vestreim and back) we managed to ski at least 12 kilometers (return). The snow was quite hard and icy, but Saturday we got some snow falling and Sunday was pure sunshine! Sadly, St. Patrick's Day isn't really a big thing over here, but I still enjoyed a Guinness and listened to Irish music on Saturday.  [Occasional sun and snowflakes makes a happy skiing Justine]  [Enjoying an expensive hot cocoa at Prestholtseter just to sit inside the cabin]  [Look out for falling skiers!]  [Sunny Sunday ski!]  [Vestreim] [Sunbathing at Vestreim]

Today in the lab - marine phytoplankton of Norwegian waters      ..

This week I received an email from a woman in China who was recruiting speakers for BIT's 1st Annual Conference of Maritime and Fisheries (2012), held in Dalian, China this September. The theme is "Treasured Seafood, Innovation and Sustainability." I was pretty excited that I got such an email in my inbox at the IMR (even though my office-mate told me that he got the same email and didn't even read it). I think they were trying to get more representatives from the IMR to present research for the conference. It seemed like a neat opportunity, but I still have the ICES conference (during the exact same time) to look forward to, and my supervisors want me to go to that one and possibly share my research. It seems like I am in a good environment to make good contacts bot nationally and internationally for my future career, and that's a pretty good feeling!

This week I have been walking to and from the University/city center to save money on bus fare. I had bought myself a nice softshell jacket last week for 600 kroner, so that was equal to about 6 weeks of taking public transportation. My frugal logic...and when I got home I was thinking of Dual Survival quotes with my soggy feet and soaked raincoat. So, in conclusion, the raincoat i bought in NZ can't take the nasty Bergen rain...but now happily cuddled up to a cup of joe and spending quality time with mackerel :) This video was made my one of my classmates last semester to compliment our water quality reports. Water in Bergen from marcus soyland on Vimeo .

I get such a kick out of this show!! (If you let it keep playing there's other clips that play regarding: Cody's feet and Dave's love of meat --- the rhyme was not intended!)