The U.S. group arrived in Kangerlussuaq at 4:00 p.m. local time on Friday, June 28, after a LONG day of travels. We quickly settled in and it has been a whirlwind of activity ever since. On Friday night, we shared our "tokens" and learned names. The evening was filled with laughter and conversation!
The students have been divided into 4 groups, and our first vocabulary lesson will be the group names. Below they are given in Greenlandic, then Danish, then English:
umimmak, muskusokse, musk ox
tuttu, rensdyr, reindeer
ukaleq, snehare, snowhare
nanoq, isbjorn, polar bear
A few photos from the day:
Our chariot to Greenland: 109th Air National Guard C-130.
Our first glimpse of Greenland as seen from the C-130.
Our home away from home for the next three weeks: Kangerlussauq.
Kasper Busk helps Frederick and Chloe get ready to use the GPS on the first group activity.
Michael, Makka, Grace, and Ronin prepare for Sunday's field work.
Samantha and Josefine collect the weather data.
The Watson River reflects the beautiful blue sky as it winds its way towards Kangerlussauq.
Quick report on the evening activity, from the Tuttu group, by Samantha Montoya:
This evening we each gave a short presentation about where we are from, what we study as well as what our favorite pastimes are. Some of us shared pictures of our homelands, and we were all blown away by the vastly different places we all represent. It was incredible to see how different the parts of each of our countries are.
Everyone had a wonderful time getting to know each other better and learning what everyone does in their spare time. We got to try some of the typical foods and treats from each country (or state) and explore new tastes. Although we spent much more time on our presentations than the allotted time, we enjoyed ourselves, and it was worth sacrificing a little sleep to get to know everyone a little better!
And as a post-script, we will give additional weather details in the journals beyond the "Weather Details" section of the blog: Relative Humidity 39%, Barometric Pressure 29.83 in Hg,