Texpatriate goes on an adventure

Well, next week I am going to have a bit of an adventure. I'm going to travel so far north, that still, my mind sort of is boggling over the idea. I'm SO excited.

I'm going to Svalbard. See the little green bit on this map? WAY north of Norway? On top of the world? Yeah, that's where it is. Arctic Circle Baby! I'm gonna be an Arctic explorer!

The trip is a geological exploratory/research trip sponsored by the company I work for. I'm very lucky to get to go. I've been on the planning committee for months and was hoping some spots might open up for me to go, and a few did, so I totally lucked out. We will be on a boat for 4 days, checking out the fjords and geological formations that only exist in such pristine form on Svalbard. The landscape there is ancient and geologists swoon over the stuff they can see. (Bet ya didn't know I studied some geology when I was in college and my first dream when I was a kid was to be a paleontologist. As I got older, of course, I realized that geologists and paleontologists (and archaeologists) always had to wear hiking boots and strange jackets with unflatteringly placed pockets, and my desire for the job waned.)

So, yeah, I will be in the Arctic Circle for my birthday!!!!! If that is not a memorable 40th birthday for a girl from Texas I don't know what is! (Only bummer here is that Rich won't be there with me, as he does not work for my company.)

I'll see bear crossing signs! And glaciers! And polar bears and whales and seals and puffins! And all sorts of interesting sedimentary formations! The midnight sun will still be in effect until Aug 26th! I'll be about 700 miles from the north Pole!

Holy CRAP!

My biggest worry about the whole thing was wardrobe. The list they sent us of what to pack included NOTHING I own. Everything has to be waterproof, windproof, warm and yet breathable. Wool underclothes, no cotton. No jeans. What the HELL was I gonna do? No jeans? I'm from Texas, I just don't understand these kinds of clothes, and I didn't want to spend thousands of kroner on clothes that I would only wear a few times. (A good jacket alone can set you back minimum $400.) I did an exploratory trip and half heartedly bought some hiking boots (my old skool Timberlands just wouldn't cut it, I've had them since Kurt Cobain was still alive) and some Helly Hansen weatherproof pants, but if you've read my blog AT ALL you will know I am not exactly the sporting clothes type. My idea of dressing down is jeans with a velvet top and coordinating shoes...I NEVER wear sweats or sports clothes in public. How on earth do I dress hard core Arctic Circle for 5 days???????

And then....Kristin to the rescue! Kristin is my friend who spent 6 months working on Jan Mayen Island this winter. She somehow manages to be sporty, rugged and yet feminine at the same time and she said she'd lend me whatever I needed to make this Svalbard wardrobe thing work. And boy, did she.

That girl has kitted my ass OUT. She's got everything one would need, and it is all the highest quality and perfect for the conditions, Luckily, she and I wear similar sizes, and she is about as tall as me. I've got everything I need for the trip, and somehow, miraculously, it all fits great and looks almost, dare I say it, a bit sexy? I mean, as sexy as one can be clad in nylon, wool underwear, a weatherproof jacket and hiking boots. It's all in red and black and it's kind of comfortable and even gives me curves and meets my rather high expectations of style. I'm amazed! I didn't realize how worried I was about what to wear (Norwegians take sports wear VERY seriously) until I didn't have to worry about it! I'm so grateful to her!

So, yeah, next Thursday I am off to an adventure of a lifetime. I'll take plenty of pictures, I promise.