Hei hei! My name is Maddy Billups, and I am a fourth year student studying arctic geology in Svalbard, Norway. I am so excited to be sharing my journey abroad with others as part of the GEO Ambassador program, and I hope to illuminate personal epiphanies I have had and will continue to have while abroad. Living in a new country for the very first time I am learning a lot about who I am, regardless of where I am. I am so excited for the months ahead!
I found the Arctic geology program through the GEO website in January of last year. While studying geology at the University of Oregon, students engage in field work as part of the degree, and I have completed all my classroom learning as part of my degree, making the only credits I have left to complete to graduate being field credits.I was looking for an opportunity to live somewhere new, save money, maximize my college experience, and finish my degree in a timely manner. It sounded impossible, but Svalbard and the arctic scientific studies program through GEO and UNIS Svalbard was the perfect solution for me! I am saving money while here, learning about what I love in an extremely unique environment, and experiencing the larger world around me all at once. This program felt like it was built for me, and I was so excited when I was accepted, I accidentally woke my roommates up!
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I will be here for the full academic year, and I arrived in Svalbard in early August and will stay until June, finishing my undergraduate degree here. I flew with my friend Vivian to Norway, who is also taking courses at UNIS is geophysics. Even though I had a friend going through the exact same emotions, flying to Norway was one of the most challenging, nerve-wracking, and exciting things I have ever done. I knew that my life was going to change, for the good or for the bad, and I did not know how yet! When we arrived in Oslo, I was so jet-lagged that carrying my skis through the streets to our Airbnb felt impossible. Traveling with enough equipment for life at 78 degrees North is not for the weak, but after a week of staying in Oslo and sleeping off the hours we time-traveled through, we were ready for our flight to Svalbard. We were both so excited for the trip over, and when the mountains of the archipelago came into view I started to tear up. It felt like an "I made it" moment. Svalbard immediately felt cozy, and moving in was quick and easy! Not much besides the kilos of ski and camping equipment to unpack. We live and go to school in Longyearbyen, which is located off Isfjord on Adventdalen. Town is beautiful, and despite being at the edge of the world, there are quite a few shops and the one grocery store supplies everything we need!
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Starting school and my lessons at UNIS happened the Monday after we arrived. The president of our university welcomed us with a memorable speech. He commemorated us on our bravery for leaving the mainstream, leaving our home universities in pursuit of an arctic education. He told us all that the world, UNIS, our home countries, and our future all need us as students to be passionate and excited about learning about the arctic environment. Since that first day, every single day of school has been different. Different schedules, different learning environments, different lessons. Every day looks different here, which I absolutely love. My class has been across fjords mapping glacial surge related landforms, looking at 267 million years of tilted and uplifted stratigraphy along a geotope, taking river discharge measurements, and building field reports, and that's just been the first couple of weeks here! My photos are of those various excursions.
After only being here for just under two months, I could fill a book with all the things that have happened. Every day spent here in Longyearbyen, whether at school or during a free day, is filled with something spectacular. Weekends here in Svalbard and Longyearbyen consist of getting outside as much as you can, always carrying polar bear protections when necessary. Rifles are required on school outings and are assigned to our class when we exit the city zone of Longyearbyen, which has taken some getting used to.
The biggest challenges to identities I have are internal. While I am not personally being criticized for anything I have done, the US and its president are under global criticism. Studying in a country where climate change is actively studied and acted up is a different experience than being from one where even its existence is debated. My classmates, teachers, friends, and I frequently discuss steps for the future of the arctic. I have been enjoying discovering my unique identity outside of the US, engaging with others who come from other backgrounds, perspectives, and morals.
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Maddy Billups, Arctic Scientific Studies in Svalbard