Where to begin… I cannot express how much has happened in the past few weeks, emotionally, and agenda-wise. This part of my update I cannot post to the world, but am sending to you special few. It’s behind the scenes of all the fun and lively things you’ve read about in my past updates. Turmoil with my job, and colleague has made life a little on the stressful side than what it should be in Churchill. Facebook’s horoscope (if you believe those things) for the past week said the following: “Aries: you have been forced to interact with some difficult personalities lately, but you are about to get a break from their craziness. Finally”. I cannot say how true that horoscope was (and oddly enough so many other ones too). My professor/boss from the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario at U of G was here for the past two weeks for the Arctic Ecology course (finished yesterday). I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say that I (and my colleague) was given inadequate training, instruction, and no support from U of Guelph in this brand new initiative with Parks Canada, and people have just realized this now. Most of you know that I really enjoy learning about and working for Parks Canada. This job was supposed to have Parks-related tasks integrated into my summer schedule, but because Dr. Hebert was so dissatisfied, it looks like the rest of the summer will be almost entirely focused on collection of specimens for his project (which it pretty much has been, anyways, and everything has to be done Paul’s way). So that’s work, and a test life has thrown my way this summer has been as my horoscope described above. This professor, my colleague and the graduate student I assisted in Wapusk have taught me to exercise patience, acceptance of criticism and management of conflict. It was just as I feared, that living, partying and working side-by-side with someone 24/7 has taken a bad turn, which certainly doesn’t help when combined with the above job issues too. What I’m going to do about it, I don’t know yet. Right now, I’m just trying to stick it through, stay optimistic, and think of you guys!
The student life:
My past fourteen days were spent as a student in the Arctic Ecology course at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC). Days were long, an 8 am start, and not finishing until after 10 most nights, then a drive back to town to crash on my own bed, before waking up the next day to start all over again. It’s not as if the course required people to stay so late, but participation is key, and there’s always something to do… all in all, it was a great experience. Occasionally, a seminar/lecture would take place after din
ner – they consisted of the work conducted by various researchers, such as the nematode (worm-like creatures) research one guy did in the Antarctic (he had some cute pictures of the penguins there), and the research done by another scientist in Greenland/Iceland/High Arctic. They were mostly interesting, but the incredibly stuffy and dark room (and a full stomach) made it difficult to stay focused at times. The first week of the course was spent sampling at various sites around Churchill, to familiarize students with the area and give them an idea of what organisms are present in this sub-Arctic region. The second week, students formulated their individual project goals and went to sites of their choice. My project focuses on the biodiversity of amphipods, which are shrimp-like creatures that live in the marine intertidal zone, in relation to variations in salinity and habitat. I chose them because they are quite abundant (straightforward to collect, and all over the place), and I love being on or near water. On purpose, I got away from the crowd of students, and into town one morning to collect around there (I borrowed an ATV and enjoyed my solitude), and another day I arranged for me and two other researchers to go across the river (by boat) to collect at the Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site (PWF). That was quite enjoyable being on the water all day at PWF, and afterwards we went whale watching, and pretended to be stranded on a buoy in the middle of the river. Other exciting events that were part of the course experience included kayaking with the whales, an all-day tundra buggy tour (we saw nine bears, an Arctic fox, an Arctic hare, a rough-legged hawk, and much more), a walk along Ramsay Trail to see the tundra polygons (natural formations that expose the permafrost beneath the soil) and the buried rocket from the old days when the CNSC was a military rocket launch base. All combined, I’ve seen 12 bears in the last two weeks, so yes, they’re around - it’s the polar bear capital of the world!
The student life:
My past fourteen days were spent as a student in the Arctic Ecology course at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC). Days were long, an 8 am start, and not finishing until after 10 most nights, then a drive back to town to crash on my own bed, before waking up the next day to start all over again. It’s not as if the course required people to stay so late, but participation is key, and there’s always something to do… all in all, it was a great experience. Occasionally, a seminar/lecture would take place after din
ner – they consisted of the work conducted by various researchers, such as the nematode (worm-like creatures) research one guy did in the Antarctic (he had some cute pictures of the penguins there), and the research done by another scientist in Greenland/Iceland/High Arctic. They were mostly interesting, but the incredibly stuffy and dark room (and a full stomach) made it difficult to stay focused at times. The first week of the course was spent sampling at various sites around Churchill, to familiarize students with the area and give them an idea of what organisms are present in this sub-Arctic region. The second week, students formulated their individual project goals and went to sites of their choice. My project focuses on the biodiversity of amphipods, which are shrimp-like creatures that live in the marine intertidal zone, in relation to variations in salinity and habitat. I chose them because they are quite abundant (straightforward to collect, and all over the place), and I love being on or near water. On purpose, I got away from the crowd of students, and into town one morning to collect around there (I borrowed an ATV and enjoyed my solitude), and another day I arranged for me and two other researchers to go across the river (by boat) to collect at the Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site (PWF). That was quite enjoyable being on the water all day at PWF, and afterwards we went whale watching, and pretended to be stranded on a buoy in the middle of the river. Other exciting events that were part of the course experience included kayaking with the whales, an all-day tundra buggy tour (we saw nine bears, an Arctic fox, an Arctic hare, a rough-legged hawk, and much more), a walk along Ramsay Trail to see the tundra polygons (natural formations that expose the permafrost beneath the soil) and the buried rocket from the old days when the CNSC was a military rocket launch base. All combined, I’ve seen 12 bears in the last two weeks, so yes, they’re around - it’s the polar bear capital of the world! 
