I had my PhD defense last Tuesday and went right back to the field on Wednesday and Thursday. Not really for work, more for fun. Yes, I had to clean up my field sites, but it was not hard work and I had time to take some pictures.
This weekend I was in Bern and next week I will try to get some new stamps into the shop. And of course relax, go swimming and enjoy the sun as long as the weather is fine.
And yes I past!!!
It has been a long week and very wet. The rain slowed us down. We were 5 people working the whole week to finish in time. I was very relieved to pack all the boxes on Friday afternoon.
I’ve been very busy reading papers and got pretty lost in it. I do this because I am also writing one at the moment. Papers have to be very informative and tight because you are only aloud to use few words. Unfortunately I am not very good at this. From time to time you find a paper that was writen a very long time ago. At that time they really WROTE papers!
Holzner, W. (1978) Vegetation, 38, 13-20.
Go for a walk into the nature and you’ll find small wonders!
I am back in Tromsø looking after the plants. I was surprised how much weed has grown. But also the plants have grown, the snow on the mountains has melted and the gras hat grown (compare to Tromsø in June). The weather has been great. Today I even wore a t-shirt.
I have finally learnt to sleep in bright sunlight. Maybe because I am still very tired. But the plants do not sleep at all. The photosynthesize 24 hours!
Again a wonderful day in the field in Trondheim. This time with the help of many people. Thanks to Peter, Regula, Karsten, Kathrin and Meriam!
I finished the field work in Tromsø today. I saved taking pictures until today because the sun was supposed to be shining. It did for about 30 minutes. It felt good and was almost too warm because I was wrapped like an onion in 4 layers with a hat and gloves. But then it vanished again and it even started to rain. Good for the plants that I just planted I thought! But I managed some shoots in this half hour.
I hope the birds will leave the colored sticks I made and carefully placed in each plot. Last year they stole a lot of labels. And Gregor, the guy that sowed the seeds for me, had to rescue them.
I am in Tromsø (Paris of the North) now. I worked in the field the whole day, planting and measuring. It was a very nice day as it was completely windless. But compared to Trondheim it is very cold. The city is surrounded by mountains still covered in snow which cools down the air.
Yesterday I visited Leonie and Pat on their ship. We had dinner together. In a few days they will start their trip around the world on a yacht. I am very impressed of their future adventures and wish them luck!
I am back in Norway for ten days. This is my last field season and I have to plant, measure and check what survived the winter. I am in Trondheim for 3 days and then travel north again to Tromsø. Trondheim welcomed me with sun and rain at the same time as usual. But it felt very real.
To be vegetarian is not so easy in every country. In Norway it is mostly ok but as you go further north and away from cities it gets more complicated. But Mr. K. and I have started to search for vegetarian restaurants wherever we go and it has proved to be successful. I did the same today and found this nice place in the city center called persilleriet. They serve mostly healthy, local and organic food.
It’s getting cold and plants are freezing or they cope with the cold. This plant can bear cold nights. However it does not grow anymore until the spring. I got some nice shots last week when I visited them in Zürich.
