I began September by flying back to the US for a concert in Tennessee, though getting there I experienced an unbelievable amount of non-weather delays/cancellations and arrived 24 hours later than scheduled (yikes!). In Tennessee, I met up with a friend from Green Bay, and we drove back to Wisconsin together. At home I spent my time beginning my online fall semester courses, Environmental Management and Indigenous and Northern-led Theory and Methods. My supervisor Dr. Hudson taught the second class, which gave me an enriched perspective of the material. Towards the end of September, I was so excited to host two of my friends from Canada! After they landed, we attended a Thursday night Packer game, which was super fun, even if we didn’t win. The next day we drove up north to my cottage to enjoy the fall colors and a fire. I was happy to show them two classic parts of Wisconsin culture, a supper club and a cheese factory! On Saturday we headed down to Chicago to enjoy the city. We went to the top of the Sears/Willis Tower, followed by a visit to the Shedd Aquarium - a blast for three ecology nerds. We then took an e-bike ride and a sunset architectural boat tour. For dinner that night we indulged in the traditional delicious Chicago deep-dish pizza, and before our flight back to Canada the next afternoon, we quickly visited the Museum of Science and Industry. I was so happy to share my home with my friends, and as I grew up frequently visiting Chicago, it was fun to experience the city from the perspective of first-time visitors. They’ve given me so much knowledge of what it’s like to be from Canada, so I was very happy to share some of my roots with them. During the month of October, I once again “hit the books,” for my courses. My Environmental Management course was completely online, without any lectures, which I quickly learned was a challenge for me! I realized how much I prefer verbal discussions to discussion boards, and how having regimented class times forces me into a schedule. This class was also part of the management graduate program, taught outside of the environmental department. It challenged me to think differently about environmentalism and sustainability, which I greatly value. Throughout the semester, I was part of a small group that examined the sustainability of a Corner Brook-based seafood company. Analyzing the sustainability of one business that doesn’t have much information on their website was another welcome challenge. My supervisor/professor hyped up her course in Indigenous Research in the months before it started, and it definitely lived up to my expectations. As we were working on the grant, she had mentioned most of the authors that we ended up studying in the class, and these authors would also be useful in guiding my own research. Luckily for me, this course was taught at the same time every week! Many of the students in the class were teachers in Labrador, who gave great insights into intergenerational knowledge transfer in Indigenous communities. My supervisor and I had already discussed so many of the ideas discussed in her class, but this time I actually read the actual text and heard perspectives from other classmates. My semester-long project for this course looked at the differences between Indigenous and Western ideas of place and space. The concept of geography has had serious implications for Indigenous peoples, and it was interesting to look at how the two perspectives are being reconciled, or if they should be merged at all. As I was working through my coursework, I was also preparing for my own personal research. Initially, I was unsure if I would make two trips to Cartwright or one. This would be determined by my ethics application to NCC. I’ve learned in both of my research methods courses how ethics are a crucial step in conducting research. Making sure that research complies with the ethical standards set by the local governing body ensures that the rights of research participants are upheld. It ended up that my ethics were reviewed in the beginning of November, so I would only be taking one research trip to Cartwright at the end of the month. I knew that my schedule for November would be full of travel, so I needed to get as much work done in advance as possible. That being said, I had limited time for adventures I would’ve liked to have taken. One trip on my list that I could take was a day trip to Stephenville and the Port au Port peninsula, which is roughly an hour south of Corner Brook. I hadn’t been south of Corner Brook and I wanted to see the town of Stephenville, since it’s close and is a bigger town in our area. My friend Claire was happy to tag along, but she also wanted to show me the Port au Port peninsula, which juts out from the west coast near Stephenville. The town was small, and mostly unremarkable, but I was glad to finally say I’ve been there. We started our drive along the peninsula with a short hike at its’ isthmus. Our second stop was a cute tea room called Tea by the Sea, where we had a cup of tea and took in the beautiful views of the peninsula’s cliffs. On our way off the peninsula, we stopped at a waterfall that, due to the time of year, had no water – definitely not as scenic! This area is particularly interesting for an environmentalist, because it’s the future site of wind turbines, but there has been significant pushback from the locals. During our drive we saw many signs opposing the wind project. Though green energy development is popular with environmentalists, local perspectives are essential to consider. This period of time felt very busy and jam-packed, but it was nothing compared to my schedule for November – part of which I’ll write about in my next update.
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Hello again! Right after I last posted, things really kicked into high gear. Starting in August, time flew by as I was preparing to finish my program and move back to the US in December. There were few restful moments between my internship, classes, independent research, and travel. Even though the last few months I was in Canada were packed to the gills, there are so many memories during this time that I will treasure forever. Therefore – this update will be divided into several posts that document what I’ve been up to since I last wrote. After my family left town, the heat luckily broke (this was definitely an unusual heat wave, as it was occasionally brought up by locals even months later). I was super excited to catch up with my friends again. It’d been a few weeks, so the reunion was quite sweet. I was also eager to get back to “normal,” which ended up a pretty naïve hope! My internship picked up quickly, because the grant I was assisting with was due in the beginning of September. This joint application from four countries had many boxes that needed to be checked before submission, and figuring out how to check the boxes took up most of my August. I’m so glad to have been able to contribute to this application, as it was a great opportunity to develop my project management skills. Since I was based on the island and NunatuKavut Community Council (NCC) is in Labrador, I knew that my work would be mostly remote, but I had always intended on conducting some work either in the office or in coastal NCC communities. Coordinating schedules with my supervisors was difficult, yet we were finally able to meet for about a week and a half at the end of August and beginning of September (which will be discussed later in this post). Though I was very busy with my internship for the rest of my summer, I managed to find time for a few breaks to have social time and enjoy the pleasant end of July and August weather. I love movies, so of course I was excited to enjoy a “Barbenheimer” double feature… but since it is such a small theater, the Corner Brook Cineplex was only showing Barbie (which was still fun to watch). At the end of July, Corner Brook held its annual Jigs and Wheels festival, where my friends and I enjoyed several nights of local music and fireworks. I was also happy to attend the Elmastukwek Mawio’mi powwow in Corner Brook, despite the dreary weather. It was super fun to try my hand at archery again for the first time since I was a camp counselor back in 2018! In terms of outdoor adventures, the weather was mostly perfect – not too hot, but still somewhat warm and sunny. During the summer months, there are always so many frogs near my apartment and neighborhood, which I thought was honestly awesome. I really enjoyed my short local walks in the neighborhood trails to restart my brain. Another fun escapade was a post-work hike to a swimming hole for a late afternoon swim with a few friends, which, though pretty, was still much colder than I’m used to. In mid-August, I and my friend Claire hiked the Cape Blow Me Down/Copper Mine trail. This hike was a bit challenging, but the experience was one of a kind. The trail was quiet, the weather was just right, the blueberries along the trail were delicious, and the views from the top were some of the best I’d ever seen. Our reward after a sweaty hike was a rinse in the refreshing Copper Mine Falls. If I had to choose, this would be my favorite hike I did in the area – I couldn’t have had a better time! During these weeks, I was also happy to participate in several Rotary events. At the end of July I participated in a fundraiser for Xavier House, which is a local shelter that houses those with mental challenges. Though I didn’t get to meet the residents, I felt lucky to chat with the employees and learn more about Xavier House’s services. As Corner Brook is a smaller community, there are very limited non-governmental organizations dedicated to serving the marginalized, which certainly opened my eyes to the difficulties of providing these services in rural and remote regions. During my K-12 education in Green Bay, there were countless opportunities for working with food pantries and shelters, but for Corner Brook students, there are far fewer opportunities. The most meaningful service experiences I’ve had were when I was able to physically work with the marginalized, and I am eager to learn more about the role of community service in rural and remote communities. Another Rotary event that I found thought-provoking was the presentation from the current Rotary District 7815 Governor, Robert Sevigny. Robert has spent a great deal of time providing social services in the Far North, and he discussed how mental health care can be incorporated into Rotary Clubs. As he is the District Governor, he also discussed ideas on how to expand Rotary membership, which was useful for a young person like me to think about. The last summer Rotary meeting I attended was held at the Port of Corner Brook on a pleasant and sunny day. Several members of the club work for the Port of Corner Brook, and we got to learn about the local business of cruise and cargo ships. Cruise ships bring in significant revenue to the local area, which was interesting to break down. On the days that cruise ships are in port, the downtown environment looks quite different, and I appreciated learning about the logistics of cruise days. My trip to Labrador at the end of summer was pretty different than the ones before, as I was coming by myself from the island and staying in Goose Bay, rather than Cartwright. Of course, visiting in summertime was also very different than my visits in November and March. Since this was the only trip I would make for my internship, I wanted to make the absolute most of my in-person time. My two supervisors and I had many conversations about environmental governance at NCC, which really helped me to finetune the direction of my internship. Being in person also gave me the chance to comb through NCC’s archives, which aren’t available remotely. This combing through of the archives was important for my master’s research, because I needed to document the depth of sea ice information the organization has already obtained. As this Labrador visit was intended to be when I made the most of my on-site and in-person time, I spent 99% of my trip working. I stayed with my supervisor who lives right by the NCC office, so I didn’t need to rent a car this time. While I saved an unnecessary expense, the Happy Valley and Goose Bay area is quite spread out, and most places other than the office were a long walk away from my home base. Though I didn’t have much mobility, this allowed me to focus more on my work instead of exploring the area. I was very happy that I could somewhat partake in one traditional Labrador summertime activity. On the walk from the office to my supervisor’s house, I noticed an abundance of red berries growing on the ground, which I thought could be “redberries” (also known as lingonberries or partridgeberries). Rest assured, before I picked or ate the berries I took a careful look at the plant to make sure they were the correct species. My plant identification skills did not fail me, and I did not ingest a toxic berry but a delicious redberry. I considered the idea that this could be someone’s berry patch, but thought that since it was a pretty developed area, these would be up for grabs – there’s no way of knowing though, so hopefully I was correct! After work the next day, I changed into some comfortable clothes and picked all the berries I could find. Then, I “processed” them and put them in jars to take back with me. This is such a simple activity, but it brought me immense joy. I think that canning/preserving fruits and vegetables is a really fun and useful activity, so I hope to find time for this again next summer (wherever I may be). A few days after I left Labrador for the island, I returned to the US to attend a concert, which provides me a nice natural break before my next post! Plenty more exciting things to come, although they were all much colder than this update.
What an eventful few weeks for me! I haven’t spent two weeks in the same location since my last entry, and I am so glad to finally have some time back in Newfoundland. Victoria Day, or the May long weekend, is a federally recognized holiday a few days after my birthday. To enjoy the long weekend, my friend Claire and I took a weekend trip out east to Twillingate. Twillingate is a small town on the northeastern shore of the island, and it’s an extremely popular tourist destination to see whales and icebergs. Iceberg Alley is a nickname for this stretch of the Newfoundland and Labrador coast and ocean, as every late spring and early summer, icebergs drift down from Western Greenland glaciers. The Titanic sank in Iceberg Alley, on the southeastern edge of the area. I was so excited to see the icebergs, as it is an extraordinarily unique sight. Once we arrived there, we met up with several of Claire’s friends who live in St. Johns. Twillingate is conveniently an equal drive from both sides of the island, but the four-and-a-half-hour drive was still quite tiring. We stayed in a quaint hostel in an old restored saltbox house. Saltbox and biscuit box houses are extremely prevalent in coastal Newfoundland; built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they are examples of the island’s cultural history. The hostel was right on the harbor, and after a bit of wandering around the small town, we headed to the brewery and pub across the street. While tasty, the drinks and food were definitely overpriced, which happens too frequently in tourist towns. We headed back to the hostel for a short bonfire with the hostel owners, then a few of us headed back to the brewery for some live music to end our evening. The next morning I enjoyed a popular Newfoundland dish, the touton. It’s similar to a pancake, and quite delicious, a great breakfast treat. Following breakfast, we ventured out for a hike on the northern tip of the peninsula. The cliffs and icebergs were incredibly scenic, it was extremely memorable. We hiked to a lighthouse and museum that was unfortunately closed, but the views were still lovely. A fudge and gift shop were near the lighthouse, and I purchased a really unique copper piece shaped like a flatfish. Following our hike, we headed to one of the few wineries on the island. Newfoundland’s climate isn’t hospitable to grapes, so the wines are mostly made of berries and some other plants that grow here, like dandelion and rhubarb. One of their specialties is a wine made out of iceberg water, which was definitely tasty. I’m lucky that they sell most of their wines in my local liquor store, so I didn’t have to bring any back to Corner Brook! During my travels in my four years of being vegetarian, I’ve noticed that fishing towns are notably bad at providing vegetarian options. It’s hard not to feel guilty for having dietary restrictions, especially in a larger group. We ended up at a seafood restaurant that was definitely a tourist trap. I indulged in a piece of cheesecake, but my friends all had extraordinarily overpriced lobster rolls that were poor quality, small, and without a side. After those guilty feelings when picking a restaurant, I started feeling grateful for my diet! I had really wanted to go on a boat tour, so that I could get close to the icebergs. When I saw a kayak tour being offered, I reached out the first day we were there. Unfortunately, the weather was too windy for kayaking both days we were there, and there wasn’t enough time to book a typical boat tour. I was pretty bummed out, but I resolved that I would go the next season and get out on the water. Instead, we headed to a small museum that documented the local history. I absolutely love getting to learn the history of the province, and the historic lifestyles of the small fishing villages across the island. Newfoundland’s cultural heritage is distinct and so interesting to discover. One of the highlights was a stuffed polar bear named Titus, that made its way to Twillingate on a floating ice pack in 2000. This was particularly cool to me due to my recent research into polar bear management in the province. We headed back to Corner Brook late Monday, and the rest of the week I was busy working at the garden store. I was quite exhausted from travelling and working every day, and I had indications that my internship would be starting soon. I worked at the store for about a week and a half before I made the decision to quit altogether. This was certainly a tough call, but between my anticipated full-time job and travels throughout summer, I figured that the irregularity of my schedule would be too inconvenient for my employer in the busiest time of the year. Although the job was tedious, it was lovely to be around plants and dirt all day, and it was quite tough to say goodbye. The first day of June, we finally had our first day of sun and warm weather! My friend and I headed to one of the few beaches in the area, in Pasadena. The water was very cold but the sun felt great. That weekend I headed home to Wisconsin for a brief visit to attend my brother’s high school graduation. It was definitely surreal to finally not have a Buchholz in the De Pere School District! I’m super proud of him and so glad I got to witness this special milestone in his life. While at home, I began my climate focused internship with NunatuKavut Community Council. That first week and the next, I focused on uncovering climate governance research. Two days after his graduation I headed back to the island, and I was happy to work in my quaint at home office. In my time off of work, I enjoyed many walks in my neighborhood and the greater Corner Brook area. The Corner Brook Recreation Office put on an event, where if you complete and document three local trails, you could be entered into a drawing to win 300 dollars. I wanted to complete this challenge due to both my love for the local government and getting outdoors! The first two hikes I completed with my friend Claire, and the last I did alone. The first was a short trail called the “Yogi,” and the second was a very well-known trail in the area called “Man in the Mountain.” Man in the Mountain was a particularly eventful hike, as it was very steep and we were rushing to finish by the sunset. We were quite sticky and as such, the mosquitos and biting flies were terrible. Nonetheless, the views from the top were absolutely wonderful, especially as the sun was setting. The last hike I had also been eagerly anticipating, as I had done bits and pieces, but not the whole loop. The Corner Brook Gorge and Stream Trail has several entrances, by campus, a park, and several others. I typically do a portion by my apartment, but this time, as what I believe the challenge called for, I hiked the entire loop. There was a particularly fun section full of switchbacks, and I greatly appreciated the wildflowers I saw during this hike. That weekend I departed Newfoundland for a long while. I met up with my family in New York, and we flew to Europe together for a family trip. After a packed two weeks in Germany and Italy, I headed to Wisconsin to enjoy all my favorite local summer activities in a short week and a half. This time, my mom and sister decided to accompany me and fly with me back to the island. We drove up to the city of Hamilton, which is near Toronto, and flew out of that airport instead, as it was much cheaper than flying out of Chicago as I typically do. They visited at an unfortunately hot and humid time on the island, so their trip was a tad uncomfortable. Neither my apartment nor car had functioning air conditioning, but we tried to make the best of the situation! We visited many of the same places that I took my dad back in winter. On our first day we ate at my favorite café, Sugar and Dice, stopped at the Captain James Cook National Historic Site, which has a great view of the city, and then we drove to Bottle Cove. We did a short trail and walked the interesting beach. On our way back into town, we stopped at one of the best seafood restaurants in the area, called the Saltbox. This restaurant is right on the water, and the fish are extremely fresh, especially the lobster. After my mom had a lobster roll, we headed back to town to visit the local brewery and pizza place. Although the honey garlic fingers with donair sauce are delicious to me, my family wasn’t impressed… Perhaps it’s an acquired island taste! On Saturday we got up early and drove up to Gros Morne, where we lucked out with a clear, albiet hot, day. We had planned on taking a boat tour in the famous Western Brook Pond, but we needed to take a 3 km walk to the boathouse from the parking lot. After another hot walk filled with bug bites, we made it to the beautiful “pond,” which is actually a false fjord. The geology of the park, and the whole island of Newfoundland, is really remarkable. The rocks we saw in the pond are some of the oldest on earth! Geology is really important to this area, as the theory of plate tectonics took a great deal of evidence from the local mountain range. Western Brook Pond is by far the most famous view in the park, and it was so cool to finally see it up close. We didn’t get the greatest sleep, so the hike both ways and heat made us quite tired. We stopped in Rocky Harbour for a bite to eat, and my family loved the partridgeberry pie with vanilla ice cream. Next, we headed to the other side of Bonne Bay, to the town of Woody Point to visit a rugmaking studio, where they had a great deal of local art. I hadn’t been to Woody Point yet, and I completely fell in love with the unique town. It had a great community feeling, and the atmosphere was quite different from the other side of the bay. I’m looking forward to going back and spending more time there, as it is quite highly regarded. As it was an early day, we headed back to Corner Brook and went to bed at a reasonable time. Sunday was a bit of an odd day. In Newfoundland, unfortunately not much is open on Sundays. Due to the hot weather and driving we had been doing in our travels, I was feeling pretty tired, so we spent the morning in, relaxing and watching Canadian TV. After a few hours, we went downtown to grab a bite to eat at the other brewery in town, which now has a lovely beer patio for the summer season. On our way to the airport, my sister and I did a quick hike up to Steady Brook Falls. Their flight got delayed, so we spent a bit of time on the Deer Lake Beach, where the water was still quite cold. After dropping them off at the airport, I’ve been relaxing at home, getting reacquainted with work and my life in Corner Brook. Dealing with the heat and the humidity has been pretty unpleasant, but it’ll likely break soon! I’m looking forward to getting to explore Newfoundland in a very different climate than I’m used to, which hopefully entails getting out on and in the refreshing water a bit more.
It’s been a minute since my last post, and wrapping up my second semester was far more hectic than I could’ve predicted. As I mentioned earlier, coming back after the strike meant that our schedules would be more condensed, and I was working almost non-stop on all the projects I had to do for class. In order to not go completely crazy, I was still able to squeeze in some fun activities with friends. One Saturday in March, we headed to the ski “hill” that is only a half hour away, Marble Mountain. I have been skiing a few times at Granite Peak in Wausau, but I realized that I had never had a formal skiing lesson, and a friend’s dad once just told me to “pizza.” So, Marble Mountain is no Granite Peak, and I massively overestimated my skiing abilities! The first, and only, run that I did was extremely long, I fell about seven times, and my goodness was I in pain that night. The mountain only has one green hill, which I am now quite afraid of, so I spent the rest of the day in the chalet, drinking warm beverages and enjoying the atmosphere from the bottom of the hill. In order to try and get a bit of my money’s worth, I did make it onto the bunny hill, where I absolutely crushed it. Skiing looks so easy, and the crowd at the mountain that day was mostly children, so I was a bit shocked after the long run down the hill. Although I’m not completely writing it off, I think I’ll stick to cross-country skiing instead of downhill! On March 20th, we made our initial attempt on our winter trip to Labrador. I completely didn’t think to check the weather, and I was in for a rude awakening for my 4 AM drive to the Deer Lake Airport in a blizzard. When we got to the airport, our 6AM flight kept getting delayed by twenty minutes. For about 4 hours we waited, and after other flights had been cancelled in the province, we finally got word that ours was cancelled too. Luckily, we booked this flight through a travel agent, so they took care of the rebooking for us. Although it was still snowing, at least my drive back to Corner Brook was in the light! We departed at the same time the next morning, and despite the weather seeming worse, our flight took off and finally landed in Goose Bay! As other members of our group had meetings, and the road into Cartwright was not yet open, we stayed in Goose Bay for a while on Tuesday. Part of my research group is working on a project involving Labrador Huskies, which is a breed of dog that has important significance to Labrador history as a sled dog. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go for a sled ride, but we were able to see the dogs, and play with the puppies! The puppies are allowed to play, as they are eventually adopted, but we were understandably not able to pet the working sled dogs. We finally began our 5 hour drive to Cartwright, and an hour in, we got a flat tire. A fantastic passerby helped us change the tire on the truck, which saved us a great deal of stress. We were absolutely knackered by the time we arrived to our hotel in Cartwright, but I was so glad to finally have made it. Wednesday morning we luckily were able to sleep in, but my friend Jacey and I needed to head out in the early afternoon for an exciting cultural event Thursday. We drove south to Port Hope Simpson, which is another community in Southern Labrador, and stayed that night in a hotel there. The next morning we woke up early and spontaneously hitched a ride to the event with George, a NunatuKavut Community Council (NCC) employee. NCC was hosting an event dedicated to the Inuit relationship with caribou in the coastal community of Charlottetown, which is about an hour down a very bumpy road. George is originally from Charlottetown, and he was so hospitable to two strangers from outside Labrador. He invited us to tea and coffee in his parents house, where we chatted as the event was being set up. For this experience, a very large group of community members and ourselves rode on snowmobiles (in Canada, they’re pretty much exclusively called skidoos) across the sea ice to a spot with many cabins, that I later found out was the original summer community for residents of Charlottetown. Since I’ve never driven a snowmobile, Jacey drove and I rode on the back, which was quite the enjoyable way to soak in the experience. We spent some time at this spot, setting up traditional camp, and then drove to a secondary location, where folks went ice fishing. After this, we went back to the cabins and had lunch, and the elders shared their stories of when they were able to go caribou hunting – before restrictions were enacted. To wrap up our day there was a ceremony and dinner at the school gym. It was really exciting to experience a Labrador community outside of Goose Bay and Cartwright, and I learned a great deal from actually getting “on the land.” Finally driving on the sea ice, which is the focus of my research, was really quite moving. There was a lot of focus on food throughout the day, as the event centered on caribou and it was a rare chance to eat caribou meat. As I’m vegetarian, this was a bit uncomfortable, as I hated turning down their generosity for both the caribou stew and the freshly caught Atlantic salmon and Arctic char. Food is a very communal part of life, and it was quite difficult to be an outsider in this aspect. The day certainly made me think about some of the consequences of my vegetarianism. Nonetheless, it was a stunning day to be outside and experience the beauty and traditions of Labrador. We were both quite wiped from our long day when we headed back to Cartwright Friday morning, and after a lengthy but informative afternoon research meeting, I went to bed quite early in preparation for our next adventure on Saturday. One of my supervisors is from a remote coastal community called Black Tickle, which is about a 3.5 hour skidoo ride from Cartwright. Our previous trip was only about 20 minutes each way, so Saturday was a real snowmobile trip, where I rode on the back of Jacey’s sled again. Black Tickle is located on the Island of Ponds, and is only accessible by boat, skidoo, or plane. The growing unpredictability of the sea ice means that people on Black Tickle have safety concerns when travelling to other communities, and the traditional routes are now being modified to adjust to the uncertain conditions of the ice. The whole trip, we heard a great deal of chatter about polar bears in the area, and although I trusted the validity of the sightings, it was so hard for me to believe I could be in the same environment as them. My perception totally changed when we arrived on the Island of Ponds, which was the barren Arctic landscape that I pictured as a polar bear’s habitat. There were four sleds, and many people out and about on this sunny Saturday, which likely scared them all away, but we saw plenty of polar bear tracks, which was insanely cool! We arrived to the community of Black Tickle, and it was really meaningful to see where my supervisor grew up, as she talks so much about this community. It was interesting to see many of the significant locations that are referenced in our research and the stories we had heard. We headed to Batteau to visit one of the driver’s cabins. Her window had been broken in by a hungry polar bear, and we went to assess the damage. In Batteau, another traditional summer outpost community that was resettled, we had the chance to sit outside and soak in the moment. There was a beautiful sun circle, and on our ride back to Cartwright, I was able to really reflect on the once in a lifetime opportunity I was having, and how this was truly one of the most incredible days I’ve ever experienced in my short life. After getting back from Labrador late Sunday night, I knew I was getting burnt out from travel and physical exhaustion. Since I was pretty much unable to do work on my trip, I had to cram in a lot of work before I left for another trip on Friday morning. Those four days were so busy and I could feel myself getting sick, but I was primarily responsible for a big presentation for my Applied Environmental Policy course, so I worked even harder! Although I was quite sick, I was still SO excited to finally be going to St. John’s, the capital of the province, which is 8 hours away from Corner Brook. The drive was surprisingly beautiful, and it was really cool to drive through the parts of the island I haven’t yet seen. Most of the population of the island lives in St. John’s, Corner Brook, or in two “central” towns right off the highway, so I was oddly excited to drive through Grand Falls and Gander. The highway also goes through the second national park in the province Terra Nova, and I hope to get out there to hike a bit. It definitely doesn’t hold a candle to the beauty of Gros Morne! I was also very excited to drive over the ithsmus to the Avalon Peninsula. The human and geologic geography of Newfoundland is really fascinating to me, so I was so glad to finally get to experience the vastly different east coast of the island. The difference between the east and west coast of the island is quite shocking, and they honestly seem worlds apart. St. John’s is about the same size as Green Bay, so I was personally quite excited to get back to some of the amenities I miss from home. My friend Claire and I arrived in St. John’s a day before the rest of our group, so we checked into our hotel and then took a tour of the city. St. John’s is a beautifully historic city that was established in the fifteenth century, and its coastal architecture is quite reminiscent of the many Atlantic seaside communities I’ve visited in the US. The entire downtown is filled with colorful rowhouses, which attracts a great deal of photography inclined tourists. We drove around downtown, got a pizza and headed up to Signal Hill to watch the sunset. This is the site where the first transatlantic telegraph, the Marconi Telegraph, was received. Signal Hill has a beautiful view of the city and surrounding area, and it was a lovely start to our trip. From this vantage point, you can also see Cape Spear, which is the easternmost point in North America, excluding Greenland. The next morning we ate breakfast and checked out the local indoor farmers market, which is always one of my favorite things to do when I travel. We then walked to the museum called the Rooms. There I learned a great deal about the history of the province. I absolutely love museums, and the Rooms gave me so much new information on Newfoundland and Labrador. I had learned a great deal on the island’s history orally, so I appreciated the written and visual history I was able to see there. After the museum, we went shopping downtown, where I was really excited to pick up a vinyl album by one of my favorite artists. We then checked into our Airbnb where we met up with the rest of our university group. I would’ve loved to engaged in the bustling nightlife of the fun and youthful city, but as I was still not feeling great, I headed to bed early in preparation for another jam packed day. On Sunday, we visited Signal Hill again, as other members of our group had not yet seen this area. We were lucky to have phenomenal weather throughout our trip, with sun and pleasant temperatures compared to the usual fog and wind of the eastern coast. This meant that the views from Signal Hill were even better than expected. Next, we went to Quidi Vidi Village, which is a common spot for anyone visiting the city, even the Royal Family and the Prime Minister! Quidi Vidi Brewing is a very popular brewery on the island, and no trip to St. John’s is complete without it. We had to wait quite a while to get the delicious food, but in the meantime, I enjoyed a flight of their beer. That afternoon, there was a band playing traditional music, which made the experience so much more wonderful. On Monday, we began the academic portion of our trip with a visit to the provincial government building. There, we had a meeting with the Department of Environment and Climate Change, and the current Minister of the Environment. During that time, we discussed the recently released provincial and federal budgets, and how they might relate to our own projects. After lunch, we attended an Assembly session. I constantly compare the structure and details of Canadian government to the US Government, of which I am very familiar. With my sister working in the federal government, a semester in Washington DC, and a degree in Political Science, I truly enjoy learning more about the many nuances of government and politics. However, after attending this legislative session, I became quite disheartened with the theatrical behavior. As much as I read and study bureaucratic governance, it’s frustrating to physically witness the antics of elected officials. This session made me rethink a future job in government, but the significant difference in governmental structure between the US and Canada provides a bit more comfort. The main purpose of our trip to St. John’s was to present our class’s group projects for a policy competition with representatives from various levels of government. On Tuesday, we finally presented our hard work we had been conducting on behalf of the federal government, which was a rewarding conclusion to the course. I was the delegate for our group’s presentation, as I greatly enjoy public speaking. It was fun to compare the pressures of this presentation to my previous experiences on the stage. Following the presentations, we left St. John’s and I was dropped off at the airport, where I flew home to Wisconsin for the Easter holiday. After finishing up the last of my winter coursework and taking time off at home, I returned to Corner Brook. Even though it’s May, there was still an abundance of snow when I landed! In order to keep myself busy before my internship starts, I picked up a part time/full time job at the local plant store. One of my favorite things to do at home is garden with my mom. I find so much joy in cultivating flowers and maintaining plants! I also really enjoy weeding, and making sure our garden looks spotless. After being home last summer, I’ve really missed getting my hands dirty, so I figured this would be the perfect way to make some extra money. I started working a day and a half after I got back, and have worked almost everyday since! Mother’s Day is, obviously, an extremely busy time for the garden store, as it is almost outdoor growing season and there are many floral arrangements. It’s been great to be busy again, but I’m sure my hours will be reduced soon as I begin my full-time summer internship. In the moments when I’m not tired from being on my feet all day, I’ve had a few nice moments to get out and enjoy the Newfoundland “spring”. It’s significantly colder here than in the US, and there are fewer flowers or budding trees compared to home. Hopefully I’ll start seeing more flowers soon, but I’m not counting on it at this latitude! This weather is not very plant friendly, it seriously snowed May 18th! Anyways, my friend and I have ventured out to a beach “down the bay,” to watch the sunset, which I think we’ll end up doing many more nights in the future, as the sunsets are absolutely stunning against the Bay of Islands. It was really exciting to watch the coronation, as Newfoundland has a particularly interesting history with the Crown. Watching the ceremony as an American living in Canada was strange. Understanding Canada’s relationship to the Crown has been really difficult, since there are many complexities to any government. I’ll never fully understand the real impact of the Crown on Canada, but for my environmental research, it certainly plays a role in my studies. Although my friend wanted to make a proper “English Breakfast” for us, I wasn’t too keen on the concept (especially as a vegetarian). We did, however, engage in the British tradition of drinking some Earl Grey tea out of teacups. This month, I was also able to celebrate my birthday in Newfoundland. Unfortunately, poor weather changed my initial plans for a hike to my favorite spot, Cedar Cove. Nonetheless, the forecast slightly cleared up for a small sunset. After getting out of work, I relaxed a bit, and then my friend and I headed down to the ocean for a drink of my favorite Door County Lavender Apple Cider, which I had been saving for a special occasion. Bottle Cove is absolutely beautiful, and I could spend hours in this spot. The absolute BEST part of the day, was driving home in the dark and seeing not only my first moose in the wild, but five more after! I obviously compared it to the deer I always see at home, yet they are so vastly different. Even though all of the moose we saw were juvenile, they were still SO much bigger than our deer - you can see how they can do serious damage to cars on the island. They also were slower moving and are more solitary creatures than deer. I am shocked it took me this long to see a moose in Newfoundland, but this was honestly the best present I could’ve possibly received from the island. So cool! I’m so excited to enjoy the beautiful Newfoundland summer, and I look forward to sharing more of these special moments.
Well it’s certainly been a busy couple of weeks since I last updated this blog. I got back to Corner Brook on Sunday February 12th, after a great week at home. It was really good to hear that on the previous Friday, Memorial faculty and administration had finally reached a tentative agreement, and that classes would begin again on Wednesday. The beginning of the week I spent reacclimating to my apartment and preparing for school to start back up. As things were so unpredictable and I had no contact with my professors or supervisors, I had a LOT of work to do. I made sure to take time to decompress from the stress and enjoy the beautiful snowy weather, and took several walks at my favorite neighborhood trail. Meeting many new dog friends was a great complement to the beauty of the trail! It was such a relief to finally hear from my professors that Wednesday, but there were significant changes that needed to be made to the course, as two or three sessions had been missed during the strike. Further complicating things, the school had decided to keep the “reading week,” which was a break from classes the upcoming week. On Thursday I was grateful to be back in the classroom with my supervisor Kelly, and discussing the changes for her class gave me great peace of mind. The next day we had a class discussion with my other professor, where we finalized his schedule. After that meeting in the morning, I took a walk to the Corner Brook Gorge which I was so surprised to have only just now visited. The gorge was incredible, and I can’t wait to make the hike again on a clearer day, as allegedly there is a great view of the city. Later that night a few friends and I went out to see some live music at the local brewery, which was a great way to begin my reading week. On Sunday, I sought another outdoor adventure, and decided to go for a hike to an ocean cove. After a snowy drive down the Bay, we made it to the trailhead. The hike was absolutely stunning, starting out in some woods, and then ending up in an open field where the wind between two mountains was extremely intense. It constantly felt like I might blow over. The windy conditions made the ocean look beautifully wavy, and the few moments of sun made the water look a glassy shade of blue-green. The wind, snow, and isolation made it feel like I was in a fairy tale setting. The next few days I was extremely busy with schoolwork and meetings in order to catch myself up on my own research. We had a decent amount of reworking to do on our project for my class on Applied Environmental Problem Solving, and I needed to develop a research proposal for my Environmental Political Thought course. I’m looking forward to my philosophy paper, as I’ll be writing about a topic that I’ve been interested in for a while, Bhutan’s principle of Gross National Happiness (GNH). GNH is an alternative model of development, and I’ll likely be examining its links to Buddhism. One of my undergraduate professors did a lot of research on Eastern religions and environmentalism, which definitely led to my interest in the Himalayas and Buddhism. On Thursday I was very excited to finally present for Corner Brook Rotary. The meeting was in a new room of the Glynmill Inn, and it was neat to see a bit more of the historic building. After a filling lunch of vegetarian/chicken quesadillas, I presented to the club on my background, both academic and personal, and then what the Global Grant was. It was so great to advocate for the Global Grant. I’m looking forward to being able to engage more with the club and promoting the Grant both here and at home. Later that afternoon I headed up to a friend’s cottage near Gros Morne. The cottage had electricity and water, but no internet, so I was greatly looking forward to the opportunity to unplug for 24 hours during a busy stretch of time. The road in wasn’t plowed, so we had to snowshoe to the cottage with our gear and groceries, which was a tiring but fun adventure. After making it to the cottage, it immediately began snowing, and we had a cozy evening by the wood stove with colorful burrito bowls for dinner. The next morning, we snowshoed back out, which luckily was at a decline, but on Friday the government actually issued a weather alert for the low wind chill. It turned out to be a wind chill of -30 degrees Celsius, which was really unpleasant to snowshoe in. One of my favorite things about the winter here is that it is much less dry than winter in Wisconsin, but this past weekend was an unfortunate exception to that! My cheeks were unfortunately raw and my lips were chapped for the rest of the weekend. To warm ourselves up after the snowshoe, we went into Rocky Harbour, the main town in the park, and indulged in a really filling late lunch. On the menu they had I believe the first veggie burger I’ve seen in my time here! It was delicious, but couldn’t hold a candle to the partridgeberry pie and ice cream I had for dessert. Over the weekend I’ve been cozied up in my apartment, trying to stay warm and recover from the tiring snowshoe while simultaneously working like crazy to stay on top of all of my assignments. This upcoming month of March will be my busiest month here, but I am so excited for the many amazing adventures it holds.
After my dad left to go back to Wisconsin, I was able to spend much more time on my coursework again. In my political theory course on Tuesday, we had a particularly interesting session on decolonization, Indigenous people, and environmental governance. One of the things I really liked about this class were the readings each taking place on different continents, as I was able to learn about how African and Australian Indigeneity relates to environmental movements. My independent research deals with Indigenous people, so this lesson had many elements I was already very familiar with. Nonetheless, the importance of decolonization within environmentalism cannot be emphasized enough, and it’s something at the forefront of my mind while I conduct my own research. On my day off of class on Wednesday, I took a short work break to take a hike around one of the neighborhood ponds. One thing I’ve learned in my first few weeks of the Newfoundland winter is that it seems quite difficult to avoid weather advisories. Despite the beauty of the pond, the sunny beginning of the walk quickly turned into a near white out from the intense wind gusts filled with snow! The trail was still lovely, and I look forward to taking more short breaks at the pond, especially in summer when it's warm enough to swim there. Thursday I was lucky to have my policy mentor and her supervisor speak in my Applied Environmental Problem Solving course. The Canadian Government has set the ambitious goal of protecting 30% of lands by 2030, and our project seeks to inform the federal government of what factors have facilitated the success of provincially and territorially protected areas. As my research interests center on the broader Arctic region, I was delegated the three northern territories of Canada and I’m particularly excited to look at Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas in the far north. The extreme winter weather is relentless, and that night I experienced a power outage for several hours. Luckily, after a few increasingly cold powerless hours the power and heat turned back on. Back in De Pere or at our cottage up north, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a power outage in the winter or at night, which was a bit unnerving for the first time. The next evening I was excited to finally host a few friends over at my new apartment for one of my favorite meals, a Middle Eastern chickpea bowl. After a filling dinner, we headed downtown to go bowling. I had absolutely no idea that I was walking into a very different style of bowling than I was used to. According to my Canadian friends, five pin bowling is at more common there than ten pin bowling. Five pin bowling differs from usual bowling in both the number of pins, the type of ball, and number of attempts each frame. The bowling ball is much smaller and doesn’t have any holes, and for each frame you get three attempts! I was quite surprised at this new type of bowling, but unfortunately my beginner’s luck quickly ran out after the first round. With the purchase of a new car, I have been determined to spend more time out and about, especially when the weather is reasonable. I stopped for a quick brunch and tea at my favorite coffee shop, then drove a half hour to a park overlooking the Bay of Islands. With the sunny day and a stationary set of binoculars, I was able to look out over the bay and the surrounding mountains. I was able to read a bit and drink some tea before the wind became too obnoxious. Every sunny day is certainly a blessing, even with the cold. The end of the weekend was filled with anticipation. Upon the start of the semester, the faculty of Memorial University was rumored to potentially go on strike. The few classes I had to that point, we spent a decent amount of time discussing the status of negotiations and what a strike might look like. After a strike vote on January 18th, members of the faculty overwhelmingly voted in favor of a strike, and determined that if no agreement was reached by January 29th, they would begin a strike on January 30th. No agreement was reached, so my professors and the other faculty have been on strike since that time. This has meant that faculty has been unable to supervise my independent research and there have been no classes. I will avoid discussing the politics of job action, but the uncertainty surrounding the strike has caused a fair amount of distress to students. Unfortunately all I can do in the meantime is hope that a resolution can be reached sooner rather than later. While we have been out of class, on Wednesday a friend and I decided to take a short adventure up on the northern side of the Bay of Islands. Unfortunately, this time we had quite snowy conditions, so we were unable to see the likely beautiful views of the bay. We reached the end of the road at a place called Jenning’s Cove, where we hiked down a steep cliff to reach a stunning beach with black rocks and cliffside ice formations. Despite not being able to see far into the bay, the sight of the cliffs was incredible. On Friday, I headed home to Wisconsin for a family event, but because of the ambiguity of the strike, I may end up back home longer than I had initially planned. The situation is certainly out of my control, but I’m hoping that an agreement can be worked out before the semester becomes too derailed.
Hello again! Since I last posted, I quickly finished up my first semester and spent my few weeks off back at home in Wisconsin to celebrate the holidays. After a lot of downtime, I was certainly excited to both continue my new life here and pick up my research again. I flew in Monday night, and was quickly reminded of how much I missed the beautiful snowy peaks of Western Newfoundland. That night I began the exciting process of moving into my new home! It’s an unfurnished apartment in a suburb outside of Corner Brook, so it was initially a tough few days depending on taxis and friends for rides to pick up the essentials. Even without a car, I was quite excited to go on walks in the woods less than 50 feet from my house! On Thursday I attended my first in-person class at a new collaborative venue called the Center for Research and Innovation, located downtown near the historic and influential paper mill. Similar to the Hub in Cartwright, the CRI is a partnership between several local higher education institutions and the paper mill, meant to promote innovation and boost the local economy. This class is called Applied Environmental Problem Solving, and we are put into groups and tasked with providing a policy recommendation for an environmental problem for either municipal, provincial, or federal actors. The first problem presented was about urban agriculture within the city of Corner Brook, where we had representatives from provincial and municipal governments discuss the nuances of backyard farming in the city. Although not my project, their presentation made me think more about regulations on backyard farming within my urban hometown of De Pere. Unfortunately, that night my laptop broke, which certainly derailed my work plans. I attempted to problem solve by putting it in rice, but sadly, that didn’t work. On Friday, I ended up purchasing a TV to tide over my boredom from a lack of work. Furthermore, there was also an incoming blizzard, with likely power outages. I was lucky enough to avoid prolonged outages, and survived the weekend with short walks in the snow, good books, and calls back home to friends and family. After growing impatient with the lack of work, by Sunday night the storm had subsided enough for me to go out and get a temporary laptop. On Monday I was quite excited to get back to work after what felt like forever, and I was able to prepare for my class on Tuesday. My Tuesday class is titled Environmental Political Thought, where will be discussing environmental ethics and the philosophical underpinnings of environmental politics. Environmental philosophy was one of my favorite subjects in my undergraduate degree, so I’m really looking forward to taking an entire graduate-level course on this topic. Wednesday was a particularly exciting day for me, as I received my first visitor, my dad! He landed after the sunset, so unfortunately he wasn’t able to see the beautiful mountain drive into Corner Brook, but we did enjoy dinner at one of the best restaurants in town. Best Coast Restaurant has some fantastic food, and my omnivore dad enjoyed fish and chips while I ate some delicious vegan tacos. I definitely forget that there are occasionally really tasty vegetarian options here. In between meetings and class on Thursday, my dad and I ran a few errands, which included finding a new car, which we ended up purchasing the next day. I’m so excited to finally have mobility here, as Corner Brook is quite inaccessible without your own vehicle. We were also able to pick up several other large items to furnish my apartment, like a couch and a real bed. It’s finally starting to feel like my new home, and not an empty one-bedroom apartment. On Saturday, we took a trip up to my Gros Morne National Park, and we were lucky to have great, sunny weather. We started up at the Arches, walked around Cow Head, and made several stops to admire the stunning views. The highlight was seeing at least seven seals relaxing on rocks near the road, they are quite animated creatures! In winter the park is mostly shut down, and very few stores and restaurants were open for us to visit. We were able to make it to a small brewery that was far off the road, where we had a quick bite to eat. For my dad’s last day here, we drove down the Bay of Islands to the coast. The bay is named after the numerous islands at the mouth of the bay. I’ve never made the drive before, and I quite regret it now! It was a beautiful drive, with new views I was so grateful to see for the first time with my dad. The scenic drive is about an hour long and at the end of the drive, in a town called Lark Harbour, we took a visit to the actual Gulf of St Lawrence in an area called Bottle Cove. This was a beautiful sight, with mountains that reminded me of the Pacific coast, and coastal plains that reminded me of the Atlantic coast where I spent a lot of my last four years. We picked up a fair amount of garbage along the beach, which was a sad reminder of the debris that comes from both everyday people and the fishing industry. For the rest of the day, we ran a few more errands around town, picked up a few souvenirs for him to bring home, and I said goodbye before his early flight the next morning. My first two weeks back here in Newfoundland have been very busy, but I’m so excited to get rolling with my coursework and spend quality time with my friends here. Although setting up a place from scratch is quite daunting, it’s been so nice to begin settling into my new home. I haven’t spent a consecutive twelve months in one place since high school, so this year will be an exciting chance to grow some new roots. Here’s to a year full of exciting new adventures and opportunities!
Hi all! My past few weeks have been filled with exciting adventures, so this will be a lengthy post. In the week that followed my last update, I started with a shopping trip around Corner Brook to find a Halloween costume, and I ended up dressing up as Trinity from the Matrix. Of course, I had to prepare for my costume by rewatching the movies - I forgot how much I actually enjoyed them! During our shopping trip, we stopped at a local antique store that was absolutely FULL of books and records. We could’ve spent hours in the store, but we had to make other stops. Whenever I have a free day, I can’t wait to go back. They typically have a Newfoundland dog that watches over the store, but that Monday she stayed at home. This week began the “workshop season” of my Research Methods and Design class, where we were exposed to many different methods of data collection and analysis. The workshops were extremely helpful for the planning of my thesis and other research projects I might conduct in the future. After celebrating Halloween with my friends from the program on Friday night, the next day my friend and I took a short hike up to Steady Brook Falls, where she hadn’t yet been. Once again, it was a lovely walk, and on the crisp fall day, a thermos full of hot chocolate made the afternoon perfect. After more methods workshops at the beginning of the week, Wednesday night I attended another Green Drinks session at the local brewery. The theme this time was wind development in the region. The discussion that followed was a bit tense, and many in the room were apprehensive about the wind project in the planning stage nearby. It was definitely an example of the “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY) attitude towards development, which I have discussed in many of my undergraduate environmental courses. On Thursday, I attended my first Corner Brook Rotary Club meeting! It was held at the Glynmill Inn, a beautiful building built in 1923 to accommodate the higher-ups of the local paper mill. The lunchtime meeting time certainly felt different than the evening Rotary meeting I attended at home. During the meeting, a new business member was inducted into the club, which is a unique type of membership and a first for this club. The guest speaker was an apiarist for the provincial government, and her discussion on commercial and hobbyist beekeeping in the province was really interesting. Newfoundland is one of the few areas in the world exempt from Varroa mite, which is a parasite that destroys honey bee colonies. In order to maintain this status, the speakers’ role as a provincial apiarist requires preventative actions with beekeepers and plenty of education on the pest. I’m looking forward to attending a meeting soon and presenting about my grant and work here in Newfoundland. After a busy work week with many meetings about my upcoming trip to Labrador, I was really excited to have Saturday night to relax. A few friends and I went to a sushi restaurant, where I enjoyed a big bowl of ramen. After dinner, we headed back up to campus to watch a play, called Hedda Gabler, which was originally written by Henrik Ibsen. The show itself was quite profound, the main character being compared to the female Hamlet. I couldn’t help but compare the theater and show to my own college theater experience. It was so nice to be back in the theater, I miss the performing arts. The ability to tell a story so meaningful is special, and in three hours, a show can really make you think differently about the world around you. On Wednesday, my supervisor, colleague, and I finally took off from Deer Lake and flew to Happy Valley-Goose Bay Airport in Labrador. Once we landed, we checked out the Labrador Campus of Memorial University, which was only established earlier this year. The facilities were really nice, and I’m truly excited that Labradorians have this new opportunity. I was also finally able to meet my co-supervisor Dr. Amy Hudson in person! Next, we hit the road for a five-hour drive to Cartwright, which was entirely without cell service. We were lucky to have clear conditions, and we made it to town just before sunset at 4 PM! We had a quick meal at the pub underneath the hotel and then headed over to the new Hub to meet some of the ladies of the Cartwright 50+ Club. The building is a shared space with the 50+ Club and the new Hub. This Hub was one of the reasons we made the trip to Cartwright, as it is a collaboration between NunatuKavut Community Council, Memorial University, and the 50+ Club of Cartwright, meant to foster connections between Memorial University and the community. Another reason I was in Cartwright was to work with the youth of the community. Laura McCardle, a representative from Climate Collective, an organization that focuses on building climate capacity within the youth of the province, and I met with two groups in the school on Thursday, grades 7-9 and grades 10-12. We discussed climate change in their area and had a conversation about the changes that they would like to see in the community with regard to the environment. I was so surprised at the existing knowledge from the younger group on climate change - they were exposed to information I had no idea about when I was in the seventh grade! The rest of Thursday and Friday we spent preparing for the sessions at the new Hub. This entailed setting up a printer and several laptops, in addition to preparing a survey for the session that I was facilitating. Saturday we had two sessions, one on the research priorities of Cartwright and the next on the proposed Akami−Uapishkᵘ−KakKasuak−Mealy Mountains National Park Reserve close to town. The first session had a subsection on climate change, which was meant to preliminarily examine the climate concerns of the Cartwright community. One key aspect of the community-based research that I’ll be conducting is understanding the priorities of the community that I’m working with and tailoring my research to the needs of the community. Although I was quite nervous to facilitate this discussion, the conversation was extremely informative and I can’t wait to really kick off my research project. Sunday morning we took a walk up the locally dubbed “Big Hill,” where we got a wonderful view of the town, proposed park, and surrounding land. It was a wonderful sight to behold. That afternoon we had a session about the Inuktitut language, where we played Inuktitut bingo in order to learn more of the language. After bingo, the ladies of the 50+ Club cooked us a lovely traditional supper. I was able to sample some of the local berries, partridgeberries and bakeapples, as part of a delicious dessert. The next day was the formal celebration of the opening of the Hub. We began with a tour of the town, which included several historic locations of importance to Cartwright and the surrounding area. We visited the site of the former residential school of the Sandwich Bay Area, which was incredibly moving and difficult to see in person. We next took a trip up to “base,” which I learned was a former US Air Force base and site of an early defense radar in the 1950s and 60s. That Monday night was our last night in Cartwright, and it was a memorable ending to our trip. There was a big traditional supper to commemorate the opening of the Hub, with well over 100 people in the community gym. The food was prepared by a local woman, and the best part was certainly the partridgeberry cheesecake! The most moving part of the evening was a drum dance by local residential school survivors and first-generation survivors. This was the group's first time performing in Cartwright, which is where the residential school was located. It evoked such strong emotions from the crowd - I can still feel the weight of the moment now back in Corner Brook. It was also really really exciting to see both of my supervisors recognized by the community for their work on the Hub, and I was so honored to also be recognized with two of the other people I traveled with! Although they gave us the most touching homemade gifts, I feel like I was given the best gift for the opportunity to meet this unique community. In reflecting on my trip, I am certainly feeling incredibly grateful for the opportunities that I’ve been given. The trip was an experience I never would have been able to do without the funding from Rotary, and I am very lucky. I saw a different side of my supervisors, as one of them was from a neighboring community, and you could clearly see her dedication to the region. Coming from a much bigger city, I’ve never had the experience of being a part of a small community (my time in Colorado was a much different experience than this). The people of Cartwright made a profound impact on me, and I’m so excited to continue working with them. We plan on heading back up to Cartwright for a winter adventure in March, to go skidooing, ice fishing, and other exciting winter activities!
Hi everyone, It’s been a while since I last posted. After my most recent post, I became quickly very busy with coursework, which is different and more challenging than my undergraduate work. In my undergraduate classes, there was a great deal of studying for exams by memorizing content. Most professors assessed our knowledge by a split amount of exams and papers or projects. In my graduate courses, there is only writing, which has been quite tough to adjust to. Early on in the week I found out that my friend had never had beer cheese dip before! Beer cheese and big pretzels are probably my favorite appetizer, but perhaps their dispersal doesn’t cross the border... So on Thursday, I had her over to my apartment, and we baked soft pretzels and cooked a delicious beer cheese dip. She definitely understood where I was coming from after she tried it! That night we also began our new tradition of attending trivia night at a local bar. One of the other people in our research lab is actually the cohost, and he put on quite a fun evening. Trivia is one of my favorite pastimes, as it lets me utilize the vast amount of typically useless knowledge I have in my brain. The theme was decades, and being so young - we got a bit stumped on the 80s and 90s section. The next few days I became quite busy with my first big assignment for my research methods class. It was a sample literature review, which is a part of research work that I’ve always struggled with. It’s a very distinct part of a research paper that I’ve only done once or twice before, but in my final thesis it’ll take up a large chunk of the paper. I ended up writing about sea ice off the coast of Labrador, and the possibility of incorporating traditional Inuit knowledge with Western science to create a community-based environmental monitoring program. I picked this topic as it is one potential angle I might pursue in my actual thesis. At the end of the week, I was lucky to be able to fly home for Canadian Thanksgiving. I had an entire week off of school for the holiday, as the scheduled break fell on my two days of classes. In order to get to the Deer Lake Airport at an appropriate time, I had to set an alarm for 2:45 AM! Unfortunately, I fear that most flights leaving Deer Lake are extremely early in the morning and arrive in town around midnight. Thankfully the taxi service runs 24 hours a day, so I never become stranded at the odd hours. The ten days at home were a great vacation, as I had really missed the many comforts of being home in De Pere. I made sure to bring some of my treasures from home back to Canada with me, including a case of Spotted Cow to give my friends! I got back to Deer Lake quite late at night, and as I have an early class on Tuesday morning, I ended up getting only 4 hours of sleep. Although a 2.5 hour time difference isn’t too significant, it’s been a bit tricky to adjust my sleep patterns. As much as I love being home, it has felt really good to be back in Corner Brook where I can really focus and concentrate on my coursework. I was also quite eager to come back to Thursday night trivia! One “hobby” that I’ve picked up since getting to Corner Brook is cooking. Since dining options for vegetarians are very limited here, it’s forced me to cook much more than I typically do when in the States. I’ve found cooking and meal planning to be really therapeutic, and the practice also forces me to be more healthy and deliberate with what I choose to eat and buy. Hopefully I can keep this up, and I’ll be sure to share some of the good vegetarian recipes I create. As much as I would like to try my hand at cooking some traditional Newfoundland cuisine, many recipes unfortunately involve meat or fish, so I’ll have to stick to food from other parts of the world. I’m really excited to have finally figured out that I will be going up to Labrador in early November, which will certainly be a trip unlike any I’ve ever taken. In the meantime, I’m sure there’s a lot of professional preparation I’ll need to undertake before I make that trip. It’ll be a busy two weeks before we depart, but I can’t wait until then!
Hello all! Over the past two weeks, I’ve been quite busy with (finally) beginning my academic program. It’s been so nice to get into content, and get a feel for what the next two years will look like! The day after I published my last blog post (Friday, Sept. 9th), a few friends and I went to a small craft fair and then headed up to Gros Morne National Park again for a short, but famous hike in the Tablelands area. This was definitely one of the most bizarre places I’ve ever seen, as it looked like a Martian landscape! Apparently, the minerals in the ground are so comparable to Mars, that experiments have been conducted there in support of Martian exploration. I could’ve spent hours looking at the rocks and unique vegetation. I can’t wait to eventually get back and spend more time there. Sunday I attended my first powwow on campus, which was a really wonderful exposure to Qalipu traditions. I was also able to purchase a few lovely items from a local Indigenous honey farm- including some delicious cheddar and chive scones! Later I watched the first regular season Packer game on my laptop. Definitely a tough watch, but similar to my undergraduate years in Massachusetts - I can’t give up Sunday gamedays even though out of network! Tuesday morning I began classes, my first one being Research Design and Methods. It was really great to meet my cohort for the first time. The majority of people are Canadians, but there are a few other international students from Africa and the Middle East. Altogether there are about 14 of us, and our interests and backgrounds are all very different, which makes for interesting discussion. I’ve never taken a formal class in research design, so this will be a challenge, but quite useful and informative. The next day I began my Foundations of Environmental Policy and Administration course, which is taught by the Director of the Environmental Policy Institute(EPI). We were formally introduced to the values of EPI and the MAEP program. This course is more content-based than the other, which is a comfortable reminder of my undergraduate courses. The rest of the week I took some time to settle in and relax, in addition to working on coursework and my thesis. On Thursday night I had an introductory meeting with a researcher from Adelaide Australia for my Research Assistant position through school. This position will entail work in an area I’d like to develop, data science. It’s certainly exciting to collaborate on a project that’s dedicated to the local Mi'kmaq community, with researchers from all around the world. For my Friday dinner, I decided to explore a bit of downtown Corner Brook, and walked there via the Corner Brook Stream Trail Network, which is a peaceful set of trails that goes right from campus to downtown. Unfortunately, most restaurants here haven’t posted their menus online which, as a vegetarian, means that it’s more work to find a place with meat-free options. After walking to a few places to see menus, I settled on an Italian restaurant with a delicious Sicilian deep-dish pizza, but nothing quite compares to the ones from Chicago! After a restful weekend (and a great Packer win), I began classes on Tuesday, where I had a solid refresher on the structure of a research paper. In Wednesday’s class, we reviewed the syllabus and learned a bit about freshwater resources and the term environmental governance. Later that night, I attended an environmental speaker series at one of the local microbreweries. This particular talk was about how the arts can influence the environment, and it included both a community member and an academic from Grenfell Campus. Both speakers included music, which was a lovely complement to the theme of the talk. Over this past week, I wasn’t paying too much attention to the incoming Hurricane Fiona, but on Thursday my concern peaked. In Wisconsin, we’re very lucky to avoid most natural disasters other than an occasional tornado, so this hurricane was the first time I really felt at risk. After some light “doomsday prepping,” my anxiety eased up a bit. The storm hadn’t hit yet on Friday night, so a friend and I went to the local movie theater to watch the new movie “Don’t Worry Darling.” It was an easy way to keep my mind off of the weather, and in my opinion, a great movie!
Saturday I hunkered down in fear of the storm, but the town of Corner Brook was mostly avoided by the storm, apart from some light rain and pretty heavy winds. Unfortunately, the southern tip of Newfoundland was seriously impacted, with houses even being swept away by the storm. I’m quite grateful to be safe, and this situation definitely reinforces my professional concerns for those affected by these severe climate events. It’s been great to get settled into a routine here, and so crazy to think I’ve been here for almost a month! Until next time. |
AuthorI am the Rotary International Global Grant Scholar for 2022/2023 and a graduate student at Memorial University of Newfoundland, at the Grenfell Campus in Corner Brook. There, I'm working towards a Master's of Environmental Policy. CategoriesArchives
May 2023
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