Four Score & 10 Million Years Ago...
First polar biology field study down! We spent the first half of the week in Western Denmark for Core Course week and it was so amazing. I’ll admit, I was really nervous about this trip because I dont know a lot of people in my class and there were a LOT of early morning wake-ups (think 4:30am on the first day) and long bus rides, but it ended up being fabulous with a a lot of bonding, laughs, and a healthy dose of local Danish beer.
ferry ride to the island of Fanø!
Day 1:
We got on the bus at 6am and I immediately fell asleep for the entire 3 and a half hour ride. We had a super spacious coach bus and pretty much everyone got their own row which ended up being essential. Bronte and I sat at the front with Greta, Lila, and Raven right behind us and we had a great time up there the whole trip, everyone really loved that bus at the end of our 3 days! We finally arrived at the Wadden Sea Center in Ribe a little after 9 and started by taking a tractor bus out past the mud flats onto the island of Manø for our first beach hike. It was cold, rainy, and spectacular. We got to walk along the wild landscape that looked like a kind of wet desert while our guide showed us some of the incredible biodiversity that you dont see right away, but once you look closer is quite amazing.
We learned about the invasive pacific oyster that has been colonizing the Wadden sea, the blue mussels that many arctic migratory birds rely on for food, and the small hidden lugworm that produces a kind of multi-resistant antibiotic (currently trying to be synthesized by researches for medical purposes) that filters 25kg of sand a year and lives just a few centimeters under the muddy soil. I even got to pick an oyster up out of the ground, shuck it, and eat it while standing right there in the water! Definitely the saltiest oyster I’ve ever eaten… like kissing the sea! The rubber boots and rain pants that I scrambled to get last minute the night before were a HUGE help the whole trip and I was very grateful for their warmth and dryness. After our hike, we ate lunch and got to explore the museum which was beautifully put together and really fascinating.
After the museum exhibition we took the bus to the quaint little town of Ribe: the oldest town in Denmark! We took a walking tour around the town and it was really pretty, though it was snowing and raining the entire time. I wont lie, I was getting pretty grumpy about halfway through and really was looking forward to dinner. After about an hour and a half, we finally made it to the restaurant and had a delicious meal of pasta with pesto, veggies, and roasted chicken. The bottomless bread and free wine made me forget all about the wet misery of walking around outside all day (well, almost).
After dinner about half of the class went out to a bar to have a few beers before heading back to our campsite where we were staying for the night. Just our luck, we stumbled into probably the only bar in Denmark playing exclusively American country music— so odd, but the IPA pitcher was really great. It was kind of a sketchy 25 minute walk in the dark back to our camp but we made it in good time. I say camping, but this was not tents in the woods. We had the cutest little cabins where the bed took up the entire room in all of the bedrooms, complete with a big bathroom and kitchenette. It was so cozy and I slept like a rock until 6:30 the next morning when I woke up for breakfast before another big day.
Rainy Ribe
Day 2:
After breakfast we were back on the bus to the Gram Whaling museum where we learned about the geologic history of Western Denmark, which used to be completely underwater as part of the sea. The best part of that was digging in a 10 million year old clay pit for marine fossils! It was really dirty work, quite cold with the semi-frozen soil, and so. much. fun. We found a ton of fossils of shells, snails, and other small organisms, and got our hands quite muddy doing it. Another instance where I was uber thankful for the rain pants and boots!
After ID-ing the fossils, we got coffee and then had lunch on the bus on the way to the island of Fanø. It was finally sunny out which felt absolutely amazing! We got to take a ferry on the way we got to get off bus and stretch out legs in the sun and run around on the top deck. It was only a 10 minute ride but we made the most of it. When we finally got to our hotel, we unpacked and listened to our new local guide, Marco, give a lecture on the dynamics and biodiversity of the Wadden sea before taking a walk down to the beach and the pier before dinner! It was beautiful and the sun was just beginning to get lower in the horizon, casting a golden glow on the coastal landscape. It made me so happy to be there in that moment with new friends, wind in my hair, some sun on my face, and the sea by my feet. The sun really does wonders for my mood.
We watched the sun set completely over the mud flats in the little town of Sønderho before eating the most AMAZING dinner at the inn there. The restaurant is over 300 years old and they served us an incredible 4 course meal complete with beer from the local micro-brewery. It was a lovely meal filled with good food, a lot of laughing and story-telling, and the warmth of a nice buzz from that strong Danish beer. We only hung out at the hotel for a little bit before falling asleep fully satiated.
Day 3:
On the last day, we had our final Wadden sea hike, this time on Fanø which was less muddy and wet than Manø, but possibly even more spectacular. We hiked a kilometer out onto the sea bed at low tide, so far you couldn’t even see land through all the clouds and fog. It was a wild and magical landscape out there: like a glistening desert. Wet sand in every direction as far as you could see, flat, and absolutely nothing else. There was an occasional channel of water that carved through the sea floor, and the odd mussel colony or hardy plant, but otherwise it was empty until we came to a creek where the North Sea met the Wadden Sea and there was the most beautiful and powerful confluence where you could see the water moving in two directions. I could have stared at it for forever in that vast, barren landscape. It was cold and windy and rainy but somehow I stayed warm, dry, and utterly entranced by the environment. I will never forget that feeling of being a speck on an ocean floor desert.
Once we had trekked all the way back, we warmed up with some coffee and cake in the community house (made for us by some local women) before moving on to the tiny art museum. It may have been small, but it was packed with charm and beautiful art and architecture. We spent an hour or two meandering through it with Marco as our guide for part of the time, and on our own for the other half. It was so interesting to see the depictions of life on the Danish west coast through the lenses of realism, expressionism, impressionism, and even the lens of the local school children whose work was displayed alongside that of the more well known Danish artists.
Finally, after 3 long but wonderful days, we boarded our trusty bus home to Copenhagen, sandwiches and Marabou in hand. All I can say is I cant wait for the next one… Tromsø here we come
