Arctic Journey:

A rock found in Iceland that is believed to have the face of an 'elf' known as The Hidden People.

This past summer, I set off to the Arctic to meet up with an organization called Students on Ice. Our goal was to measure climate change with a team of seventy students and leading experts in science and art fields. From a documentary film maker and writer who followed a Caribou herd on foot, to a woman who ran a marathon through the desert self-navigated and fed, to a scientist who was stuck in the Arctic for almost a year doing scientific research. On this Arctic expedition we traveled the route of the Vikings, sailing from Iceland to Greenland, Labrador and Nunavik. I attended innovative workshops facilitated by the greatest teachers, touched icebergs, climbed glaciers, saw polar bears, ate Narwhal and climbed remote mountains in Iceland. The following article is part one of my Arctic journey. It portrays my personal thoughts and my experiences and adventures. Follow me on my trip of a lifetime in the following Traf Trash issues. It gets better as I get deeper into Arctic waters and as my heart gets even more invested in the issues of the North.

Pre- Expedition Thoughts

When I began telling people I wanted to apply to Students on Ice and go on the Arctic expedition I got a few looks that suggested I was slightly delusional to go off on my own in the summer months to a much colder place. Luckily, I had lots of people that really believed in me and helped me achieve that goal.

A breathtaking waterfall in the Golden Circle of Iceland

I want to pursue a life in search of infinite knowledge, love, adventure and meaning. I do not want to be someone who fills the room with excuses making it impossible to reach the doorway, someone who waits till tomorrow for their life to begin. Another day they will make it to the door and open it; and when they do they will find that time had passed and the world has gone on without them. Henry James Thoreau said, "I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived."

A Spouting Geyser

I want to take this trip on my own, in hopes of finding my place in the bigger world.  I hope to experience freedom and independence and to gain an even stronger sense of self and develop confidence. I want to see and learn that I have the potential to create social and environmental change. What we do matters.  At times humans feel that we only offer a little to the world and that in turn is insignificant. It is those feelings or thoughts that beat our spirits and bruise our souls. I hope the experiences and knowledge I will gain on this expedition will be the drive that fuels my cause. I carry the belief that what we do may seem small but that it is not. The impact we have on the world and people's lives seeps deep into the hearts of others. It cannot be measured from the outside. People carry it in their hearts and minds and it spreads to others until it reaches unknown places. It never dies but aspects of your influence live on in others.

I hope to learn about the Northern cultures and experience the way of life. I also, want to engage in measuring climate change. As a young person, I often hear about climate change through my educational experience. I

A pod of Blue Whales swimming beside the edge of the boat.

have seen the pictures in textbooks of polar bears desperately looking at the camera, while they struggle to stay on the last piece of shrinking ice. I want to see the implications of our actions on the environment.

This trip is a big step in pursuing the life I want to live; a life filled with meaning and an unwavering passion. I took this trip because like Henry James Thoreau said, I don't want to wake up to find that I have lived an unfulfilled life, full of missed opportunities.

I am nervous to venture to unknown places but I know that, 'it's not brave if you are not scared'.

July 25th The culture of Iceland

I have made it to Iceland!  It is windy like crazy and I shake like a tree on its last root. I bear it like a true Canadian. Iceland has a rich folklore that begins to describe the ineffable and almost supernatural land. We drove past a sub-glacial mountain that appeared to have grim and primitive faces carved out of the rock. I pointed this out to Kristin (my Icelandic roommate). She told me that this is the location where the stories of Trolls emerged. In an older time, the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions could not be described or understood. It was said that they came from the wrath and fits or playful flight of the tempestuous Trolls. In the night, they broke away from the stone face of the mountain and walked the Earth for a short while. When the sun fell from the sky they would once again turn to rigid stone.  A story that describes the island to my right is similar. These Trolls came down from the mountain and walked across the water to a party on the other side. They were having such a good time that night that they did not want to return home. Finally, in the last couple of minutes before the sun rose across the sky they set off for home. They made it half way across the water when the sun rose high in the sky casting it's rays across the surface, turning the Trolls to stone. That is the origin story of the Islands.

In the past couple of days, I have accomplished extraordinary things that back home I could only dream of. I climbed a dormant volcanic crater and looked into the pit of its hollowed stomach. I traveled the Golden Mile, which led me to see my first waterfall, volcano and geyser. The valleys look like they have been set on fire as smoke rises from them but when you look closer there are pools of water that are bubbling like a witches cauldron from the geothermal activity taking place under the earth. Some of the holes in the earth are geysers that go off every five minutes. Shooting water and steam up into the air from its nostrils like a dragon. People from all over the world gather and wait eagerly and silently as the time creeps slowly by trying to anticipate the volatile explosion.

My eyes may be sleepy but Iceland seems to be wide-awake. It is almost always light in Iceland around this time of the year (further north it's light 24 hours a day). The light is full of life, but in the wee hours of the morning it struggles to hold on. It's light flickers and flutters before taking it's last breath and then before you know it, Iceland is engulfed in a dim and bleak kind of darkness.

July 26th Last days in Iceland

Black Legged Kittiwakes that I call the the penguins of the North.

I've been dreaming of coming to Iceland and the North for many years. It is incredible to believe I have made it here already. It is a dream that I thought would take a lifetime to fulfill. I had thought that because I am young but I am slowly realizing that being young is a powerful asset; this trip can shape who I am and who I will be. On July 25th we met the President of Iceland who described the spirit of the North as one that is peaceful, accepting and harmonious. This is a spirit I hope to find here and welcome into my heart. I am in search of the spirit of the North. I have found it is one that flows through the land and people. It washes up on the shores of our mind eroding and transforming the shape of our ideas and filling empty holes. It is only the beginning of the trip and so much has happened already. I look forward to the days to come and embarking the boat to venture to Greenland.

July 29th First day at Sea

On our first day aboard the clipper Adventure I had the delightful pleasure to see white-nosed dolphins and the largest mammal on Earth, the Blue Whale, swim alongside the ship.  My feet dangled over the edge of the boat and I half sailed and walked across the Arctic Circle at the same time. Students on Ice cast off the ship for a day. We took the Zodiacs to the Northern tip of Iceland - a remote region that even some Icelandic people never experience. We came across a grand cliff that was a summer home to approximately 100,000 Arctic birds and several other species. A dead Kittiwake laid face down eerily drifting in the oceans wake. It seemed the birds squealed as they congregated, nestled in the cracks of the jagged rocks to mourn its death.

On shore we explored and hiked. We discovered a piece of wood, which contained nails and a harshly worn foundation. There were no trees in the area. Trees are scarcely found in Iceland; therefore we assume that it was a primitive hunting shelter. We made our way slowly but surely up a 450 meter high ridge. I was humbled by the large and powerful landscape. The hike and the landscape combined left me breathless. Although, I felt smaller in comparison to the scale of the century old mountains it gave me meaning. It left me feeling that I played a significant role in the future of this land. I could make it a good one.  I know I have to help protect the poles because I want a sixteen-year old like myself to come to a land so rich and untouched. I want that young person to feel free, a sense of peace and find meaning in the beauty and complexity of the North. I wouldn't want people to forget how to relate and bond with Nature because when that happens we will have severed our connection with ourselves. Humans are a part of Nature and Nature is a part of humans.

I knew right then and there, that the Arctic has touched me in unexpected ways. I know today that it has profoundly affected my life. I think I am not able to tell the extent, the scale or how deep. I feel that this experience and this day in Iceland will come back to haunt me and shape my path in the years to come. Only time will tell.

If you want to read more please check out part two in the next issue. I will be heading off to Iceland where I will climb a glacier and visit a Greenlandic community, my first fishing experience and how I fell asleep on a waterfall!

Read more about Students on Ice: studentsonice.com