So, buy now you should be reasonably upto date with the environment i'm living in and the lecture courses I'm following and so on, so time for a more light-hearted post. I'll start by telling you about making a cake. The other day I guess I felt all homely and decided to back, under the pretence that I would present Dayle with the cake for his Birthday. however, this is not quite how things panned out, it seems the smell of cake brings my flat mates out of the woodwork, and hence, by the following day I was only able to present Dayle with a quarter of the cake! I took it to UNIS with candles and matches, so i could give it to him at the lunch break, unfortunately all the matches had been used, so it didn't have quite the desired effect! however, we did sing happy birthday in the middle of the canteen so i think he was suitably embarrassed. After yesterday in UNIS I continued with some work whilst Dayle and some friends went to the Moraine cave at the glacier, and then popped over to his party later on. I can't wait to get the exams out of the way and start seeing a bit of the area around Longyearbyen!

Given that now we're all pretty much settled in and into the routine of lectures, I should also tell you about some independent research I'm conducting. Many of you may remember that before I left Britain, My Uncle Paul presented me with a parcel which he suggested would be necessary for my survival in the high arctic. However, I have no idea what they are designed for! I have included a photograph so that you can see the aforementioned items, and perhaps suggest possible uses. I have only had a little time to conduct research I have so far only been able to find one possible use:

anybody with further suggestions is invited to comment on this post and I will endevour to test out your hypotheses!

Ash