Farewell to SNAP

Today is the last day we can say we work at UAF and more precisely at SNAP, Scenarios Network for Alaska & Arctic Planning (which will, by the way, look good in our resumes!). One year went past way faster than we would have ever imagined.

During this year we were given an amazing opportunity to learn a lot. To gain new skills and to strengthen old ones. To be independent and to work in teams. To work in interesting projects. To work with great talented people. To go floating and flying. 

We consider ourselves very lucky to be able to say we were part of SNAP, which is well recognized and highly respected institute nationally. This job was a dream come true for us.

Yesterday we had our farewell potluck and we got a chance to say goodbye to everybody. We can't thank enough people who have helped us, supported us and made our working days in Alaska that much more special. It was a pleasure to come to work every day and we felt our efforts were truly appreciated. It leaves a nice warm feeling. 

SNAP, also known as Super Scientific Neat Number of Academically Awesome Productive People, will be missed!

And if someone didn't know yet, it's a holiday time for us now. Six months of holiday.  Yeah, you should be jealous!

Bits and pieces from last week

One more week has passed here in Alaska. It's a bit crazy how fast time goes by now. Next week will be our last week at work. I mean, what?? And in one month we will leave Alaska. Again, what??








We get busier and busier as the time of departure approaches. Like mentioned before we are heading to Canada, the departure date will be the 22nd of April. We have now purchased almost all our gear for the summer backpacking trip and we spent most of the weekend sorting and listing them. We have also started sorting and packing the stuff that we will need in Canada for six months, and the stuff that we will leave in Two Rivers.

We are still able to find some time to enjoy our weekends. Last Saturday we had a barbecue dinner and meeting with the Mile 101 crew. It was so great to see again all those people with whom we had so much fun some weeks ago. As we left Peter's place we realized that we would have to say more and more goodbyes in next couple of weeks. Even though you know that you have to leave, and you are very excited about the next adventure, it's pretty hard when it's time to say goodbye.

On Sunday we enjoyed the sunny weather by doing some outdoor cleaning and wood piling. The temperature is between -10 and 0 °C so when the sun is shining it is pretty warm outside.

Julien tried some adjustments with our tent, making sure we are ready for  the summer. He also took off the back seat of the car in order to have more space for our 6 month road trip in Canada while Piia was out with Kerry and some dogs.





We took a day off on Tuesday and it ended up being a great opportunity to spend some time with Nick who is rarely around during the weekends. We had lunch together and Nick offered us new culinary experiences with extra  hot horseradish and triscuits. Nick likes mountaineering so we had some interesting discussion about outdoor gear and nutrition. 


After lunch we went  for a walk with Barges who is now our walking buddy, Keeper and Nick's dog Cooper. We walked until Flat creek which is pretty impressive looking creek now with its huge overflow. The weather was nice as it has been since many weeks now.