I had heard Norwegians were quite reserved but I have found everyone here to be extremely friendly, warm, and helpful! Making friends may happen slowly in a new place but not difficultly here. The folks at ARCTOS, Claudia and Derrick have been very welcoming, as well as Jasmine and Jørgen, who made the transition (especially into a completely unfurnished apartment with no appliances!) so much smoother. It also makes it easier that my husband, Nathan, was eager to join me here, and his experience working in travel made the transition to tour guide and skipper in Tromsø fairly seamless.

Currently I am working as lab coordinator for the Zoology course, and am very much enjoying the enthusiasm of the students as we dissect various ocean creatures. I am also serving as Deputy PhD Representative on the doctoral committee for AMB this year, and am looking forward to presenting a poster on my research plans at the SETAC Europe conference in Seville, Spain in May.

We have perfected our water accommodated fraction (WAF) protocol and received our chemical analysis for this back this week, and are in the later stages of project planning and the application process for the transgenerational zebrafish project, where we will be observing the effects of crude oil WAF on epigenetic and phenotypic changes and gene expression and how they are distributed and conserved across generations.

Outside of work I am enjoying skiing (mostly falling!) and ice fishing. I have watched curious orcas swim from a boat and reindeer racing, and enjoyed a jacuzzi in a snow storm. At the ARCTOS conference last year, I lounged in the sauna before jumping into the freezing ocean (does this make me Norwegian yet?).  I am mostly just enjoying the beautiful scenery in Tromsø, especially the view from my apartment. Although there may be a fold out chair in lieu of a table or an empty bookshelf in my place, Tromsø is starting to feel like home!