The second week of my LiA was weird because it was a long weekend in Norway, so I could not fly directly to Harstad, the town in Northern Norway where I was staying. Instead, after leaving Brussels,  I flew to Oslo and stayed with a family friend for two days. This was really cool because I was in Oslo on May 17, which is Norway Day. There was a huge parade, where school children marched in their national dress, which is called a bunad. It was a super cool cultural experience. 

I flew up to Harstad on Tuesday morning. I was on a little tiny plane, and when we were approaching Harstad a warning came on the announcement system warning people not to take pictures of the beautiful mountains as we landed, as the airport we were landing in was primarily used for military operations. As a Canadian, I have never experienced conflict, and am not used to any military presence, so I found it very strange how many army personnel there were around, especially in northern Norway. 

Once I got to Harstad, I quickly started working on a couple of projects. I took the bus down to the office for the first time on Wednesday morning, and got to see downtown Harstad. The main project I was working on was coordinating the Arctic Policy Hackathon, which is an annual event organized by the Arctic Mayors’ Forum in partnership with the Gordon Foundation. Every year, they bring 15 youth to Reykjavik, Iceland to develop policy recommendations over two days. The policy recommendations are then presented at the Arctic Circle Assembly, which is the biggest Arctic event. The themes of past Hackathons have been “Food Sovereignty in the Arctic” and “Keeping Young Leaders in the Arctic”. As a team, we decided that this year's theme would be Arctic Tourism. 

The first steps of the project included writing a proposal to the Arctic Circle Assembly for a panel to present the policy recommendations, and recruiting participants. I focused on writing the proposal, and developing a plan to recruit applicants. I developed an application form and procedure, and an outreach plan to try and ensure that we got a diverse range of applicants. 

My first week was also spent helping the Arctic Mayors’ Forum prepare for the Arctic Congress that is coming up in Bodø next week. The AMF is hosting a session about the intersection of education and sustainable development in the Arctic, and is participating in a session focusing on the local perspectives about global issues, and another about networks and resources in the Arctic. I sat in on the preparations for each of these panels, and helped coordinate travel for some of the participants. 

I was a bit nervous that there would not be that much for me to do, but turns out there was nothing to fear. It is always so busy, and there is so much going on. 

Outside of the ‘work’ part of my LiA, I got to experience some really cool stuff. I am high above the Arctic Circle in Harstad, so the sun has been up all week, which has been pretty crazy. Harstad is on the coast of Hinnøya, Norway's biggest island, and there are tons of beautiful views. I spent a lot of time walking around and exploring. I am living with a family - the mom works at AMF, and I actually know her son from highschool. He is still at university right now, so it is just me, Patti, and her partner Ulav. They are awesome, and it is super chill to stay with them. All around, a good but busy week.