Greetings from Fairbanks!

Current temperature in Fairbanks: 1 F

"Greetings from Fairbanks! Arrived here 2 days ago. It was very difficult to catch rides in the Yukon Territory. But I finally got here. It might be a very long time before I return South. I now walk into the wild." ~Chris McCandless

            The time spent in Anchorage airport went by pretty fast. You know you are in Alaska when there are large stuffed polar bears on display in the terminal.

Above the polar bears was a collection of beautiful artwork from the different native peoples of Alaska. I walked around looking at artwork, weaving my way through the large number of bodies cocooned in sleeping bags sprawled on the floor among display cases and on benches. It was odd to see so many people sleeping wherever they could; I have never spent the night in an airport. Seeing as I seemed to have found the sleeping headquarters I decided to conch out here for a few hours, though every half hour the voice of a charming automated woman would wake me with the local time.

When waiting to board my plane to Fairbanks, I caught someone staring at me. It was a familiar face, my friend Alex Terry from Concord, New Hampshire was on the same flight! What are the chances of that?! I also met two other students at UAF who were on my flight as well. One was from Pennsylvania, the other Arizona (boy she must be cold!). She said she had never seen snow until she came to Fairbanks, and she was looking at schools in either Alaska or New Hampshire because of gun laws. The girl, Courtney actually had a seat next to me on the flight so we talked about the school. When we landed, the three of us took a cab to campus. One the way, the cab driver warned me to cover my mouth with a scarf when it gets really cold because you can get frost bite on your lungs! Holy crap! My new friend then helped me to carry my luggage to my dorm, showed me where to get my student ID and some of the more important places on campus. It’s funny, instead of bowls of candy on the desks in administrative offices, there are bowls of free ice scrapers. Haha. My dorm is quite cute, nothing special, just your typical dorm.

            The campus is actually much different than I was expecting. No tunnels connecting the buildings, and unlike my dreams, students do not live in log cabins and ski to their classes, although there is a very large hill which is home to the sport of UAF intoxicated sledding I am told. I don’t think this is an official school sport. The campus buildings and the buildings in downtown Fairbanks are all very industrial. Most of them are just large concrete blocks with windows. The ones that aren’t concrete are made to look like cabins. It is definitely unusual, not what I would expect the last frontier to look like, but no less beautiful than I would have imagined. On some days from the upper end of campus I am sure you can just make out the larger mountains farther south on the horizon, though it may just be me wishing I could. There is a museum on campus which I explored in my wanderings on the first day. It is made to look like an igloo on the outside, at least that is my impression. It is full of native art and stuffed animals and fossils of animals native to Alaska. There is even the skull of a wooly mammoth!

            The amount of sunlight is certainly something to get used to. It most definitely is no longer reliable for telling time. The sun never gets higher than it would at mid-morning back home. I didn’t think it would be that hard to deal with, but motivating myself to get out of my cozy bed and step outside into the freezing dark for an 8am class at the top of the hill will definitely be a challenge.

            I met the other National Student Exchange students here this semester. There are five of us all together though I only met three of them so far. One is from Keene State College, how ironic, a fellow New Hampshirite! Another is from Boston, and the other, Florida. I can’t imagine what she must be going through; she said it was 90 F when she left home! I was also invited to go skiing at Alyeska in Anchorage next weekend with my roommate and her boyfriend. I can’t wait! It looks beautiful, and it will certainly be a test for my first day back on the slopes this season! I must say one of my favorite things about campus so far is that not every single girl is dressed in Ugg boots, yoga pants and North Faces. Such a nice change of pace. I have already met a lot of wonderful people here; everyone has been very friendly and helpful. I can’t wait to meet more!