Settling In

My first full day at Esrange. The balloon setup is going very quickly. We've done this enough times that we know what to do next. There is no standing around thinking about it. Since we are about twenty miles from town, we have an on-site cafeteria. The food is good and they serve local food with some accommodations for us Americans. We had hamburgers for lunch today. We went into the town of Kiruna for dinner tonight. We ate an American style sports bar. It was complete with Boston Red Sox banners and other sports stuff. The food was pretty good.

It is strange seeing the sky the same brightness 24 hours a day. It has been overcast since I got here, so I have not seen the sun yet. I woke up about 3 a.m. and saw the sun shining from behind the blinds - strange. In the walk to the building we are working in, I saw that there is hardly any grass growing in the area, just moss and lichens. The pine trees resemble the ones you see in the mountains, but they are all small - no more than 8" in diameter.












The dorm is brand new. We each have a privat room and bath. The rooms are pretty small, but it's all I need. We have high speed internet also. Just what you would expect from some place that houses scientists.