Week 4: Lasting Memories and So Many Seals!

It was 3 am when my first alarm went off. My head was groggy and my eyes could barely stay open, yet I was filled to the brim with excitement. After getting ready, Amelia and I quietly made our way upstairs, ate a quick sandwich, and set off in the darkness on bike towards Frue Plads where I was meeting my core course. Let me tell you, carrying a suitcase on a bike is not an easy feat, but thankfully Amelia has the arm strength and balance of a God. After 10 minutes of biking, a 15 minute train ride, and a 15 minute walk, we made it to the square. After a sad goodbye to Amelia, who was going somewhere else, I made my way up the stairs of the bus, sitting down in anticipation of what this adventure would bring.

Looking back, this past week, what DIS calls core course week, has been full of nothing but excitement and adventure. For this week, my polar biology class had the opportunity to travel to Southwest Jutland, and focus our studies on the Wadden Sea, one of the most unique ecosystems in the world. The Wadden Sea is special because of its ever-changing natural environment due to tidal waters and waves transforming the landscape every single day. Every 6.5 hours, the tide will rise and fall, with a difference of about 1.5 meters! This means that within one day, the entire landscape will have flooded twice. The tidal waters are home to worms, snails, mussels and crustaceans, along with many species of birds. Twice a year, this habitat sees 12 million migrating birds stopping for food and rest before continuing their migrations. The Wadden Sea also plays an important role as a breeding ground for birds and seals, and is a growing site for fish.

In order to learn about this habitat, my class made our way by bus to the Western coast of Denmark, first stopping in the town of Ribe, one of the oldest towns in Denmark.

The town was gorgeous, and the food they gave us was incredible!

After arriving in Ribe, we stopped at the Vadehavscentret, or in other words, the Wadden Sea Nature Center. After a tour of the beautiful nature center and learning all of the facts about the sea, we made our way outside where a tractor would be taking us out further into the park. After a 45 minute ride through the Wadden sea, stepping out onto the strange, almost unearthly terrain, felt refreshing. Here we were able to search for organisms and wade out into the water, seeing a first hand account of the types of creatures that call this place home. Even in the short hours that we were there, we could see the tides change, which was incredible.

The next day, my class made our way to the Gram Whale Museum. This part of the trip was my personal favorite because we had the opportunity to learn about whale evolution and get our hands dirty digging for fossils. One of the unique aspects of this museum was that all of the whale bones showcased in the museum were found within walking distance in a huge clay pit. After the visit in the museum, we dug for fossils in the same clay pit that the whales were found in!! These fossils were from before the last ice age, and even though I only found a couple of small fossils, these souvenirs are ones I will cherish forever.

After the whale museum, we traveled to Fanø, a small island off the coast of Denmark. For the next two days, we had multiple walking tours of the Wadden sea, where we learned about the landscape...

heard about migrating birds from a local ornithologist...

and even saw a bunch of seals!!

Overall, this week has been one of the best experiences of my entire life. Not only did I learn so much about topics that are interesting to me, but I also found myself surrounded by so many like-minded individuals that I now consider friends, not just classmates. In these few short days, we saw so much together, trekked through some of the hardest downpours we have ever experienced, ate endless amounts of delicious food, and bonded over our love of nature. I cannot wait for more adventures with these individuals in the future and I couldn't ask for a better group of people to share this time with.