It has become a tradition that when we finish an expedition in Longyearbyen, we celebrate the hard work with dinner in one of the few restaurants in town, Kroa.
Text and photo: Andreia Plaza Faverola, researcher. Project manager, SEAMSTRESS.
A day before reaching the harbor Sunil had already booked our table. This year we were the right number of people and got the Round Table, just like King Arthur’s knights. Several hours before our closing dinner we were already in town having some drinks together. We continued with the dinner and finished with a round of emblematic bars in Longyearbyen.
I write about this because it made a big (good) impression on me, to see a lot of life in the bars and streets of Longyearbyen despite all the unusual rules that we have to follow to continue with our “normal” lives. Longyearbyen is a strange place; the city and the people here are full of energy.
We had a cozy night together and some of us came across the ship crew and could interact with them as well outside work. Rituals are important! They mark and create time, they define beginnings and endings in our social cycles, they strengthen social relationships.
Now ready to go back home.
