Greenland – behind the scenes of a research trip to Nuuk
"Reaching Nuuk was an adventure itself. I had to take three airplanes from Aalborg (Denmark), and when I finally flew across Greenland, all I could see was the massive white ice sheet beneath that stretched as far as my eye could reach. On the airfield in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, the wind was icy cold. It was March, and it was around -13 degrees. The weather app announced: “feels like -20 degrees”.
I was prepared, with thermo underwear, my weatherproof skiing gear and warm pullovers. Interestingly, while I walked around the city in all the layers I could find in my suitcase, the local residents seemed less concerned about the temperature; I spotted some without a hat and without gloves. Meanwhile, all buildings were well heated, so that I felt most comfortable in t-shirts when indoor.
My reason to visit Greenland was the research for my master’s thesis in Arctic Studies. I was going to meet Filipinos who had come to work and live in Nuuk. During my stay, I additionally explored the city, which has roughly 20,000 inhabitants in 2024. I visited the mall, and found my favourite spot in a café, enjoying a crunchy sandwich, a tea or a pizza. I visited a bar and listened to a band interpret Greenlandic songs from the seventies and eighties. I enjoyed a privately organised music jam session at a friend’s place together with his friends; 15 people chilling in a living room, someone playing the piano, someone the saxophone, someone guitar, some singing – and the rest listening, and talking and eating dessert.
Ever since my exchange in Finland a few years ago, I have been passionate about travelling, and about immersing myself in new countries through culture and language. I have been living in Denmark for the past 2 years as an international master’s student, and I had been writing several projects about Greenland. However, moving to Greenland, even for a short period of time, always seemed too crazy to be possible. And then suddenly there I was.
Nuuk felt quite international to me. The atmosphere was open, and there were cultural influences visible from several countries such as the selection of products offered at the supermarket as well as the variety in languages spoken. At the same time, Nuuk was completely its own place. Apart from the vast ice sheet that separated it from any other place (you need the boat, plane or helicopter to get to other cities even within Greenland), the city had its own story to tell. There was sealskin decoration on one of the buildings, statues of Greenlandic creatures, beautiful views on the sea in the winter sun, good food and the snow sculptures from Nuuk’s annual snow sculpture competition.
The north2north programme allowed me to experience Greenland in a dimension that I could never have reached through mere university projects in Denmark. Additionally, it enabled me to collect data for my master’s thesis and to write a thesis that I am proud of."