Student story: Nanna Kåstrup Müller's semester in Greenland
In the spring of 2025, Nanna had the chance to spend a semester abroad in Nuuk, Greenland, as part of the Arctic Science Study Programme (ASSP) offered by Aarhus University.
For 4.5 months, Nuuk became both my classroom and my home, and I joined students from all over the world who shared a fascination for the Arctic. The entire programme was taught in English, and it combined lectures, fieldwork, and lab work in ways that made every day feel like an adventure.
One of the first courses I took was Sea Ice Ecology. I still remember the feeling of standing out on the sea ice, drilling down into its layers, and pulling up our very own ice cores. In the lab, we examined their nutritional value, chlorophyll content, and the tiny organisms living inside them. It was surreal to realise how much life exists in something that, from the surface, looks so barren and frozen.
Another course, Microbial Ecology, pulled me deeper into the lab side of Arctic science. Here, we studied respiration, carbon degradation, and worked with genomic tools like amplicon sequencing. It was challenging but incredibly rewarding to see how these tiny processes connect to the larger functioning of Arctic ecosystems.
In Arctic Marine Ecosystems, we ventured into Nuuk’s fjord system. Out on the water, we collected samples of phytoplankton and zooplankton at different depths and learned how marine predators fit into the picture. Back in the lab, we dissected birds and fish to see what they had been eating, identified countless plankton species under the microscope, and analysed nutrient concentrations. The mix of boat trips, lab sessions, and discussions gave me a new appreciation for how interconnected the marine food web really is.
The course From Catchment to Coast turned our focus to land and freshwater systems. We collected insects to test their tolerance to temperature changes, sampled plants to study photosynthesis and carbon emissions, and took water samples from streams and lakes to compare microalgal composition. Hiking through the Arctic landscapes with a backpack full of sampling gear was one of the most memorable parts of the semester—it felt like science and exploration rolled into one.
Beyond the academic side, what made this programme truly special were the people. I met fellow students who were just as curious about the Arctic as I was, and we worked side by side with researchers who are actively studying these systems. The friendships, collaborations, and shared field experiences are things I will carry with me long after the semester.
Looking back, the knowledge and skills I gained in Nuuk are already shaping my work. In my master’s thesis, where I’m studying plant–insect interactions in the Arctic, I find myself drawing directly on the methods and insights I learned there. More than that, the semester gave me a deeper sense of how fragile, complex, and important Arctic ecosystems are. It was an experience that not only strengthened me as a scientist but also gave me a lasting connection to the Arctic itself.