I often get asked how I got hooked on the Arctic or on Polar regions. It all started in the spring of 1999. I was asked to do part of my studies (the Dutch equivalent of a Masters) in the small research settlement of Ny Ålesund in Spitsbergen. Only four weeks later I found myself 3000km north of Groningen in the land of the midnight sun.

One of these yellow houses, called the London houses, was my home. Now it’s the official home of the Dutch Arctic station, back then ‘only’ rented by the University of Groningen. In the back (and in the picture above) you see the Tre Kronor, the very characteristic mountains that dominate the view in the fjord. A beautiful place to spent two months…