August 9, 2018

Eleven of us had an abrupt wake up at 5 in the morning in the basement of Jane and Jim’s house. We all scrambled to change and pack as fast as possible and then rushed to the airport. Luckily our plane was delayed and we had time to have breakfast at the airport. We got on a tiny plane en route to Churchill and even got a shoutout on the plane. Slowly the landscape changed to beautiful fens and bogs that looked really lush from the air. We then touched down and walked into the smallest airport we had ever  seen. We loaded our enormous pile of luggage into a truck and boarded a bus to the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC). We got a tour of the CNSC, got our rooms, and had a delicious lunch. We gathered our gear and prepared to set out on the tundra. We piled into some cars and drove to one of the sites to practice. Unfortunately it started to rain so we had to go to a different site. At this site we put on our rain gear and went out to collect plant samples that we memorized the names of, prior to the trip. We flattened the plants into folders using tape. These are called duotangs. Then we rushed to a barbecue with the junior rangers and hung out there getting to know eachother and eating some great food. Finally we watched the sunset over the water at Cape May. Both of us are looking forward to tomorrow and what the rest of the trip brings.

-Claudia and Mesra