Cecilia Blomdahl still remembers the first time she looked at the Arctic Ocean on a winter night. The darkness was so thick that she couldn't tell where the land ended.
It was 2015 and Blomdahl had arrived in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago near the North Pole, to work in a restaurant with friends. The polar night had barely begun and the Sun would not rise again until February. What caught her attention the most was the silence.
“I don't think I understood then how this would become my home,” he said. “I was only planning to stay three months.”
Now Blomdahl, 34, lives in a cabin overlooking a fjord with his partner, Christoffer, and their dog, Grim. She lives in the town of Longyearbyen, with a population of 2,400 inhabitants, where she has managed to bring the unique extremes of the 78th parallel north to millions of people via TikTok and YouTube.
They arrive in search of what Blomdahl describes as a “cozy corner” of the Internet: watching the northern lights, coffee in the fjord, close encounters with polar bears, walks with the dog guided by a headlamp. Viewers often post comments asking how she deals with the extremes of the polar night, how she gets supplies, and if she is tempted to hibernate.
Yes, she is as cheerful about winter via Zoom as she is in her videos. Yes, she really loves winter. Yes, she has a dozen pajamas.
Blomdahl grew up in Gothenburg, Sweden, a coastal city where the winters were dark and the sun set around 3:00 p.m. She attributes her love of winter to her parents, who encouraged her to be outdoors.
“I just remember spending the whole winter outside as much as I did in the summer,” he said. “Every time winter came, we were never told about it as something bad; “It was just another season.”
While Blomdahl primarily makes videos about Svalbard's natural beauty, he also points out its dangers, including blizzard conditions and wild animals. In fact, he usually has nightmares in the days before the polar night, a portion of the year without daylight in the northernmost and southernmost points of the planet.
“I think it means I respect the environment,” he said. “Yes, it's scary, but I think it's good to be scared. If you stop being even a little bit afraid, you might become reckless.”
There are a few tactics you use to prevent the winter blues: exercise, vitamin D supplements, body oil, and regular visits to a nail artist.
Longyearbyen, Svalbard's main town, is a melting pot of more than 50 nationalities, he said. Svalbard itself has enjoyed a bit of a boost from Blomdahl, who promotes the island “in a very responsible way,” said Anja Nordvålen, marketing coordinator for the Svalbard tourism board.
“Everything here is kind of extraordinary, although at the end of the day it is our ordinary life,” Nordvålen said. “I think it's intriguing for people to look at everyday life and say, 'Oh, you need polar bear protection when you leave your cabin.'”
Grim, Blomdahl's 8-year-old Finnish Lapland dog, makes sure she goes outside, regardless of the amount of light. She feels safer with him, but still, she carries a firearm in case she runs into a polar bear.
Blomdahl knows that the end of the polar night is approaching when he walks along the fjord and sees a ray of light, and the total darkness will turn into a dark blue. In March it is the blue hour, when winter has passed and the Sun slowly returns. The polar day, when the Sun does not set, is already near.
“It's like a rebirth,” he said.
By: REMY TUMIN
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/7085939, IMPORTING DATE: 2024-01-25 20:22:06
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