If Chris is the ringmaster of Roncallis Cod Circus, i am the clown, the dompteur and the stable-boy: feeding the cod, cleaning the tanks, performing different test etc. pp….

Arriving of the last two tanks (Pictures by G.Göttler, HHU Düsseldorf)

After 6 weeks in Kristineberg, i have left my tent and i’m now on my way back home.

The last weeks had nearly everything you can imagine:

I met a big bunch of really nice, friendly, openminded, helpful and crazy people, some gammel, some ung, from klubba to pung. A great team!
In the same way there were all feelings from fun to frustration, from joy and happiness to depression and anger:
Fun with this crazy guys, while (for example) having a party or testing and tasting surströmming (its as disgusting as your heard before).
Frustration when Murphy comes again on a visit and the next part of the equipment stops working properly.
Joy and happiness when we came back after a long, cold, wet, a bit sea-sick, day on a fishing boat and my girlfriend was waiting in the station to celebrate my 30. birthday with my and some of the team! (Thanks again!)
Frustration and anger, when you see that the tests you did in long nights (while others are having a party or just sleeping) did not worked in the right way.
And all the other things we have seen and done in this weeks: building up 7m³ tanks in our tent at -10°C, the fjord covered with sea ice within some hours, making a trip to denmark to get some big cods, recover some drowned equipment with the ROV, celcebrating my 30. birthday (to name only some things)….
All in all, i can say it was a really good time in Sven Loven. In the rare free hours i really enjoyed the sea, the coutry and the people around.

I wish you guys all the best with the mesokosms and all your experiments!

Thank you for everything! I’ll be back! 😉

By Gwen Göttler

A new morning in Kristineberg, view from the lab (Pictures by G. Göttler, HHU Düsseldorf)