For a fiction writer, walking in Greenland is like walking in an endless sea of words. Everything is so different and so real, that whole stories just emerge with every step. I have often read and heard about how Icelandic writers give the nature, the environment and life in Iceland some of the credit for their books, but it was only after I moved to Greenland that I discovered they were right. I started writing my first Arctic book – The Girl Without Skin/EIS ROT – after a year of living in Greenland. I had so many amazing impressions – and had felt a bit of the darkness too – and I just had to write about it all. To me, Greenland is an inexhaustible source, and I am going to write many books that take place in Greenland. My author heart loves this beautiful and remote place on earth.
Here is why:
My author heart loves this beautiful and remote place on earth.
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Life in Greenland is in many ways very different to anything else. The first thing you have to learn is to let go of time as a controlling concept. We do naturally use time in Greenland, it’s just not the most important factor in planning your days and weeks – the Arctic weather is. In Greenland, we have no roads between the towns and settlements; all traffic is by small planes, helicopters or boats, and it’s not unusual to be stranded for days or weeks because of bad weather. Often you can’t just sail or fly because it will be too dangerous. That’s one of the things you have to accept living here – you might be planning by the clock, but the weather decides if you succeed, and that’s one of the most amazing things about living in the Arctic.
Another thing that’s very different is the vast distances and the loneliness. In mainland Europe we are used to being close to everything all the time. We are always online and can always reach each other in a short amount of time. We are always available. In Greenland it’s the opposite; The Internet is often bad and in many places there is no Internet or mobile connection at all. And we cannot quickly drive from one city to another. You are where you are, and that’s it. You are always surrounded by the Arctic sea, the mountains and an almost infinite ice cap.
That’s the beauty of it all. You have to respect nature and life in another way than in Denmark, where I grew up. However, if you let go of time – and accept the loneliness and isolation – you suddenly find yourself falling in love with living in the Arctic. And there is so much to love …
The air up here is so unbelievably clean and cold – the winters last for 6 to 7 months with meters of snow and constant frozen air. Most people think that it must be dark in the winters in Greenland, but the snow and ice light up everything. When it’s dark in Denmark, Germany or Spain, it’s really dark, but up here everything lights up and glows because of the ice and snow. And sometimes, in the early hours of the night, the northern lights flicker over the dark sky – like thin shimmering veils of green and pink breath. It’s like the breath of the sun’s dying light dancing with the soul of the earth.
And that’s not even the most mesmerizing thing about life up here. The best thing is the ice: the real ice, the inland ice – the huge ice cap that covers most of Greenland. The colors of the ice are endless. Sometimes it’s white. Sometimes blue. Sometimes like crystal. Sometimes you just stare at it thinking ‘that’s not possible’. Even more amazing is the age of the ice. It’s not just frozen water; it’s water that has been frozen and solid for more than 100,000 years. When huge lumps of icebergs drift ashore, you can go and hug them and touch them and feel them breathing ice cold on your skin. I often put a bit of the old ice in my mouth and close my eyes as the ice melts. Just to feel time. The water melting in my mouth has not been liquid since before the time of modern man. It’s like being in a time machine; you are traveling through time in each single drop. It’s magic. Just like Greenland: magic.
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