Staying active in the winter months

 The long winters here in Fairbanks give you ample time to get out and discover the season’s numerous activities. Whether you prefer skiing, snowboarding, ice climbing, snowshoeing, or just wandering around, Fairbanks is one of the best places for it.

Here at UAF not only do we have on-campus ski and snowshoe trails to spend the day exploring with friends, but we also have a brand new Terrain Park (the first on-campus park in the US!), an Ice Tower, and are in close proximity to a few downhill skiing and snowboarding destinations.

One of the more unique features of UAF is our Outdoor Adventure program.  OA allows you to go on trips all year long and explore Alaska. Examples from this past month of March are the Tanana River Skate Ski, the White Mountains Cabin Overnight trip, and the Skate Skiing Weekend Clinic series. All events are staffed by capable OA employees and are always guaranteed to be fun! Costs vary from trip to trip, but it is always a bargain for the amount that you can get out of it! Their website typically has a list of the whole semester’s activities to help you plan for the overnight trips in advance. In addition to hosting the trips, they also have equipment to rent out to students at an affordable price so you are able to explore the campus or other trails all on your own!                       

In addition to all of the opportunities OA offers, there is always a choice to remain active without going out into the cold! The SRC is open from 5:30am-10pm Monday through Friday, 9am-10pm Saturday’s, and 12-7pm on Sundays, and throughout the week we have a lot of classes offered to keep you active and moving! In addition to that you can work out on your own, or climb on the rockwall. Students are known to gather their friends and play pick-up basketball and volleyball games on the weekends, as well as participating in Intramurals during the week! As a student, you also have the ability to go swimming at the pool to burn off some extra energy!

Whether your preference for staying active during the long winters keeps you inside or takes you to the great outdoors, there are a lot of opportunities at UAF!

Spring 2013 at UAF

With our annual tradition of Springfest coming soon, and finals just a few short weeks away, I started thinking about this semester, and all the awesome things that have happened. First off, what a huge success the Nanook Terrain Park has been! UAF is the first college in the United States that has a ski and snowboard terrain park on campus! Even better, it is still in use, IN MID APRIL! How cool is that?! This semester brought me into the mountains on many occasions and I am so grateful that I’ve had the opportunities to do my first summit ascent, and got to go backcountry skiing for a week over spring break in the incredible Chugach Mountains of South central Alaska. If you enjoy being in the mountains, there is one class that you absolutely need to take here at UAF, and that class is Intro to Mountaineering! The two -credit recreation class has been the best class I’ve taken yet. It taught me safe glacier travel, crevasse rescue, avalanche safety, winter camping, and alpine climbing techniques.  With multiple overnight trips, our class became a tight group of friends, and everybody had an awesome time on our climbs. We were the first class to have everybody summit Panorama Peak, just North of Cantwell.  If you enjoy being outdoors, UAF is a great place that balances classroom education and real-life outdoor learning environments! 

The dry life

Dry Cabin Living:

One of the many awesome aspects of Fairbanks is: living without running water is not unusual. Frankly, if you come to UAF, I don’t think you can truly call yourself a Nanook until you have dived into the dry-lifestyle. I have been without running water for almost two years and, I love it!

Fairbanks, and the University, are setup to accommodate those of us who choose to live the dry-lifestyle. The UAF Wood Center has shower and laundry facilities. Other areas of campus also have shower facilities, including the swimming pool and the Student Recreation Center (some are private). I tend to do my water duties at the UAF Honors House.

(My two dogs chewing on moose legs in our yard. The outhouse is nestled nicely in the trees.)

My two dogs chewing on moose legs in our
yard. The outhouse is nestled nicely
in the trees

Living in a dry cabin is pretty easy once you figure out a few things. One, invest in a tub to do the dishes in. Two, get used to boiling water to do dishes. Three, find something that is good at squirting water for rinsing the dishes. I personally use an old soap container, this helps conserve water. Four, get a nice piece of styrofoam cut a toilet size hole in it, and put in your outhouse (the styrofoam makes the winter outhouse use a lot more comfortable). Five, invest in some 5-gallon jugs for hauling water. I would recommend at least 4 jugs, that way you aren’t constantly worrying about running out of water. If you do run out of water in the winter it isn’t a big deal because you can just melt snow. Melting snow takes a long time though, so I wouldn’t recommend making this a habit.

One of my favorite parts about Fairbanks is the Water Wagon. The Water Wagon is like a gas station, but instead of pumping gas, it pumps water. The machines are coin operated, and it only takes quarters and nickels. Another great spot to grab water is the Fox Springs located right off the Elliot highway. It is fresh spring water, and it is free. The only cost is the drive. Thankfully the Fox spring is really close to Silver Gulch, a brewery and restaurant. So if you go all the way out to Fox, I recommend going to Silver Gulch and grabbing a nice snack.

The blue jug is for fresh water, the grey pan is for drip/slop water

The best part of living in a dry cabin is watching peoples reaction when you tell them that you don’t have running water. I’m not even going to try and explain it, you’ll just have to give it a try for yourself!

College Survival

Dear potential and current students,

Let me remind you that college is hard. I know you hear that college is all wild-times and great fun, but it won’t last long unless you pass your classes (or perhaps you just really enjoy burning all your money on tuition for nothing in return). Either way, college doesn’t last forever (although it may seem like it) and there is definitely a right way and a wrong way to do it.

Maybe you have been warned before: freshman year makes or breaks students. This is the proving ground. Kids show up, kids party too hard, kids go home to their parents and get employed at McDonalds.

OR, kids show up, balance their homework and social life, get their own apartment and make their parents happy.

Look, I realize it’s a lot easier said than done. It isn’t hard to make it through some of your classes, but the real deal is that you have to put some time and effort into them. Use your resources, I promise your classmates don’t bite (let’s not debate this one). Get their help even if you think you can do it all on your own. If you’re one of the students determined to finish a program at a reasonable pace, you will understand how heavy your load will be at some points. At times, it can be a pretty scary thing to face. Having a solid group of peers to collaborate with can make you feel a lot more comfortable carrying a mountain of schoolwork on your shoulders.

As a Junior, in UAF’s Mining Engineering program, I have seen my share of loaded weekends—it takes a lot of patience to get through them. I know many of you readers are in high school or somewhere along those lines, and it comes pretty naturally to procrastinate with your schoolwork. Here is a survival tool you may have never even thought to use – Don’t Procrastinate! I know, I know! It seems crazy. Doing homework BEFORE it is due? No way!

Look at your assignment a few days before you even plan on working on it. Now, think of a plan. What is your approach to the homework? Do you have a clear idea of what topic you will write on, or what methods you will use to solve the problem? If your answer is no, fix the issue. Brainstorm in your time away from the assignment, browse through your text to find a method to solve the problem, or even ask a friend. Jot some notes down and come back to it later.

If you can manage this, you will be making a lot more progress than you may think. By looking over and doing this assessment you plant the information in your brain and create an incubation period. This period allows for your brain to develop the problem and give you direction when you sit down to finish the problem.

Finally, sit down with time to spare and get to work. If you have two days left, do half of your project now and half later if you want. Just make sure you eliminate some of your work so that you have less of it weighing on you at the last minute. It will make you feel busier and likely more confident in your work when it is finished.

And yes, I know it is a little late in the semester to be giving this advice (and, by no means do I manage to stay on top of my own workload 100%) but college is about showing commitment to learning, and doing the work one way or another is what ultimately matters the most.  

Good Luck,

Alex

Alternative Spring Break - Nome for Iditarod

While a lot of people used their Spring Break time to travel to much warmer climates and relax on the beaches, I wound up going to Nome, Alaska. Most people would probably choose this as their last destination for their spring vacation time, but a lot of people are unaware that it hosts the finish of the Iditarod – the annual 1,049 mile sled dog race we have here in Alaska.

The race has a mock start in Anchorage but actually begins in Willow and has two different routes to Nome – alternating every year. Each musher starts off with a team of 16 dogs and usually end up at the finish in roughly 9-15 days. They are forced to race through blizzards, sub-zero temperatures, and gale-force winds – much energy and preparation is put in year round for each of these amazing athletes.

If you haven’t ever partaken in any of the Iditarod-related festivities, you’re missing out. There is an enormous crowd in downtown Anchorage that shows up for the start of the race each year. There is a chaotic mass of people and dogs all exuding excitement in anticipation for the race to begin. Soon they’re off and on their way to Nome.

Nome is usually fairly depleted in its inhabitants, at least compared to the major hotspots of Alaska, but during Iditarod time it is filled with people, both locals from all over Alaska and foreigners from all over the world to partake in the amazing event. During the day the town is usually empty of people, with the exception of when the horn blows signaling the arrival of a musher. However, during the evenings all of the people in the town are out and about at the restaurant and entertainment areas all celebrating together, anxious for their favorite musher(s) to arrive.

I always have an absolutely amazing time there; with all of the friends and family I’m with, the great food we make, the activities we participate in, and the excitement in welcoming our mushers’ home. It really is an amazing experience, full of culture and history, and one I would very much recommend to anyone in search of an authentic Alaskan celebration.

On the EDGE: Arti-Con

         I'll admit it. I have a Pikachu sticker on the back of my laptop. Not just any sticker of the little adorable electric mouse, mind you—he's smack dab in the middle, munching on the apple that declares my computer to be a Mac, with the most content, innocent look I've ever seen on that character's face. It's not very professional (I've imagined myself trying to give presentations to a room of employers with this computer now, with humorous results), but it's unique. It's fun. It's a symbol of fond memories, and a way to further express myself.

       That concept is the foundation of all geek-dom right there. Keep in mind, “geek” has
transcended the state of being an insult—if anything, nowadays, it's just a term to describe our culture. “Geek” simply means having vested interest in a particular thing, and knows about it very well. This interest can be anything—television series, movies, book series, games, as well as anime and manga. Some critics attribute this “interest” to “obsession”....I say it's not that shallow. These interests are more than violence and pretty people—even the most ridiculous and outlandish anime often presents deep, uncomfortable questions about human nature that you would usually find in a stern English class. Geeks are considered smart for a reason; they just have fun at the same time. Not only that, but they're free of the social constructs that tell them to calm down—they're allowed to get passionate and excited about what interests them. It's almost expected of them. They get to be unique while also being part of a community, to explore without hesitation, to question and laugh simultaneously, to express themselves as colorfully and shamelessly as they desire.

        I know, I know. Why is the RA rambling about geeks? Because, starting April 5th, we have a brand new event called Arcti-Con. This event, hosted by the hard-working EDGE staff, is meant to be a convention for its residents on campus. Lasting from April 5th to April 13th, this event will contain lots of the usual convention workshops, as well as throwing in some of EDGE's twists—anime workshops, Miyasaki movies, manga exchanges, and more. As the event progresses, I plan to write on the process of hosting Arti-Con, because the amount of blood, sweat, tears, tape and paperwork put into this type of event is enormous. However, as the event starts to flesh out, those results will be more than worth it. After all, no one said being a geek was easy, now, were they?

• April 5—Cosplay Ball, 7pm
• April 6—“Intro to Anime” Workshop, 3pm
• “Miyasaki Movie Night”, 5pm
• April 7—“Video Games—Are They Art?”, 9pm
• April 8—Music Mixing Workshop, 7pm
• April 9—“Coffee N Comics”
• April 10—“How to Draw”, 4pm
• Cosplay Human Chess, 7pm
• April 11—Superhero Pictionary, 7pm and BATMAN! 9:30pm
• April 12—Video Game Tournament, 7pm
• April 13—Table Top Game Tournament, 7pm