I suppose the
‘proper’ way to start (or in this case, restart) a blog is to
introduce the situation I’m in, and what reason I have for starting
a blog when there are oh so many ranging all topics from what to do
if your cat decides to start barking like a dog to steps in adopting
a pet zebra. So, here goes.
My name is Sharon Clay Testor, and I’m
24 years old. I’ve spent the past two and a half years working full
time while taking night and weekend graduate school classes. I
graduated with a Masters in Tourism Administration and a
concentration in Sustainable Destination Management from The George
Washington University one week ago, and am currently on a flight from
Keflavik Airport in Iceland to Nuuk, Greenland, where I will be
living for the next four months and working as an intern with Visit
Greenland—the national tourist board for the country. I spent the
month of April and the start of May in Copenhagen, Denmark while
working in the Visit Greenland representation office to train for and
prepare for these next four months. While in Greenland, I’ll be
working on a variety of projects, mainly focusing on the cruise and
coastal sailings sector—i.e., how to plan for, market for, and
manage ships from less than 100 passengers up to large cruise ships
which call on Greenland in a sustainable manner.
I’m currently on my flight- a Dash
8-200 Air Greenland plane which holds 37 passengers and has only 14
of us onboard. It’s stopping in Kulusuk in eastern Greenland, then
taking off again to bring the rest of us to Nuuk, the capital city.
The door to the cockpit has been open the entire flight and security
in Reykjavik, Iceland didn’t notice Visit Greenland had reserved my
ticket under Sharon Clay while my passport said Sharon Testor—and
somehow, on top of all else, they gave me a boarding pass for Mr.
Richard Travis. Compounding my confusion was the fact that security
checked my documents, and had no problem believing that I was Mr.
Travis (with a passport clearly stating I was American and
female—only Sarah—the other intern for Visit Greenland—and I
are American on this flight).
I don’t know what to expect when we
get to Nuuk, Greenland. I know nothing about the person I am living
with other than his name, and have met only Anne Mette and Anders S.
from the Visit Greenland office (Anne Mette while recruiting for the
office in Washington, DC and Anders S. while working in Copenhagen
when he flew in to celebrate Visit Greenland’s website,
visitgreenland.com, winning the Webby Award- People’s Choice for
best tourism website in the world). I speak very little Danish which
I picked up while in Denmark and promptly butchered by adding a
Puerto Rican accent (my father is from Puerto Rico and always added
that accent when teaching my Spanish, so I unconsciously add that
accent onto any languages I learn—Russian with that accent was
particularly exasperating for my professors), and no Greenlandic
whatsoever, though that will not change as the language is one of the
most difficult worldwide. (Try Uummannaq on for size).
If anyone has any questions, comments,
rants, whatever—please feel free to comment. As we pay per usage in
Greenland for internet I may not respond instantly, but I’ll get
back to you as soon as possible.
However, we’re just starting to fly
over Greenland for the first time and so I can see the pack ice and
mountains, so I’m heading to stare out the window in wonder! Until
next time!
Tak!
Sharon
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