SVALBARD

Longyearbyen has about 2500 inhabitants. Its main economic activities are tourism and scientific research.

Among other things, you will find: UNIS, a hospital, schools, a library, a sports centre (climbing wall, gym, weights room, 25-metre pool), museums, one main grocery store and a corner shop, outdoor equipment shops, restaurants, bars, hotels, cafés, a port, an airport, a ski lift, a student residence, kennels for sled dogs, cars in summer and snowmobiles in winter, a performance venue…

A small, well-organised life, but completely different from the one I had in Montréal!

Another thing to get used to: in August the sun never sets. For example, people put aluminium foil on their windows to block out the light. Before coming, I had bought a sleep mask, which turned out to be very useful.

All in all, the town is very pretty and human-sized. The mountains around it make it feel like living in a ski resort, while the colourful houses remind you of mainland Norway.

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UNIS has a magnificent building, a stone’s throw from the fjord. As the interior is all wood, the atmosphere is very warm. It is probably the largest building in town.

The view from the classrooms is splendid: snow-covered mountains, the fjord and boats.

From the student residence, it takes a 3-minute walk to get there.

The university is very well equipped: library, laboratories, classrooms with interactive screens, a common room organised around a fireplace, a cafeteria for lunches, an auditorium, a storage room for logistics…

As everywhere in town, shoes are banned indoors. In the entrance, there is a mudroom with lockers where you leave your shoes and slip on your comfiest slippers.

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A 3-hour flight between Oslo and Longyearbyen.

On board, there were many of us UNIS students, a real school (Air)bus! We started getting to know each other in the boarding area.

Sitting next to Helena, a woman who lives in Longyearbyen half of the year, we chatted a lot during the flight. She shared her knowledge of the island, the town and the local culture. Despite countless return trips to Svalbard, she was still as amazed by the view from the window.

And I can understand her, the view really was breathtaking.

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To reach Svalbard, I took 3 flights from Montréal.

Montréal - Lisbon - Oslo - Longyearbyen.

To wait for the third flight to Longyearbyen, I decided to spend a few days in Oslo. I stayed in a tiny Airbnb from 4 to 7 August 2026. It was very well located, functional and cute. What a coincidence: the owner was also from Nîmes!

I used my time in Oslo to soak in the city’s atmosphere and to eat things that would be hard to find in Svalbard’s only shop: pizza, fresh strawberries, chicken pita, sushi, fried rice…

Shopping and buying what I still needed for Svalbard also kept me busy (toiletries, sportswear…).

I also saw a lot of interiors, because the weather was rainy. The big library in particular sheltered me while I was working on this very website.

One morning, I went for a run in Vigeland Park. I savoured the warm sun rays on my skin, the damp grass and the shade of the trees. I knew I would not see any of this again for a long time.

All in all, I really enjoyed my stay in Oslo! It was a very pleasant city, which charmed me despite the rain and its high prices.

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For over 7 years now, I have developed a deep passion for polar regions and the scientific missions carried out there.

A very niche interest, you might say!

It all started with this book: Un hiver en Antarctique. The story of an astrobiologist who spent a year at the Franco-Italian Concordia station, in the heart of Antarctica. I was fascinated by his experience.

And yet I dived head first into the world of polar regions. I consumed every resource I could find on the subject (books, podcasts, films, YouTube videos, exhibitions, magazines, conferences…). All these resources strengthened my interest in these regions and the operations that take place there, and made me want to contribute to them in turn.

However, I was on a very classic scientific track: French preparatory classes followed by an engineering school in computer science and aeronautics. I had to rack my brains to make room and find a link between my background and this field.

So I made attempts with mixed results. For example, I applied to the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV) for one of their civic service volunteering placements. I also contacted staff and former winterers to ask for advice.

Once I joined the École Nationale de l’Aviation Civile (ENAC), I tried to run a research initiation project as the minor I chose for my second year. The topic would have been about society’s relationship with air transport for communities in remote regions. But my ranking did not get me one of the 2 places in the programme.

I did not give up. In the end, I was accepted into 2 minors that interested me enormously (drones and entrepreneurship). So I immediately looked for ways to link them to my favourite field. For the drones, I chose a high-mountain search and rescue mission project for the final report. Then, for the entrepreneurship, I linked my knowledge about drones to an application for remote regions. I designed a cargo drone project that could operate in remote regions such as the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF) or Svalbard. This gave me the opportunity to contact IPEV staff and former winterers to discuss my project and the feasibility of such a mission.

What do I love so much about this field?

In these missions, the notion of human adventure is intrinsic. Teams of men and women from many different backgrounds come together. By pooling their skills, they manage to carry out the most complex and ambitious projects despite hostile environments. Added to this diversity, the teams must show rigour, methodology and boldness. It is all this human and technical complexity that fascinates me. Especially since, to some extent, it comes very close to what happens in space missions, and that fascinates me even more.

Between September 2025 and August 2026, I took a gap year. I hoped to use this time to better define my professional and academic plans before starting my final year of engineering studies in September 2026. I already had a few leads among ENAC’s partnerships. In particular the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris. I was interested in the double degree in transport and sustainable development (TraDD) and the master’s in Design and Systems Engineering (ME310). I went all the way to the interviews.

One day in January 2026, I came across Victor’s vlog on LinkedIn. In it, he tells the story of his semester at UNIS, The University Centre in Svalbard. A university at the cutting edge of polar and Arctic sciences: the very best in this field and, above all, one of the only ones specialised in the poles. I had already heard of it, but since it was not part of ENAC’s agreements, I had never considered applying. ENAC being quite strict about exchange programmes, almost no student had gone to a university outside the school’s partnerships until now.

After watching his video, I thought to myself: why not. It had sparked my curiosity. I then contacted Victor to learn more about what had brought him to Longyearbyen.

It did not take much to convince me. Deep down, I think I was already convinced, and I just needed a small spark to get started.

So shortly after, I chose my courses and applied. My application was finally submitted at the end of February 2026 (transcripts, motivation and recommendation letters, CV…).

I also had to negotiate with ENAC’s administration to have the 30 ECTS credits of the UNIS semester recognised. After several emails and phone calls, my exchange was approved! I could not believe it, I had managed to get ENAC to see it my way! I, who had often felt held back in my initiatives until now.

A month later, on 31 March 2026, I received a confirmation email saying that I had been accepted for my top three choices! See the photo below.

Without a second thought, I accepted my choices for good and sent withdrawal emails to the École des Ponts.

I am starting this blog today to share my experience at UNIS. A semester abroad like thousands of others, with courses like few others and in a place that exists nowhere else.

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