UIQSUQTUUQ/GJOA HAVEN - "I'm hoping there will be a storm here and the plane won't be able to come in," said Alice Giddy, 14. "I love it, I'm going to live here, I'm going to move here."

A local Gjoa Haven elder, Jacob Atkichok teaches Scottish student Rebecca Cooper how to make a kakivak. - photo courtesy of Scott Caspell

It's probably safe to say that the school exchange bringing 13 Scottish students to Gjoa Haven for a week was a success.

"It's been an absolutely amazing experience," said Josephine Sillars, 14, of Fortrose Academy on the Black Isle, Scotland.

Thirteen students and three chaperones made their way from the Black Isle to Gjoa Haven as part of an exchange started by Arctic Voices, a program linking UK students with the Canadian Arctic and Greenland. They arrived Oct. 21.

Gjoa Haven and the Black Isle are a long way apart, said Sillars, reeling from the journey: a three hour drive, then planes from Aberdeen to London to Edmonton to Yellowknife to Cambridge Bay to Gjoa Haven.

It's been fascinating leaping the cultural distance as well, the students said, on their last day in the community. They spoke to Nunavut News/North as they took a rest from the dog sledding, skidooing, iglu-building, drum dancing and fishing they've been doing since arriving in the Arctic.

Spending time getting to know their young Inuit counterparts has been eye-opening, Giddy said.

"They live in such a different place and such a different culture, but they're just like us as well. Kind of weird, that we're so different but just the same."

The "husky sledging" was the best part, she said, especially in the Arctic snow that they don't see in Scotland. "We get a wee bit at Christmas, that's it."

The students spent a full day on the land during their week. It was -34 C.

"We were out on the land all day, in the middle of the tundra and we were just freezing," laughed Oliver Smith, 15. " It was amazing, it was one of the best days we've had to actually see the traditional way of life."

In a UK newspaper covering the students' departure, it noted dramatically, "the Fortrose students will be living and studying in temperatures of minus 20 C."

The local kids lent them caribou mitts, parkas and kamiks to keep them warm. "A girl called Amber lent me her jacket on the second day and hers was so much warmer it was freaky," said Sillars.

Another cultural highlight was watching an elder cut up a whole caribou and then tasting it. "It wasn't unpleasant, but different," said Smith, "like a frozen stick of meat. I quite liked it."

The traditional activities were eye-opening for the Scottish students, says teacher Jamie Carcary, "to realize that we come from a very sanitized western culture. We go to a supermarket and get all our meat in packet form and then to see a caribou being carved up in front of them … I think things like that are very important."

It's been an exciting week for the whole community, especially for the Inuit kids in the exchange program, said Gjoa Haven teacher Scott Caspell.

"It's been amazing for the Gjoa haven students to have the opportunity to both meet the students from Scotland but secondly to be able to host them in their own community," he said.

"It's amazing," echoed Gjoa Haven teacher Tanya Eby, "Some of the students we were somewhat afraid wouldn't really connect, they've opened up quite a bit, came out of their shells."

For local exchange member Kathy Keknek, 18, the best part was "just being together and talking and learning each other's cultures."

Both sides of the exchange are hopeful the Gjoa Haven students can raise the aimed-for $55,000 to fly to Scotland next March to visit their friends.

Keknek hopes the trip will happen and that she'll be on it. "I am looking forward to seeing the castles, visiting the Loch Ness monster."

The Fortrose Academy students are hopeful they'll have a chance to repay Gjoa Haven's kindness, said Carcary, as they found it very touching. "The real genuine friendship (of the community), I think that will stick with me for a long, long time."