NUNAVUT - Kaajuk Kabalik shows off a sterling silver bracelet he made, which has two arms with hands, creating the impression of hugging the wearer's wrist.

Kaajuk Kabalik holds a sterling silver bracelet of two arms hugging the wearer's wrist at the Iqaluit campus of Nunavut Arctic College Feb. 11. - Jeanne Gagnon/NNSL photo

He and seven of his classmates of the Nunavut Arctic College Jewelry and Metalwork program are headed to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver to sell some of the jewelry they've made. Kabalik, 30, said he will also bring pendants and earrings to the games.

"It will be a once in a lifetime experience for a lot of us. I know it will be for me. It will be a great opportunity for all of us to see different cultures and experience a whole different lifestyle," he said.

Henry Mike, Joe Macpa, Jutanie Arnakaq, Fredrick (Silas) Qulaut, Patrick Aula, Myles Gauthier and Rose Machmer are the other seven students headed to Vancouver from Feb. 20 to 28. At Northern House and the Richmond Art Market, they will sell jewelry, conduct demonstrations and educate the public on the history of Inuit art.

Kabalik added the students will "bring our culture, bring a little bit of what we're about and hopefully we can translate it through our jewelry and our work we do here.”

He said he is elated as this will be his first trip to Vancouver.

Machmer said she will take along about 30 jewelry pieces.

"I'm doing ... a lot of feminine stuff because the rest of the class, they're all males. I'm the only female in the class," she said. "I have a cuff bracelet with ulus also but different movements. I'm going to make a copper headband with beads dangling down. Lots of ulu earrings, cone earrings."

She plans to do a body pendant, with a ulu in the front and back connected by a chain. But she will bring more than just metal pieces.

"I was kind of told not to wear sealskin, not to bring sealskin, but I'm just going to go ahead and do it anyways," she said.

Machmer said she hopes to take in the sights while she's there.

"I'm excited to go to all the art places. I'm hoping to go see some of the games. I hope to see a hockey game. I think I'd like to go see some speed skating because my son is in speed skating."

Gauthier, 19, said he will bring more traditional pieces to Vancouver, a city he will visit for the first time.

"It's exciting," he said. "I'm not feeling it right now but in the last week (before the trip), I think I'm going to be more excited than I am now."