Sometimes fate deals you with an unexpected hand of cards that you either take or leave. That decision could impact the rest of your life.

For better or for worse, for love of an adventure, for love itself or for a thirst to see more of the world, it’s highly likely I’m going to live in Greenland. To live. For a period of time. Yes, that’s right… to live!?!

I’m a bit shocked myself. I’ve only had a few days to process it – I never thought this would happen and had intended to go elsewhere (but that’s another story).

Having lived in Denmark for some time, I have a better understanding than most people of its geographic location, its society and culture. I know it’s a harsh but resource-rich land in the far North with breathtakingly stark scenery. It’s very, very cold up there. People there hunt seal. It’s a country trying to deal with the 21st century. It’s had much Nordic influence. It’s geographically part of North America, but politically part of Europe. There is the added complexity of a native people who in many ways still live a naturalistic lifestyle, struggling to dance to the tunes of modern society. And that’s about the extent of my knowledge.

My first friends who heard my news were bewildered. They thought it was a joke, and by-and-large, most people immediately got their phones out to search the world wide web. It is completely off the radar for any normal person living in Australia.

Other people who knew something passed on their knowledge of Eskimos: the video below is about Greenland’s Inuit neighbours in Quebec, Canada. It was shared with me just a couple of hours after I heard that I might be moving there. Way to shock someone, and to welcome them to the country!

I was told lots of other reassuring news:

Did you know that in Greenland you sneeze and your snot becomes frozen almost immediately? That there’s six months of darkness over there? That there’s nothing there? That they eat raw seal? (Yep, found that one out already).

Later on another person told me that the first Nordic settlers in Greenland died out due to starvation, because they wouldn’t eat seal. New diet impending, methinks.

Anyway, I will be applying to go to Greenland to live there for a while. I can’t tell you how long I’ll be there for. But I look forward to carving a deeper understanding about this strange country. I hope to meet all sorts of people and find out their stories. Of course, I’ll encounter the exotic aspects of the country too, but I hope to go beyond that, like I do when I travel anywhere.

Hardly anyone gets the chance to live in Greenland, and I guess most people wouldn’t want to. I’m a bit shocked, a bit scared, but also excited about this. I’ll let you know how the cards play out.