Around Svalbard there are a lot of different cabins. Some are closed and some are open. If you become a member of Longyearbyen Jakt og Fisk Foreningen (hunting and fishing club) you will have access to lots of cabins around. The scooter organization "To-takteren" also has some cabins. An overview over all these cabins is to be found at the board at UNIS and is published in Svalbardposten. Your cabin requests for the weekend should be delivered in a box at the post office, and you will get an answer on Thursday afternoon.

It is important that you follow the cabin rules. Because of polar bears there is no food in the cabins. Many other cabins are open and free to use. They are often simple and in bad condition. Sysselmannen has some cabins, mostly old trapper's stations. If you want to use them, ask first to make sure no one else is going. The logistics team at UNIS can tell you more about different cabins. An important note is it usually takes a long time before the temperature gets above freezing while heating a cabin any time of year, even in the smaller cabins.

There are 2 student cabins. One is in Bjørndalen not far from Longyearbyen, and the other one in Svea. Additionally regular fights to Svea from Longyearbyen airport can be taken for free when spaces are available on the miners' plane, but this must be booked in advanced.

Before departure for these cabins sign up on the cabin board in the right section 3rd floor at UNIS. Next to this is a shelf for the cabins with equipment needed to be taken to each cabin. You should bring all the equipment lying on the cabin shelf. Please also read the cabin instructions on the wall.

So, what do you do in a cabin? Here we present some correct answers.

• Don't pretend to be a polar bear in the middle of the night. That is dangerous!
• Piss on the right side of the cabin
• Leave the half-full bottle of liquor, or put a full one there :)
• Swim in the ocean rather than in the river.
• Get to know your fellow students...