From Middle Earth to the End

Well I’ve managed to survive the first two days where information has been thrown as us with hurricane forces.  Right off the bat they said this course was going to be really hard, but equally as fun and rewarding. The beginning of the first day was used for introductions and house keeping, but after that we got right in to it with a basic overview of Antarctica. Then today we talked about the Antarctic Treaty, which is a very interesting document. Its simple and straight forward but more and more gray areas are appearing.  In the afternoon we went to visit the Antarctica New Zealand building and see how things work behind the scenes. It was very cool to see a different side to the process. We toured the “warehouse” where they store clothes and prepare the planes for takeoff.  When we return in only 27days our situation will be very different as we prepare in the wee hours of the morning for our greweling 8 hour flight to the ice.

As for my classmates: They are all super nice so far, all seem to be willing to save me if I fell down a crevasse. This course is particularly wonderful with so many different nationalities and backgrounds coming together. There are students from Russian, Australia, New Zealand, England and I am the only American. Our backgrounds include Political Science, Biology, Forensics, Geology, Glaciology and heaps more. I’m the only Physicist! It seems that everyone is at different stages of their lives as well. Some being married, with and without children. Other are teachers, some just finishing up their second PhD and a few others like me with a meager one degree and an interest in Antarctica. OH and good news, I’ve been unofficially designated as the igloo engineer. Growing up in New England snowstorms will finallypay off.  Another huge highlight is the free supply of tea, coffee and milo( hot cocoa in NZ) that is kept at our disposal in the classroom. On that note, I think its time for a cuppa and some more Antarctic readings…