Antarctic Field Course - Study Abroad

• Course |
• Past Years |
• Links |
• Contact |

• Interactive Tour|
• Journals|

Jaclyn's Journal

QA

Please use the links below to view a specific date further down the page. December - 2003 Sat. 13 Sun. 14 Mon. 15 Tue. 16 Wed. 17 Thu. 18 Fri. 19 Sat. 20 Sun. 21 Mon. 22 Tue. 23 Wed. 24 Thu. 25 Fri. 26 Sat. 27 Sun. 28 Mon. 29 Tue. 30 Wed. 31 After Thoughts

Photos credited to Jaclyn. Click an image to enlarge, hover over an image for a description.

Saturday, December 13, 2003

Justin got there just as we were leaving the place were we all met, and Mark had beaten us all to the gate, that's why we couldn't find him! The flight was not too bad. This was the first flight that I've been on since I was three, and I didn't know what to expect. I didn't have any problems with it at all; the flight went really fast, only about 3 hours. Then we arrived in Miami and we had to wait around for seven hours. I tried to get some reading done and we had lunch. Then it was time for the longest flight to Buenos Aires. That wasn't very much fun! There were a bunch teenage girls on the flight and they were wondering around the whole time, and VERY loud! But, at least it's over now! This flight was named "The Flight From Hell," and it lasted until the next day.

Interesting fact: Me+ loud, wound up, 15 year old Latino girls+ airplane ride = [no fun].

Sunday December 14th

We had one stop in a town that looked even smaller than Lewiston, where we got rid of some of the passengers and some more boarded the plane again. We finally landed in Ushuaia at about 1:30pm. It was really nice to get off the plane and get some fresh air! The airport was small, but a lot better looking than the ones in Miami, and Buenos Aires, it reminded me a lot of Garland in Lewiston. As soon as we walked out side we saw the mountains, and what a sight they are! I've never really seen mountains before, and now that I've seen them, I love them! I would like to travel to other mountain ranges too. I can't even imagine what the Alps look like. The mountains in Ushuaia are just the foothills too! They are amazing though, and I think that everyone was really excited about what we would be doing on this trip.

No one really wanted to get into the bus to go to the hotel, but eventually everyone filed in and we were dropped off at our first hotel. The drive through the city was very informational. We had a woman who was giving us a little tour, and she said that the city had to be populated quickly, that's why the town looks so unorganized. One of the first things that I noticed about the city was the uneven sidewalk. You can't walk 6 feet with out stumbling over a break in the sidewalk. When you walk you really have to look were you are going! I wonder if this is because of the slope of the sidewalk, or maybe it's just because the government doesn't take care of it. I was told that Argentina is going through a depression right now, much like the one that the United States went through. That's why it's 3 pesos to an American dollar.

Anyways, after we got settled in at the hotel a bunch of us went out to eat. Cathy, Alyssa, Mike, and I ate at a café. I had a ham and cheese sandwich. This is always a safe meal because they have it at every café and it's always good. After a little shopping we went back to the hotel. I took a shower and that was interesting! It took me a little while to figure out how to work the shower, not that it was really any different then the ones at home, but I thought that it would be. At about 9pm Mike, Kannan, Cathy, Amanda, and I walked to the pier. It was nice to walk around outside. I took a lot of pictures, and I hope that they turn out. I found out that Kannan really likes photography. He has a lot more equipment then I do, and I think that he knows a lot more about photography then I do, so I'm going to try and learn a few things from him on this trip! That night I went to bed thinking about the exam that we were going to have on Tuesday. I had some of the readings done, but now I knew that it was going to be the time to start thinking seriously about the actual class work!

Monday December 15th

Like most other regions that were conquered by the white man, the natives died of diseases from them, and a lot of the time they just couldn't adjust to the different culture brought over by the British. The tribes that inhabited Ushuaia were nomadic people, and the British wanted them to settle down in one place. This difference in culture didn't bring out as many fights as to be expected, but I'm sure it did create some harsh feelings between the two cultures. This museum didn't really have too much about the natural science of the area. It had a display of seals, and birds, but that's it. The next museum had a lot of information about the paleo history of Antarctica and Ushuaia. Both of them were interesting and worth the money that we spent on them. The rest of the day was spent studying for the exam and eating. That night I got to use the computer that the hotel had in the basement. I emailed my family and friends; I think that they will all be very happy and surprised to hear from me!

Tuesday December 16th

After all the pictures we had to meet the rest of the human group to go over our individual projects. We went to a restaurant and met with everyone while having dinner. I think that the meeting went very well. Our group had been named the "human" group because we are all studying something to do with humans. My project is going to be about International treaties, the other subjects are: History, Tourism, and the Health aspect of traveling. Mark is the only one who doesn't really know what he's going to do. I think that we are all going to have trouble conducting our own research. I don't really know what I'm going to do for research yet, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. I have a couple of ideas, but nothing that really jumps out at me. I guess I'll just figure it out as I go. Well, maybe not. I just have to think about it a little more!

Wednesday December 17th

Well, after lecture I had until 3:30pm to waste, so I decided to work on my journal. I write it on paper first and then I type it up later. I went to a café, the same one that I went to on the first day and I had a little lunch while I wrote in my journal. I came to the realization that, you know, this journal is supposed to be about you personal experience, but it needs to include scientific observations also! So I came up with some interesting things that I have noticed so far. I am studying human interactions and political organizations, so obviously my observations are going to about the culture that I have seen. Here is goes:

1. None of the buildings are the same. You'll see in the United States that a lot of the buildings look a lot alike, especially in the rural areas, but it is totally different here. No two buildings look the same. As can be seen in my many pictures of them!
2. The sidewalk is not consistent. As I have already speculated, I believe that this is because there just isn't enough funding, or a capable organization for this service.
3. There doesn't seem to be any public service people about. For example no one seems to be picking up trash. As I was walking along the pier with John, I noticed a lot of garbage littering the ground. I have seen business owners sweeping the front of their business into the street, but I haven't seen anyone else cleaning.
4. I saw a drain running from the city into the bay. I would like to know if they have any sort of laws against polluting, and if their water is filtered at all. What kind of facilities (if any) do they have for dealing with waste, and what organizations manage them? This isn't really what I will be studying, but I'm still curious.
5. I have seen some police around. I wonder how good of a police force they have. These are all of my observations so far. I will have many of the same questions for Antarctica. For my fieldwork I was hoping to interview some people, but I have to find out what kind of organizations are around first. I'm trying to think of other things that I could do in the field, but as I thought it's hard to come up with anything. I could try and see what organizations are available, and how well they advertise their organization, and the conservation, and don't pollute, etc. I believe that it is going to be difficult to not base my research project on research, but I really like the subject that I'm studying, so… I don't really mind! : Well, we got on the boat at about 4:20pm. And had an amazing dinner! I've been told that every meal will be rather big; I'm going to gain 20 pounds in 6 days! Tomorrow we will be at the Drake Passage, and half of us will be really sick! Yuck! I really hope that I don't get sick. We didn't leave port until about 9pm because one of the staff was on a late flight. When we did start to leave everyone went up to the top deck to look at Ushuaia as it got smaller and smaller. What a gorgeous sight! I took a bunch more pictures! I'm going to spend a lot of money when I get back in developing all of my film. I hung out up there until I got too cold, and then I just changed my clothes and went back up. I had a nice talk with Amanda and another passenger who isn't in our group. He seemed like a nice guy.

Thursday December 18th

We went up and ate lunch, we were late for it, but I still got a salad and some ice cream, so it was worth it. After lunch I laid down again, I wasn't really feeling bad, but I just wanted to relax. It was about 6pm when I got up again, so I went up and hung out in the cocktail lounge for a while before dinner. Apparently about 75% of our group is sick. Justin hasn't moved from the library yet today! It's only because the pills that he's taking put him right to sleep. After dinner I worked on my journal. I've been typing up the last few days of material, I've finally caught up! Now I'm using the laptop that Craig gave us. I think it's the schools. I used to hate laptops but now I realize how convenient they are. I was working for a few hours when I finally got tired of it, so I played monopoly with Steph, Brad, and Cathy. We had to leave the bar before we were finished because he closed the bar at 11pm.

I also went up on deck today. The water doesn't look as rough as it feels. I went to the front of the boat to see if I could see anything, and there were some birds at the front of the boat. There were three royal albatrosses and they were at the back of the boat, following in our wake. I wonder why they were just at the back and not the front. I'll have to read up on them a little bit more. I also saw a new kind of bird. It was smaller than the albatross, and it was black, I think that it's either a sooty shearwater, or a white-chinned petrel. I'll have to look those up too. Well, we've been sailing for over 24 hours now. We should be still going through the Drake Passage tomorrow. I don't know when we will be hitting the continent, but I hope soon!

Interesting fact: At -50 C boiling water thrown into the air freezes instantly, and noisily, into a cloud of snow.

Friday December 19th

A couple of thoughts about my project:
IAATO, International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators. There is a lecture in the forward lounge about the organization that I plan to attend today. I'm hoping that it will tell us whether their company is a member of IAATO. They should be. This lecture will be very good for my project. I want to talk to one of the crew about any training that they got from IAATO and if they had to do anything through that company. Also I want to see if there are any other companies that are associated with this. What I really want to find out is if there are any conservation organizations on the continent and how they function. That would be my fieldwork, but I don't know how to find out. There are a bunch of other organizations listed in the Lonely Planet book that I'm going to try and look into.

1. The Antarctic Treaty system's Protocol on Environmental Protection is legally binding to all visitors from the signatory counties. Does this mean that those nationals from countries that have not sighed the Antarctic Treaty don't have to follow the protocol on Environmental Protection?
2. The Antarctic Site Inventory project was established in 1994. It's been formed to help the Treaty parties in minimizing any potential environmental impacts from tourism and other activities.
3. Since 1964 all of the animals and plants in Antarctica have been protected. You cannot collect or kill any animal in Antarctica without a special permit; the only exception is in emergency situations. (Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora 1964)
4. Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, 1978. Regulates commercial sealing.
5. Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, 1980. It ensures that the Southern Ocean's living resources will be treated as a single ecosystem. In response to unregulated fishing of krill.
6. Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, 1991 a.k.a. Madrid Protocol. Protection of the environment, four key provisions:
   1. Designates Antarctica as a "natural reserve, devoted to peace and science"
   2. Established environmental principals for the conduct of all activities
   3. Prohibits mining for 50 years.
   4. Subjects all activities to prior assessment of their environmental impacts.

Well, I saw my first iceberg today. It was about 15 miles away, but I could still see it with my naked eye. I saw the Cape Petrel today. There are a bunch of them following the ship. I don't know why they do that still; it's something that I have to look into. I asked Craig if the albatross that we have been seeing is a Royal Albatross, and he wasn't sure. I still can't figure out if the other bird that I've been seeing is a White-Chinned Petrel, or a Sooty Shearwater. I'm going to guess that it is the Sooty Shearwater because according to my book it would be more likely to be around this area.

Some people also saw a whale today. I haven't seen one yet, but soon I hope. Tomorrow we will have two landings. I'm really excited for them; I have to get all ready tonight because it's an early start tomorrow. So, good night!

Interesting fact: The first person to be born in Antarctica was Emilio Marcos de Palma on January 7, 1978.

Saturday December 20th

We landed on Aitcho (H.O.) Island. It was a very calm landing. We landed on a beach and there were a lot of penguins around. I saw chinstrap and gentoo penguins. They are cute of course, and very smelly. I wish there was a way to take the smells and sounds back home. Especially the sounds of the elephant seals passing gas! That was incredible. Very strange to hear them making all kinds of noises that you wouldn't expect. While walking across the island I got really hot! The weather is amazing. I've been told that it should last for another day if we are lucky. While on the island I got some observations about tourist impacts and other human observations. I got a lot of pictures about the different rules that the tourists are supposed to follow. This landing didn't go so well in that area. At first everyone was staying a correct distance away from the animals but as the tourists got a little more adventurous they got closer and closer. I would think that the "guides" would say something but they haven't. The only person to say anything was Craig when someone in our group got too close.

After the landing it's time to go back to the boat on the Zodiac! I like riding in the Zodiacs, I thought that I would be nervous in them, but with this calm weather it's a lot of fun. While on the Zodiac we got to boat over to a tabular iceberg. They are really huge and beautiful! The one that we were looking at was at least twice the size of our boat. The iceberg was really pretty, it has a hint of blue that is really noticeable and you can easily see the layers that remind you of how old it is. When we got back on the boat we had a little amount of time before it was time for our next "expedition." Our second expedition took us to Yankee Harbor on Greenwich Island. This island, or at least the part we visited, was a lot flatter than the one before it. I saw a lot of Gentoo penguins. Right now they are guarding their eggs, which typically at this time they would have hatched into chicks, but because there is a lot of snow on the ground they are still eggs. The expedition leader said that the amount of snow is unusual and could be an effect of global warming. At this island I saw some penguins using the snow to build their nests not just rocks, this could be an adaptation of the change in climate, or just a fluke. At this expedition it was hard to find data that would be useful for my project.

I've started a count of how many violations they have on each expedition. There are a lot of breaches of the distance boundary, but not too many others. If I were seriously checking this out, I would have to be the first person at the site, and the last to leave. The next expedition I'm going to just focus on human interaction, and how the animals respond. I don't think that I could use this data in my project, but it will be useful for someone. And I might get some inspiration from it. On the next expedition the "human" group got to split from the rest of the people and go to an old research station on Half Moon Island. It was really cool. So far that was the highlight of the trip. There were about six buildings there and Mark and Mike broke into one of them. I marked it down as a violation of the treaty, and then went into the building that they had just opened. It was really cool. The mudroom was like a museum; it had pictures and plaques on the wall. I couldn't really see much of the rest of the building it was too dark. Then Alyssa and I went up the hill to a gravesite to see if it said anything then we tried to slide back down on our butts like penguins. It didn't really work out that way, but it was still fun to try. I didn't get much data on that trip but I'm sure Alyssa and Mark did.

Quote of the day: "Well, on the plus side, if there was a nuclear holocaust, we'll be okay." ~Kannan.

Sunday December 21, 2003

At this site the "human" group decided that we would split up and try to observe how many treaty violations that we could see. This wasn't very feasible at this site because of the enormous amount of penguins and the lay of the land made it very hard to avoid them. I took post on a small ridge and watched a couple of people interact with the penguins. It was interesting for a little while, but then I got really cold. Today the weather was very different then what it was the last two days. We have been blessed with some really nice weather, but today at that one site the wind was really strong and I wasn't as prepared for that type of weather as I could have been. So I went back a little early. I got some interesting data. At all the other sites I've been counting all of the violations that I see, and this time it was at least double the amount, but that's because it couldn't be helped.

The second expedition was at Deception Island! It's the site of an old whaling station. It was really interesting to see how they were set up. I've never seen a place like that and I've never really thought about it. It was a really good site for Alyssa, I'm sure she got a lot of useful information from it. I did see two violations of the historical part of the treaty! I took a lot of pictures even though it's not my project. I just thought it was really interesting. Then of course was the polar plunge!

Deception Island is the largest of three recently active volcanic centers in the South Shetlands; to quote the leaflet that Quark gave us. Therefore some of it is quite warm! I could see heat waves rising from the ground, it was really cool. One of the staff members dug a little pool at the beach for some ocean water to get into the exposed warm sand and heat up. I waded into the VERY COLD ocean water and then splashed around in the warm water. It was really cool to be able to do that and so surreal. When I was in the cold water I was thinking to myself that I couldn't believe that I'm here doing this right now! I still can't really believe it! All in all it was a good day today! I look forward to tomorrow's events!

Interesting fact: Prehistoric Peruvian farmers used the nitrogen-rich guano to improve their crops.

Monday December 22nd

The other part of today's expedition was at Jougal Point. At this site I saw my first cormorant, or shag. The cormorant was nesting with the penguins. It was funny to see how closely they resembled the gentoo penguins around them. They look like penguins with really long necks. At this site I got some more data from people getting too close to the penguins. Today's last site was another beautiful one. A very pretty scene of course, and some Andeline penguins. Well, I have to go to bed because it's another early morning tomorrow.

Interesting fact: Stinker~ the offensive action of petrels when they eject a foul-smelling jet of stomach oil at anyone who approaches too close.

Tuesday December 23

We had a little meeting between expeditions and it broke up really quickly because there were some humpback whales sited. They were amazing! There was a mom and her calf and the calf was giving us a show. The mom even did a couple of flips and stuff. It was awesome! Our next expedition was our last. It's sad to think that this wonderful experience is about to end. I will definitely miss it but I plan to come back to Antarctica sometime in my life. I sure hope that I can come back as a scientist not a tourist.

We landed at a gentoo rookery and this time it was decided that we were going to split up into our groups, this was our last site and we got to go about it on an individual basis. I was hoping that would be the way we would do it. It was really nice because I just sort of hung out at the shore with Cathy and Mark, I still collected data of course but I relaxed too. I was on one of the last boats to leave. Now that I think about it we were really lucky that we had such a wonderful experience. Figuring out what data to collect and the other stresses that come with a class were present through out this trip, but we had such great weather and I really had a good time. Nothing can compare with this trip. This was my first over seas trip and I think that I may have spoiled myself for any other trips that I might take. Antarctica was awesome and I can't wait to go home and tell my family all about it!

Tonight during dinner it was kind of funny because we were starting to get into some turbulent waters and one by one people started to leave early to take their pills and lie down. I had already taken my meds and I was ok for the rest of the night. There was a lecture by Charles at 8:30 entitled "How deep is the ice?" I went to it and so did a few people, but about half of them left during his presentation. He's a very interesting guy; I talked to him about the Antarctic treaty and got a lot of useful information out of him. His talk about ice was really cool. He did a lot of research about what is under the ice that covers Antarctica and it's amazing what he found. There are mountain ranges and lakes under the ice! Charles and his colleagues had to fly in a plane 30 feet over the ice and collect sonar readings for over 24 hours at a time. They got a lot of information and from what I gathered on this trip; Charles is an amazing man who has done a lot of work for the science of Antarctica. I hope that I can accomplish just half of what he has done and I would be a very accomplished person! The lecture was of course was in the forward lounge and it was really REALLY rough in there! I was surprised to see the amount of people in there.

Quote of the day: "I hate the forward lounge!" ~Cathy.

Wednesday December 24th

Well, I'm just rambling now, I don't really have anything to talk about. I didn't do much today because it's rocking and a rolling around here. After dinner today they played some music on deck and people were dancing and having a good time. It's funny to see the older people dancing because they dance so much differently then the way us young kids dance. I think everyone had fun! At night we watched "Pirates of the Caribbean" on the big screen in the forward lounge then everyone went to bed.

Thursday December 25th

Today there were a couple of lectures of course. I almost missed Charles' lecture about the Antarctic Treaty, but I made it right on time. His talk was interesting, but I already knew a lot of the information because I had talked to him earlier about it. It's good to repeat the information though, now I should have it set in my mind. Cathy gave me a Christmas present today. That was really nice of her, I didn't get her anything and I feel kind of bad, but I'm sure she understands that I don't want to get her something at the gift shop I'll wait until we get back to Ushuaia. We watched a video about whaling and going around Cape Horn. They were both old movies, but still good. Being in the forward lounge always makes me a little woozy, but I lie down for a little while afterward and feel much better.

We had a really nice Christmas dinner. There were 5 courses! I've never had a meal that had that many courses, it was very cool. Afterward the whole boat turned out for a little party. Merry Christmas everyone! Quote of the day: "Why are the mountains, like, right there?" ~Cathy

Friday December 26th

Today I went to the grocery store with Cathy and Amanda to get some food for lunch today and tomorrow. It made me so happy because lunch was so cheap! I spent 10 pesos on all of it and I bought enough for today and hopefully a couple more days! So really I only spent about $2 on today's lunch! Unfortunately I'm going to have to go out to eat for dinner but I'm still going to try and eat cheap.

Tonight we had a little slumber party in our room. It was kind of funny because Cathy and I were in our PJ's and then all of these people were in our room just hanging out and Mark pointed out that it was like a slumber party. He's a really goofy guy and always makes any situation fun!

Saturday December 27th

A really interesting thing that I found out is that fungi and moss are good indicators of air pollution. I think it would have been interesting to measure the amount of pollution in that area and compare it to East Lansing. After a little lecture we split up into different groups to collect data for April and Caralea's project. I was in the "middle" group so I got to work in the forest and count trees. I actually had a really good time. I got really muddy, which sometimes can be a lot of fun if you have to right shoes. It was so nice to be in the woods! I forgot how long it's been since I've seen a forest. I haven't been home since Thanksgiving and then I was so busy that I couldn't go hunting with my dad so I didn't spend any time outside. When I do get home I'm going to set aside some time when I can just go outside and hang out!

After our trek Amanda and I went out to eat and did a little shopping. As soon as I got back I got on the Internet and did some research for my project. I was on the computer for two hours, but I found quite a bit of useful information and I got a lot done. I have a lot on my mind right now, same as everyone else! The main reason is that there are three people that need to use this computer to do their journal and their power point presentation. I'm sure that everything will work out. Today was a long day, a good day, but long and I'm REALLY tired, therefore I sleep!

Sunday December 28th

After that lecture I worked on my project some more until the next lecture that was given by Chuck Kennicut. It was a really good lecture, but basically he gave my oral presentation. All of the information that he talked about, well the info about the Antarctic treaty was everything that I was going to say. I'm afraid that everyone will be bored to tears when I give my presentation, but there isn't anything that I can do about it. Chuck really knows his stuff. Every question that was asked of him he was able to answer in a clear way. I have to say that his presentation is going to be really hard to top. We were going to have another lecture today at 6pm, but it was canceled.

Monday December 29th

I've gotten most of my presentation done, I just have some tweaking to do. Unfortunately there are a lot of the older generation here that don't know how to use power point, so they all need a lot of help. I'm writing this after, so I can say that I stayed up until 1am helping other people, not working on my project. I had to help "Grandpa" with his presentation. We call Mike grandpa and Stacey grandma because they are so old! Really they are only 23 and 25, but compared to my 19…they are really old!

Tuesday December 30th

I loved Antarctica, and I really loved the park too. It reminded me a lot of home, even the smell of the woods reminded my of hunting with my dad. I must say that it was one of the highlights of the trip. We went along a couple of other trails that weren't as interesting as the first one, and then we had to leave because it was getting too late and we still needed to get through some of the presentations. I was one of the people that got to go first. In fact, I was the second one to give my presentation! I really like going first when having to get up and talk in front of people; I don't get nervous that way. I think that it went well. I was a little over the designated time, and I didn't get through all the information that I had planed to say, but there isn't anything that I can do about it because we did have a time constraint. I think that I went over the main points rather well and got the general point across. I look forward to tomorrow and having everything done.

Wednesday December 31st

While I was working on all the different things it was a bit of a pain, but I still thought that it was interesting. Even though I screwed up in the beginning, thinking that IAATO was a part of the Antarctic Treaty, I still am really interested in how the Antarctic Treaty System works, and what will happen to it in the future. On the exam today, we had an essay question, and there were three choices to pick from. I, of course, chose the Treaty question. I think that the answer that I gave for the exam is going to be the thesis of my paper for my individual project. Tonight we are all going to a New Years Eve dinner, what a wonderful end to the study abroad trip!

After Thoughts