Antarctic Field Course - Study Abroad

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Stacey's Journal

QA

Please use the links below to view a specific date further down the page. December - 2003 Sat. 13 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 January - 2004 Thu. 1 Fri. 2 Sun. 4 Mon. 5 Tue. 6

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

Saturday, December 13, 2003

Anyways, Carrie spent the night at my house last night, and she, my mom, Brian (her boyfriend) and I left the house this morning at 7:30, and made it to Metro by 8, where we met up with the rest of the group. I said good bye to mom and Brian, and then we were off. Here's kind of an interesting thought. I am starting the venture with 23 other people, 2 whom I know (and when I say "know", I don't mean very well at all). My interesting thought it this…I know that after this trip is over, I will have made some wonderful friends, and I am sitting here at the airport with them all right now. I guess I'll let you know how this idea pans out at the end of this journal!

One word about airports…I hate security checks! You have to take out your lap top, take off your shoes and belt, put all your stuff in those little bins, and then if you're lucky enough not to get "randomly" searched, you've got to put all that stuff away while you have people waiting on you to move so that they can do the same thing. AHH! But, we made it to Miami with no scruples, and then began our 7 hour lay over. I've never had a lay over that was over an hour before…definitely not one of my favorite things to do.

But, I got to call my best friends Stacey and Nicole and talk to them for a bit. I also called my other best friend Joe but he wasn't there, so I just left a message. My mom also called me and wished me luck on the trip. We ended up getting a bite to eat and then finally, after a lot of sitting around and reading, at 4 we were allowed to check our luggage. Then we went to a Chili's bar and watched MSU lose the basketbowl. So, after the game we're sitting at the gate and this group of girls starts singing and clapping and dancing. Now, when I say "group", I really mean a herd of about 50 girls. We were a huge minority because almost everyone spoke Spanish, therefore we couldn't tell what they were singing about. They just kept getting louder and louder and louder, and then they started using a microphone at one of the counters so that their chants were broadcasted all throughout the terminal in case anyone couldn't hear them already. All of a sudden another group of girls came around the corner singing more loudly than the first group. Now the group is up to about 100 girls…now I know how we looked when we traveled with crew - only we didn't sing! These girls are literally screaming in the airport terminal, and by this point are getting very annoying. Both groups played off each other and tried to sing louder than the first…finally someone came over the loudspeaker and asked them to quiet down because they were trying to board the plane. Here comes the best part…we were lucky enough to have every single one of these girls on our flight…our 9 hour flight!

So, as I begin to rethink this trip, I reluctantly board the plane and find my seat. Luckily I was sitting with 4 girls from MSU, but unfortunately these other singing girls were all over the place. And, to make matters worse, they brought their singing and clapping on board the plane. The plane was freezing, I was tired, I needed to get some reading done, I was hungry, the girl in front of me kept leaning her seat back and jumping around in it, the girls wouldn't stop singing, and they were all getting up out of their seats constantly going to talk to other girls. I was starting to feel claustrophobic with them all around, and I seriously thought that this may be what hell is like, only warmer. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. But, with some food in my tummy, the girls finally not singing, and a majority of them sitting down, I took a nap and read and became much more myself.

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Then we got to the most ghetto thing that I've ever seen in my air travels. We walk into this empty warehouse looking room and they have a metal detector there with an x-ray machine (just like at any airport), only there wasn't a man by it. Someone had to come over and turn the conveyor belt on for us, and I don't think that he even watched our bags go through the x-ray. So now we gave the lady our tickets and she didn't ask for ID and didn't look at the ticket, all she did was rip it and point to a very sketchy looking bus. So we all got on it and it drove us to a plane. No, not to a gate or a building, but to the plane. So, we got on the plane (but not before we took out Flat Stanley and a couple other travel pals that other people had and took pictures). The plane wasn't full so we got to move seats to get more leg room which was nice.

Let me take a minute to explain these so called "travel pals". There is a book where this kid named Stanely gets flattened, so his mom mails him all over the place to see his friends. So, a 2nd grade class in Okemos made a Geography project out of it. They each made "Flat Stanley's" and gave them to people who were traveling. I was lucky enough to take a girl named Anna's Stanley to Antarctica! Part of my responsibility was to accompany him on our trip, take pictures of him and also to write about his travels in his little journal. One of the nice things was that there were at least 4 other people with travel pals on the trip, so at least Flat Stanley will have some friends.

We were finally on our way to Ushuaia, and I can't tell you how excited I am still getting. I didn't think that I could get any more excited, but just when I think that…I do! But, it was at this point that I realize that I left my book that Stacey got me for Christmas on the last plane with the annoying girls. It was such a good book that I read about half of it, and now it belongs to the lucky person who will sit in seat 28C on Aerolinas Argentinas heading back to Miami. But, we were still on our way to an amazing adventure, so the book was only a minor hiccup. It wasn't until we started landing that I realized that we were indeed not landing in Ushuaia yet, we were making another stop somewhere else that I to this day can't figure out where. It's weird to think that I was in a foreign place and I have no idea actually where I was!

So, finally, after another flight, we made it to Ushuaia and it still doesn't seem real. There was a lady there to meet us with a MSU sign, so we got our bags and followed her to the bus. It wasn't until now that things started to settle in. When you left the airport and look around, you see that the airport is indeed in the middle of the Beagle channel, and there are snow capped mountains of the Andes all around. One of the most beautiful sights that I've seen, and it's only just begun! The lady then talked the whole way to the hotel telling us about different Ushuaia sights and facts along the way. It was really interesting, but at the same time, it was kind of hard to listen to her though because I was too busy looking at the city. She told us about the airports and that the reason that they built the new airport was because the runway was very short, and it started and ended in the water. A lot of the planes dipped into the water after landing, and therefore they needed to make a new and longer one.

We're here! I can't believe it but we're here. We're not in the US anymore - we're in the southern hemisphere, in a foreign country, literally at the end of the world! The city is amazing. It's so small, yet so busy. The streets are exactly like I imagined. Little stores all connected together, and people milling about the streets. We got our rooms (which were also like I imagined - relatively small, and kind of like a cruise ship room) and then we met as a group. We went to eat and lunch cost me about $4 - gotta love that!

Then we walked around a bit to get used to the city. A lot of things were closed because it was Sunday, but we were able to go into a couple of convenience stores and also a travel center and get a certificate saying that we were in Ushuaia. We then headed back to our rooms and took a nap - and how nice that nap truly was! Then it was dinner time at about 8:30. 7 of us went to a place called Tanta Sara's and had really good seafood ravioli's and beer for a mere $7-$8…I could really get used to this! Then we meet up with more of our group and a different group of 8 of us went to a pub right across the street from our hotel. It was a lot good times with my new pals.

Monday, December 15, 2003

At the first museum was called the Museo Yamana, and was all about the Indians of Tierra del Fuego, their lifestyles and how Tierra del Fuego came about. It was a very small museum (in fact the sign said that it was a "miniature museum"), but it was really informational. The history about Tierra del Fuego and Ushuaia is pretty interesting. One of my favorite facts was how Tierra del Fuego got its name. Tierra del Fuego means "the city of fire" and it is called that because when Magellan was sailing around the point of South America, he saw the city from afar. He said that the fires from its inhabitants burned day and night, so he called it the city of fire.

After that museum we were hungry so we went X-burger for lunch. I don't see why some of the guys like that place so much. The food was decent, but I don't think that I would go back any time soon.

A few of us decided to walk down by the water before going to the next museum. It was so beautiful! They had a neat sign painted on a wall that said "Ushuaia, end of the world, beginning of everything". Before that it said the same thing in Spanish. It was a neat thing to have in a little city like this. We headed on to the other museum next. Museo del fin Del Mundo was a lot bigger than museo Yamana. I liked this one a bit better just because of the fact that it talked a lot more about animals, and even had quite a lot stuffed penguins, birds and seals in one of the rooms. I think that my favorite part of this museum was the fact that it used to be a former governor's house, and then a bank before they transformed it into a museum. Another thing that I really liked about the museum was teaching some of the other people about some of the animals. Since this trip is open to any majors, there is a wide variety of people with a wide variety of backgrounds on the trip.

I like being able to share the things that I know with people who might not have the same biological background as I do. On the way out of the museum one of the worst things happened. We went to take a picture and I discovered that my camera was broken. It is relatively new and it's a really nice camera, so I didn't know what I was going to do. I love taking pictures and treasure them, so needless to say, I was really upset. Once we got back to the hotel I took a closer look at my camera and I can't figure out what is wrong with it. I managed to kind of finagle it so that I can at least take pictures with it, but there is something still definitely wrong with it, and I don't think that I can fix it until I get back to the states. But, as much as that sucks, I am just so thankful that I can take pictures with it. I would have been completely devastated if it would've been completely broken!

We came back to the hotel and then had a meeting as a group to go over what is going to be on our first exam tomorrow. We've only been here for a couple days…I can't believe that we are already having an exam! Oh well, I love reading about the material and learning all of the information so I don't really mind.

After the meeting, about a dozen of us headed to a really neat Irish pub for dinner. Mark and I split a pizza, but unfortunately had the typical mistake happen to us when you are in a foreign country, don't speak their language and try to order a meal. We ordered a pizza with pineapple on it. When it came, it definitely did not have pineapple on it, but instead it had olives and anchovies on it! I was going to at least try a bite, but the smell was too horrible. So, we just ended up scraping the anchovies off and eating the fishy smelling pizza anyways.

After dinner we went and got ice cream at a little place in town called Gadgets. The ice cream was really good, and the way that they serve it was neat too. You order a certain size and pay for it. Then you tell someone what kind you want, and they don't scoop it into a ball for your cone. They scoop it into a pointy cone-type shape and then drizzle chocolate on top of it. Let's just say that I now love ice cream even more than I did when I came here!

Now it's 11 o'clock and we are back in the hotel with the intention of studying for our exam tomorrow morning. The key word there is intention because Brad came into our room and we were goofing around a lot. But, we did get some good studying in too. We also have to pack because we are moving hotels in the morning.

I've never been over seas before, so I can't even explain how overwhelmed I feel right now. Everything is so new to me that I feel like I just possibly take it all in! But, I love every second of it, and I can't wait to board that ship on Wednesday!!!

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Then we headed over to the new hotel with our bags. I think that besides the plane trip with the brats, this was by far the worst part of the trip. It wasn't very far, but my bags were heavy. But, I made it, and after we checked into our rooms we went out to lunch. There were about 8 of us, and we went to this place called the Banana Café and Bar which was pretty good, although it took quite a long time.

Then we headed off to the Museum. It was nicer and a lot bigger than the other 2 that we went to yesterday. I liked the Darwin exhibit, but I have studied that stuff a lot in my classes, so I already knew a lot of it. But, there were still some things that I didn't know. I think that my favorite fact was about the Penguins. When they slide on the ice it's called rowing (which I liked a lot!), and they do this when they are scared or in danger.

My favorite part of the whole museum was the jail. I liked how they took one wing of the jail and kept the original cells but put informational things inside of each one. Also how they kept one wing exactly how it used to be - just the original jail, nothing fancy about it. I imagine that it was quite the same back then as it is now - dingy, dust and dirt milling around in the air, cool and just plain old gross. But, I guess jail isn't supposed to be a walk in the park.

After the museum, Carrie and I walked around to find our gifts for our Christmas gift exchange (we decided on that plan yesterday…just so we have a little holiday on Christmas). It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be! When I finally thought of an idea, it ended up being way too expensive. So, I ended up finding an Argentina flag, and I will look either tomorrow or on the ship for the other part of my gift. By this time it is 6 o'clock and it's time for another group meeting.

We met and talked a bit about what was going to happen tomorrow and then talked a little about our group projects. We then met with our groups individually and talked a bit more about it. I came up with a 24 hour whale watch idea, but I feel bad because it will mainly benefit my project, not so much for my other group members. But, that was all I could come up with, so we will have to keep brainstorming.

Now we finally had some time to just relax in our rooms, so while Carrie went to rent her boots, I rearranged my suitcases for tomorrow and guess what I found? My book that I thought I had left on the plane! So, I decided to read the rest of it while I was waiting for Carrie to get back. At 8:30 we meet downstairs with some others and the 9 of us headed to Tanta Sara's for dinner. I really like that place, it has really good pasta. Unfortunately some of the people that went were in the human impacts group for their project, so we separated from them so that they could talk about their project over dinner.

But, I sat with Ben and Bill and we had a super fun time. And as luck would have it, the same waitress that gave Bill the 3 free beers forgot to charge us for one of the dinners…and it was Bill's!!!! We couldn't believe it, but Bill was a nice guy and told her about her mistake so he could pay for it. When he told her, she got kind of upset at herself…I have never heard a cute Spanish-speaking girl swear so loud in English!

After the human impacts group left, Carrie joined Ben, Bill and I and we walked up to the grocery store only to find out that is was closed. So, we decided to go to a little Coffee and Ice Cream Café called Central that Carrie and I saw earlier today. The people that work there are extremely nice and kept giving us samples of the ice cream. I had a couple, as did Bill and Ben, but Carrie literally had 10 samples - the guy just kept giving them to her! But, we ordered and Bill's was so big we decided to split it. So, we sat on a couple of couches and ate our ice cream with "accessories" on it, as Bill liked to call them (the "accessories" were wafers and chocolates).

The ice cream was so good, but we were all too full to eat all of it... it's probably the best ice cream that I've ever had! The Café was really neat because it was a combination between an ice cream parlor and a coffee shop (complete with a bar, stools, tables, couches and everything…it had the works! Plus, the ambiance was great! Bill was even nice enough to pick up the tab!

We waddled out of Central and window shopped on the way home. We said our good nights and headed to our rooms. I am so tired, but I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight. I was reading my book today and I couldn't concentrate because I am so excited about tomorrow. I just simply can't believe that in a few days we are going to wake up and see ice bergs out of our windows and see whales off of the ships deck. At the risk of sounding corny, it's really a dream come true for me. It is so surreal that I just can't believe it, even thought in the morning I will be looking out the window at the very ship we will be sailing on…let the exciting adventures begin!!!

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Afterwards Carrie, Brad, Kannan, Cathy and I went walking around the main strip of Ushuaia to look for our Christmas gift. I ended up buying some alcohol because I couldn't find anything else that I really liked. Plus, everyone likes alcohol right!?!?

We split up and Brad, Carrie and I checked our email and then headed off to eat at a café that had seating outside. It was so nice to eat outside, but there were a couple of huge gusts of wind that almost blew our plates right off the table! It was a really scrumptious lunch though.

After lunch we headed back to the Albatross hotel to meet with our group and walk over to the ship. When we walked over it reminded me of the cruise that mom and I went on in the beginning of the school year because we had to walk down a very long cement pier type thing with ships of different sizes docked on both sides of it. It was unreal…I can't imagine that in a couple days when we wake up I will be looking out at ice bergs!!!

After we got on the ship we had a little welcoming and introduction meeting and then started unpacking our stuff. Bad news…at the meeting we were informed that one of the crew member's was going to be late because he missed his flight, so we were going to wait for him and therefore we couldn't leave port until about 9 o'clock tonight instead of 4. It's not such a huge deal but now we were going to be in the Beagle channel at night, so we won't be able to see very much. I wonder if they would've waited for one of us if we missed our flight.

We went to check out our cabins and they are exactly like I thought they would be - just like our cruise. But, on this ship there is way more closet space…good thing because we've got a lot of clothes!

Then we got to go back to the meeting room and have "Captains Cocktails" with everyone. Champagne…very nice! Then we headed off to dinner where we had smoked raw fish for an appetizer, and then I had more fish (Red Snapper) for my main meal. For dessert I had chocolate moose on a tulip. I could really get used to this food!!!

After dinner we headed out on deck to check out the sights. Then we finally got the call over the loud speaker that we would be shoving off at about 9:10…finally! So, it was amazing. The excitement building on board the ship just from myself and the few people I was standing next to was unbelievable. I know that I keep saying this, but I just can't believe this. I don't even have the words to describe the emotions going on in my body right now!!!

Anyways, once we left port things kind of calmed down on deck, so after about 45 minutes we headed back to our rooms to finish unpacking and set up our computers and such. Later on Bill, Ben, Carrie, Kannan and I headed back out to the deck to see a little scenery change. Let me tell you, it was still as beautiful as it was before. We ended up taking Brad's video camera and taking pictures for him (he and Mark have been sick all day long and have had to see the Dr. already). Then we went up to the very bow of the boat where we stood like King's of the world just like Leo and Kate in "Titanic". Oh come on, I know it's lame, but it had to be done!

I can't imagine what tomorrow morning will be like. Will we wake up to sea ice outside our window? I can only hope. I have been looking forward to a trip like this for 4 and a half years now, and it has lived up to what I wanted and so much more…and we've only been here for 4 days…I can't imagine what more is to come!!!

Thursday, December 18, 2003

Once we got up, I decided to take a walk on the upper deck with Brad. While I was waiting for him, Kannan wasn't feeling very well. Some of his words of wisdom (after getting sick and then flying across the bathroom because of a wave): "I hate the polar Vortex!" Once we finally got up to the deck, it was so windy that we couldn't make it all the way to the bow of the boat. It was crazy, but completely awesome at the same time. We got pelted a couple times with waves of mist from the ship bouncing on the water too.

Then we joined up with Carrie and went up to lunch (where there were barely any people) and then hit the deck one more time. Eating with this movement is pretty interesting. All of the chairs are seat belted to the ground, and at lunch today all of the table cloths were wet to prevent all of the dishes from sliding around. There were also plenty of times where the dishes and things went flying around despite the wet tablecloths... pretty funny stuff!!!

Let me first start by introducing Olle. He is a Sweedish older man who is just plain awesome. He pretty much runs the ship (but he's not the captain). He deals with everything that's going on with landings and such. Now I said that he was older, but what I didn't say is that he has a strong resemblance to Colonel Sander's from KFC. Not to be mean at all, but we now call him Colonel Sanders (I bet it's the beard)! We were informed by Colonel Sanders that we were in the middle of a gale and we went from going 14 knots to having to go 9 knots. If this keeps up, at this pace we won't make it to Antarctica from Drake's passage until 9pm the day after tomorrow. I'm definitely not ok with that because it's cutting into our Antarctica time. But, there's nothing we can do, so we've just got to roll with the punches I guess.

Then it was off to take a nap. With all of this swaying, it was hard to sleep for more than a few hours at a time last night, so even though we didn't have anything to do all day, we still were extremely tired. After our on and off nap, Carrie, Bill and I headed up to dinner where Colonel Sanders informed us that the gale was letting up and that we were able to go a little faster than we had been. He didn't give us an ETA, but at least it's going to be closer than 9pm the day after tomorrow!!!

After dinner, we walked around the deck again. This time it was a lot easier to get up to the bow. It's amazing how much we are moving! I headed up to the room that we call the Library and hung out with a few people for a little bit, and then they started showing a movie about ice bergs, so I joined a few more people in the main lounge for that. It was ok, but I'm still so tired that my eyes weren't very happy.

Then I went back into the lounge, had a cup of hot chocolate and played on my computer a bit. Brad, Cathy, Jackyln and I played Monopoly for a little bit until the bar closed and then Carrie and I watched "Old School" with Bill and Brad. That's another bad thing about being on the rough seas - there isn't that much to do. I feel that if I read a book, I may get dizzy, and plus I'm so tired that I don't want to read because it'll make me more tired. But, soon enough there will be things to do…I can't wait!!!

Friday, December 19, 2003

Last night I woke up at about 3 and we were rocking so bad that I just couldn't fall asleep. So, since my back was hurting anyways, I took some of my medicine that I have for it, and I was knocked out. It felt so nice to be able to get a full night's sleep without waking up every few hours. I woke up at about 11, and then we headed to our first lecture (even though it wasn't mandatory). It was about Antarctic birds, and it was overall an ok lecture. It was basically just an overview of what birds we will be seeing. Afterwards, Carrie, Brad and I went out onto the deck, and surprise surprise, all we could see what water and some birds. But I can feel...it...we are getting so close! Carrie and I decided to venture out to the very bow of the boat, no matter how much spray it was getting. Once we made it out there it was really cool. We didn't get sprayed at all, and it was an awesome feeling to be up there.

We then went to the dining room for lunch and ate a lot of bread. The food on the ship is pretty good…it's all garnished up to look pretty and everything. But, as long as it does the job of filling me up, keeping me healthy and tasting pretty good, I'm not going to be terribly picky. After lunch, Carrie and I came back to the room for a little bit. We both played for a little while on our computers and fell asleep until Brad woke us up. But, instead of getting up, we decided to keep sleeping (I guess rocking makes you tired)! After we got up, we went out on the deck for a bit. Carrie went in and I stayed out there by myself.

A little alone time can be really relaxing once in awhile. I just sat on a bench at the stern of the boat and thought about a lot of stuff. It was amazing how beautiful the ocean is and how much it can calm your raging thoughts sometimes. Then one of the worst things happened…April told me that she saw whales and I didn't see them! Apparently John saw a bunch of penguins porpoising through the water earlier too. Damn the luck! But, I came back in and was so inspired by the water that I decided to write a poem. I also decided not to include it in here…sorry - nothing personal!

Dinner was good - same idea as usual pretty much. I love trying the desserts that they have. They're always interesting, and so far that have all been really good! After dinner we had a meeting where Colonel Sanders explained all the need-to-know stuff about the safety of the Zodiacs (this means that we're getting close)! We got our life jackets and then had a meeting with our group about our projects. It was only a few minutes but it was good to know what we should be doing in regards to our projects. Apparently, my whale group is now doing seals too…more work, but more info on beautiful animals too!!!

After our meeting I got my gear on and went outside again. I meet some guy from Reno on the top deck and to say the least I don't like him very much. I told him I was from the Detroit area and he immediately said "Oh Grosse Pointe...you look like a Grosse Pointer...one of those rich girls." Needless to say I stuck up for myself and then left that dirt-bag to go near Carrie, Brad and Kannan.

Then it happened…we spotted 3 Minke whales!!!! All you could see were their blows and through my binoculars you could see barely a little bit of dark coloration, but that's about it - they were too far away. As if that weren't exciting enough, just minutes after that, we saw our first ice berg! A little boy about 10-12 years old saw it, so he got the free bottle of whatever he wanted from the bar...they gave him some chocolate. Unfortunate because I know of about 24 people who would've really liked to have that free bottle! Anyways, it was amazing. We came back in and told everyone that we saw. Carrie and I grabbed Bill and went to see it again.

I have been excited about this trip for so long, and every little thing that happens gets me even more pumped. When they told us that not only will we be there before 9pm tomorrow night, but we'll be there in time to go on 3 expeditions all day long, I was ecstatic. Our first one is scheduled for 8:30am. I can hardly contain myself…it's unreal. But it hit me the most when we saw the whales and that first ice berg.

We are here, tomorrow morning we will wake up in a sea of ice bergs surrounding us with so much experience before us that I think I may just not sleep tonight. Part of me really just wants to stay up all night on deck to watch what happens. But alas, my body needs sleep, so I must give it what it needs. One of my favorite quotes…"tomorrow the sun may rise, who knows what the tide may bring." That is exactly how I feel right now. So many unexpected things will happen, and so many planned but unreal things too!

Saturday, December 20, 2003

Breakfast was very good…eggs, toast, hash browns, fruit and cereal. Then it was time to get going, so I pretty much ran out of the kitchen area and went to get dressed for the expedition. Carrie and I ran on deck until we were supposed to leave. The scenery was so beautiful! Then something amazing happened…I was looking through my binoculars and a whale swam through too!!! It was really quick and unexpected, but I think that it was a Minke whale…it was amazing!!!

So, now it was time to load the zodiac for out first of many adventures. Every time we leave the ship, we have to flip a tag over that has our room # on it, just so they know where all the passengers are. We also have to do the same thing when we re-board the ship.) We flipped our tags and got in and sailed away. Once we got in Aitcho Island we saw penguins (Gentoo's and Chinstraps). Then we saw more penguins, and then more penguins…they were all over! I was so amazed that they came so close to us! I'm not sure how the Gentoo's got their name, but the Chinstrap's are named because of the black "strap" under their chin. Of course, after seeing all of these penguins, and seeing that we were representing MSU, we decided to bust out the State flag!

We walked a little ways through many more penguin groups and came across some elephant seals. I did a count on them as we walked and then we stumbled upon the biggest one there. All of the seals were male, but this one was by far the biggest and oldest. He had the biggest proboscis and also the biggest noise! He growled at us because he wasn't too happy about us being there, so we had to keep our distance a bit. The funniest thing about the seals was that they are full of gas! They were burping and farting all the time. The seals were all males because they were on shore to molt. The males get to shore, stake out their territory and the biggest seal gets to be what they call the beach master. He is in charge of all of the females when they arrive, and what males get to mate besides him. The females usually arrive a little later than the males (after the males are finished molting), and then they start mating.

We then took a trek up a huge hill and on the way down saw several more groups of penguins, and then at the very bottom were more elephant seals. There were also a couple Weddell seals too. It seems that we have gotten some good information for our projects on this expedition! We talked to Craig about some seal info, and then headed back to where we started from. We counted each seal and tried to determine how old it was using its size. We counted 67 seals just on this one trip alone!

Unfortunately, this may be our only time seeing elephant seals, but at least we got to see a lot of them! We waited around the zodiac site for a bit waiting for the next zodiac and watched the penguins a little more. They are so cute!!! When we got in the zodiac, we got to take a tour around the iceberg….how neat! Unfortunately we didn't get to go all the way around the ice berg like some of the other boats did, but it was still really neat to see it a little bit closer up.

Once we got back on the boat, we flipped our tags back, disinfected our boots and came into our rooms to change. Then we headed up to lunch, and man was it delicious! I had some quiche, bread (of course), and fish for the main course. It was then followed by a really good ice cream type of thing (it reminded me of ice cream mixed with cheesecake - if you can imagine that). Then it was off to a meeting with the whole boat. We talked about what we were going to see this afternoon, and then our group stayed back and talked a little bit about our projects. We decided to meet and use the first half hour together, stay with our project partners for another half hour, and then we could go off on our own if we wanted.

Craig then said that he wanted to meet the whale group on deck as soon as we got dressed and ready to go. So, I met him up there and was followed soon enough by Amanda and Jenn. We talked a little bit about whales, and then got in line for our 2nd zodiac ride.

The new expedition spot was pretty cool…Yankee Harbor. The only bad thing is that there wasn't supposed to be any seals. But, to our surprise, as soon as we landed, there was a Weddell seal sleeping right there, waiting for us! We met and decided that since there probably wouldn't be any more seals that we should just look for penguin remains because that means that chances are they were killed by a leopard seal (not my idea of fun)! Then we found out that the plant group is no longer a group because there is so much snow, there are barely any plants. So, they are now the seal group with us. So, we all split up and looked for some remains…but, we looked at penguins along the way too of course.

We were only supposed to see 3 species of penguins on this trip, but luckily there was a random Macaroni Penguin on this landing! It was really cute too! We came to several conclusions as to why it was on this island. Perhaps the islands that they are located on are getting too crowded and this penguin was out in search of another island. Perhaps it was lost. But, I think that it was traveling and just stopped here for a break on its way to another location. Either way, I'm glad that it was on this island when we were!

We walked around the edge of the island and found 2 remains of penguins. We stopped and saw a Cormorant and we also found another random species of penguin, the Adelie.

We later found out that we are no longer the seal group, just the whale group, and that's it. So, we looked at the penguins some more, and then hit the zodiac to return to the ship.

Back on board the ship, I came in to write in my journal, but then found out that we were wanted on the deck to do a whale watch. So, we went up there, and unfortunately only saw a seal and some penguins…no whales.

We came back inside just in time for a question and answer meeting with the whole boat. I didn't like it very much just because we already knew some of the answers, but some of the questions were really creative, and I think that it gave some people a better understanding of the situation we are in.

Finally it was off to dinner where I had salmon mmm mmm! Then we headed off to our rooms to relax for only a half hour before our 3rd and final excursion of the day.

Well, we're all tired, but seeing everything that we've seen today just keeps me going. It's all so amazing that I don't even want to sleep! No, I lied, I do want to sleep, but it is still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!

The last adventure of the day was cool. Not my favorite, but it was still cool. We went to Half Moon Island and saw a lot of chin strap penguins and also a lot of different birds. Craig, Amanda, Jenn and I went walking along the coast to look for seal remains but we got to a point where we couldn't go any further. Craig made the jump over the little ravine, but he told us to go around because he barely made it over. So we did, but we couldn't get there. We tried 3 times at 3 different spots, but with no avail.

On our last attempt (with the help of Olle), we almost succeeded, but alas, it also failed. So he radioed the zodiac driver and he took the Amanda, Jenn, Dave and I over to the little cove to see the 2 elephant seals. I also spotted 3 Weddell seals pretty close to them. So, we looked around a bit, and then headed back to the island. We headed up the mountain for a few minutes to take in the sites and that's where I saw a baby gull! It was so cute! It was really fuzzy and looked exactly like a little baby chick (only gray).

We then loaded into the zodiacs and headed back to the ship. Before we went back though, we got an up close and personal look at a really cool crown looking ice berg. We went completely around it and it was one of my favorite bergs so far for sure!

After we got back, I came back in the cabin to warm up a bit and then decided that whale watching wasn't going to happen tonight. I really want to, but my back is killing me from all the walking today, so I figure I'll rest a bit and then watch some more tomorrow.

Well, just as I think that the night is over, it just begins! A few people from our group decided that it would be fun to have a few drinks. I felt a little guilty about not watching for whales, but it was getting a little too dark to see extremely well. Also, we're entitled to have a little fun right?!?

We went up to the bar/lounge and all hung out in there...it was really fun. Bill and I went on a walk around the ship for a bit, but the best part was that John and Craig came up and joined us in the bar and we were all sitting around talking and having a good old time. Craig was telling us about some really cool stories and wow, I just hope that someday I will have stories like that to tell people (heck I already have a few from this trip)!

We had a few drinks and then decided that it was time for bed. So, we all called it a night and got some very good, and much needed sleep.

Sunday, December 21, 2003

It's really neat how the penguins all go to sea in groups. I think that it's because of the whole safety in numbers thing. A couple of them look out to see if it's safe, and then they all go in. I'm guessing that they stick together once they are in the water too because of the fact that they come ashore in relatively large groups too (well mostly).

I almost got washed up by the tide, but eventually we headed back on the zodiac. The water was really wavy (well compared to what we have been having). Apparently the place that we landed doesn't often get visitors because the weather is too bad. But, luckily enough we got there and had a blast. Unfortunately we haven't seen any whales yet though. We are going to start a whale watch tomorrow I think and hopefully we will come up with some data for our projects!

A little while after we got back aboard the ship, we were told that before lunch we were going to be going through a very narrow passage to enter our next stop. It was called Neptune's Bellows and it was the entry way to a cove called Whaler's Bay. It was really beautiful around the whole area, especially the exposed surfaces where you could see the wear and tear of the weather and the aging of the rock.

We went to lunch as usual and then after a little relaxing we went on shore again. This was a little bit of a different trip though! We get to go swimming!!!!! As I said, the place was called Whaler's Bay and the island itself is an active volcano and used to be used for whaling back in the mid 1900's. As much as hearing about whaling makes me cringe, it was neat to see all of the old stuff that was just left there after it closed down. We didn't really have very much to look at as far as animals and wildlife was concerned (although we were lucky enough to see a lot of bird, a beached seal and also a stray pair of chinstrap penguins). But seeing the old whaling machinery was neat.

I couldn't believe that they were still there, but I suppose that the people didn't have any reason to tear it down. There was also an old airplane hanger and a plane around back that we could actually go in and check out. It turns out that one of the glaciologists on board the ship (Charles) used to actually fly that very plane! So he was there to tell us all about his trips in it and the experiments that he did.

Now comes the fun part!!! The zodiac drivers dug a hole in the ground and we were able to go swimming in it! The island was actually a volcano, and the lava underneath made the ground water extremely warm. By digging the hole, we were able to use the hot water to swim in! We dug a really small hole, but it was good enough for us. So, a few of us going at a time, we stripped down to our bathing suits, ran out into the freezing cold ocean (being 0 degrees Celcius!), and then as fast as we could, into the "hot tub".

It was really fun, and something that I knew would be a great story to tell when I got home! For some reason when my group went (which happened to be 6 girls), literally everyone and their brother took our picture... I guess we were just photogenic! Getting out of the hot water was the worst part by far. They brought towels from the ship for us, but those were just not quite good enough. We tried to dry off and get dressed as fast as possible, but we were frozen (but it was worth it)!

We rode back on the zodiac and then took a nice warm shower…man did that feel good! After that, we headed up to the lounge and attended a little debriefing about today with the whole boat and then we had a special surprise!

All of a sudden they started playing music and these Russian women came in and started dancing. Apparently this time of the month is a time when they have a fair in Russia, and since this is a Russian ship (and a lot of the crew are Russian), we celebrated! They did a couple dances, gave us little tid bits about their culture and the background behind the fair, and then they started dancing some more.

But, this was different dancing... this time we got to get involved. No one but a couple people from our group wanted to go, and I even had Craig behind me pushing me to go up. But, I really didn't want to. Actually, it's not that I didn't want to, but I guess I just didn't have the nerve to. Anyways, Bill ended up going to dance, and of course came around and grabbed my hand, so I was in. The only bad thing was that I had my slippers on, so I ended up dancing with my bare feet. But, as much as I was a chicken to go up there, it was really fun in the end (and I knew it would be)!

We finally got to go have dinner, and then we got a call over the PA that we were passing a huge ice berg and that it was so neat we were actually going to circle it just to check it out. So of course, we went on deck and of course, it really was cool. This thing was gigantic! One side of it was slanted so that it looked like a roof of a house, and I think that that side used to be the top until it broke off unevenly. Not that I know a lot about ice bergs, but that's what I think. We also saw a really neat greenish berg that we later found out is really really old and it is green because since it's so old it has lost all of the air inside it, making it look green!

Luckily we had another whale sighting while everyone was on deck, but unfortunately hardly anyone saw it because the waves were capping (it was a humpback too)! I saw something that I thought was the blow before they even announced the whale, but that's about it.

Next we ventured in to the lounge again to see Delphine's chat about penguins which was neat. A little repetitive with information that we already knew, but informative none-the-less.

We were only in our cabins for 10 minutes or so when we heard another announcement on the PA that the view outside was really neat, so I went to check it out. It was neat, not the best view I'd ever seen, but it was still neat. I also noticed that the sky was really clear, so I went back in to find out when the sunset was going to be. After some research I found out that it will be at 12:10, so I am definitely going to make my way out there for that.

To me, sunsets are the most beautiful thing in the world, followed closely by the ocean. Now I have both, and I can't imagine a more fabulous one than this one could be!!! Oh, on a side note, today is the summer solstice which means that it's the longest day of the year. Sunset is at 12:10 and sunrise is at 3:45…3.5 hours of night (which is really only dusk) - couldn't be better!

Well, I was right, that was one of the most amazing sunset I've ever seen (unfortunately the guy who thinks that I look like a Grosse Pointer was standing right next to me…I don't like him very much)!!! The sky is so unpolluted and there are no lights or anything to defer the sunlight, so it was just pure and beautiful. It was so amazing that I can't even describe it. The sky slowly turned a light shade of pink and then into violet. With that as a background and ice covered mountains in the ocean, it was…perfect!

Monday, December 22, 2003

They had a lot of souvenirs there, but besides the stamps for my postcards, I only bought a sticker for my nalgene bottle. The men that were doing research at the station said that the profits they get at the little store were the only funding that they get. I find that a little hard to believe, but we were only one tour, and I saw several people spend more than $100 dollars, so maybe that is all the monetary resources they get.

My favorite thing about the station was the fact that there were penguins nesting all over! Right outside the door there were penguins. Right outside the window there were penguins. Penguins, penguins everywhere! Apparently they are really used to people because they are so close. The researchers even showed me a picture of a couple babies wandering into the building at one point a couple years ago! My other favorite thing about the station was that Charles took all of our passports off the ship and stamped them for us. How many people can say that they have an Antarctica stamp in their passport?!?

After the station, we went around the other side of the small island to another Gentoo rookery. On the way over there, Amanda and I noticed a "halo" around the sun. It was a rainbow completely surrounding the sun, and I'm not sure how it was made, but I am guessing that it was due to the moisture in the air and also the fact that all around us was white, so the reflectivity was really at a high point. Perhaps the time of day, the position of the sun, the moisture and the reflectivity all had something to do with it. But, no matter how it was created, it was just beautiful!

This stop was a lot rockier than the last one, but it was really pretty. The penguins acted the same as always, very curious and coming up to people. One bad thing is that I am noticing a lot of people being careless about where they are going and getting much too close to the penguins…this is their home! Anyways, there were also Cormorants nesting there too. They had little babies, but they were really hard to see. It was interesting to see them nesting in the middle of the penguin rookery.

After we got back to the ship, I laid down to take a small nap when on the PA system, Colonel Sanders announced a whale sighting. So, I flew out on deck to watch. Of course, I barely saw them, but they were still cool. I stayed out there for a bit to watch for other whales for our project, and then went down to lunch. I was harassed a bit for leaving my whale watching position, but a girls' got to eat!

Since we need that data, I ate really fast and then headed back up to the deck to whale watch. I was out there for 10 minutes and I finally saw one! It was really far away and it looked like a dolphin, so I'm not exactly sure what species it was, but it was a whale of some sort (I think it was a Minke). Then I sat out there for a bit more when over the PA Colonel Sanders announced that we were going to be headed into the Lemaire Channel and the scenery was going to beautiful. The channel is one of the most well known and famous in Antarctica. It is 7 miles long and 1 mile wide at the widest, and only a half mile at the narrowest.

Well the Colonel was right, it was beautiful!!! No whales unfortunately, but we did see a crab eater seal on an ice flow which was really neat (and I was the one who spotted it)! While we were in the middle of the Channel, we decided to take a group picture on the deck.

Afterwards, our trip took a bit of an unexpected turn. We were almost at the end of the channel when we saw that an ice berg had moved a bit too close to the shore, so we weren't able to get through. So, we turned around and went back out, and discovered that we had to go around and through the French Passage instead (that was after we decided that the MSU flag should go up)! Therefore, the events of the day were changed a little bit. Instead of going on an excursion before dinner, dinner was moved up and our excursion got moved until after dinner (you can do those kinds of things when the sun doesn't set until midnight and it never really gets dark)!

Right before dinner, I left my whale post to put my notebooks and things away, and then we had a little BBQ outside for the 3rd dinner theme night. The first night was Paris (French), last night was Russian, and tonight was a good old American BBQ. There was pretty much every type of meat you could think of (except hamburgers, which we had for lunch). It was pretty good, even though I don't like meat very much. Dessert was a baked apple with cinnamon in the middle and a white sugary sauce on it - mmm mmm!

After dinner my back was killing me (as it has for like a week), so I went to lie down. Of course, the PA started up and Colonel Sanders informed us about a cool ice berg with a window, and also the fact that the actually continent of Antarctica was right in front of us…we're finally here!!!!

Then we had meeting about tomorrow's ventures and then met really quick as a group where we took our heart rates for Carrie's project. Everyone came back to our room to give her their rates, and when Craig came in, he apologized for being a jerk earlier. I was really pissed about it, but I feel better that he apologized. Cathy and I were wondering if he did that to everyone, but then we decided that she, April and I were the most upset by it, so it was probably just us that he apologized to. But whatever, I still feel a lot better that he did.

Surprise! We got a PA announcement saying that the last Zod is leaving so we need to get down there if we want to go. Well that's strange because not one of us knew that they even started loading! So we all hurried and got ready and loaded up. We took a little detour though because lucky enough, there was a leopard seal laying on a berg near by! He was just laying there just sleeping away, not paying any attention to all of us just staring at him. He looked a lot different than the other seals that we've been seeing. I'm assuming that part of the reason is because they have such different feeding habits than most other seals.

We finally got on to Petermann's island, which is the farthest south that we'll get - 65 degrees and 11 minutes south. We chatted with our groups and Craig apologized again. I give him a lot of credit because through coaching, I know that it's hard to try and be a friend to someone, along with being someone that they can look up to. I know that he had a reason to get on us about whale watching, but I think he went a little over board, and I really appreciate the fact that he apologized not only to me, but to our whole whale group.

Anyways, back to the excursion. The island was of course a Gentoo rookery but lucky enough it was also an Adelie rookery (so, at Yankee Harbor, the one Adelie wasn't as random as I thought). They are really cute, possibly my favorite of all of the ones that we've seen this trip. But, the best part was that the rookery had a lot of their eggs hatched and you could see all of the chicks!!! They were so adorable! It was neat to see them feeding from their parents. I also noticed that the Adelie's didn't wander around as much as the Chinstraps and the Gentoo's did. I don't know if it is just because they are different species or not, but I think that it is because their eggs have hatched and they have more work to do with the chicks. But whatever the reason, they chicks were so cute with their little chirping and their little grey fuzzy selves!

On a side note, Craig was really funny because he kept saying how cute the penguin chicks were, but he was really excited about this grass species growing on the rocks by the shore. He said that it was the only grass species that grows in Antarctica, and man were he and Bob excited about it!

So, after we watched the penguins and their babies for awhile, Bill and I noticed some of the zod drivers having a snowball fight. He asked me if I wanted to join and with a little hesitation, he dragged me down there. It was a lot of fun though! Matt (one of the zod drivers) hit him square in the face, and when he threw one back he hit a woman standing near him who wasn't even throwing snowballs. So the 2 other zod drivers (Matt and Brandon) came after Bill, sat on him, shoved his face in the snow and then put snow down his pants. It was hilarious! But, then I paid for it because Bill attacked me and we both went flying. That happened several more times, and my sunglasses almost broke once, but I think that I won (especially because I ended up on top most of the time)!

Now I'm soaking wet, but it's almost time to leave, so Bill, Amanda and I walk down to the zod area and look around for a bit and then head back. I'm so tired but the sky is perfectly clear again, so the sunset will be amazing. So, I guess it's going to be another late night for us! Tomorrow we're going to get up earlier than normal, so tomorrow night I'm going to be super tired. On a good note, tomorrow is our last day of getting up early. On a bad note, tomorrow is our last day in Antarctica! I am so sad to leave, I can't even bare to think about it. At least we still have another week in Ushuaia, but this place is amazing and I can't believe it's almost over! Well, we won't think about that, because tomorrow is another amazing day!!!

Well, the sunset is not going to happen tonight. I'm just too damn tired and it's too damn cold out there (yes, I am a huge party pooper). But, we did head out to see the beginning of it, and it was just beautiful. We tried to go through the Lemaire Channel again, but it was through the other way. This time we were successful though, and the scenery was beautiful enough the first time, but this time with the sun setting was just amazing. I can't even describe the pinks and purple colors cascading down the mountains of white snow. Just amazing!

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

This morning we got up early and actually set foot on the continent of Antarctica at a place called Almirante Brown…it was so cool!!! We did the same thing as we did earlier, half of the people went to the continent, and the other half went on a zodiac cruise. We managed to get our whole group to go on the same trek to the continent first, and then hit the cruise later on. On the island, there were a few Gentoo's running around (surprise surprise), and also an abandoned Argentinean research station. We started the trip by climbing a really tall mountain and when we all got up there, we took our pulses for Carrie's project. We sat up there for awhile, taking pictures, just relaxing and taking in the sights.

Then one of the zod drivers said that we had to leave in 10 minutes, so we started heading back down the mountain. Most of us actually sledded down the mountain, which was so much fun!!! I went down the path that we took up to the top, so it was more like the bobsled than sledding, and everyone kept getting stuck in certain parts.

Once we got to the bottom, the people with travel pals took some pictures to send back to their classes, and Flat Stanley thoroughly enjoyed himself I might add!

We were just sitting around wondering where the zodiacs were, but they finally came, and we went on a little "Zodiac cruise" around Paradise Bay for about an hour. I knew it would be cool, but I didn't expect anything that happened! First of all we went to an area where a whale was spotted earlier. Well it was still there and it was amazing. It was a Minke and it seemed really intrigued by the presence of the zods because it kept coming around us. There was even one time when it went right under our boat! It was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen.

After we left the whale, we went on a little tour around a really big glacier that has run into Antarctica. Even though we didn't see any, the glacier is really active in terms of snow falling off and avalanches.

Then Sepp (who is our head cook and also the zodiac driver for the day) asked us if we had ever stood on an ice berg. We obviously hadn't, so we did! It was so neat to think of us on top of a real ice berg!

Then Sepp took us around to another ice berg. It looked cool, but nothing really spectacular. Sepp told us that this one was worth a picture, but when we turned the corner around it I saw why. The inside of the berg was hollow, and it looked like it was a pool, with the beautiful turquoise water in the middle of it. Most of the sides had "windows" in them, so that was an additional feature that made it just amazing. We even got to drive inside it! I'm not sure how some of these features were formed. I know that some of it was caused by melting, water currents, some of the berg has probably fallen off, and taking all of these things in consideration, the ice berg's balance was off, so it probably turned a few times too.

After that, we headed back to the ship, but on the way we stopped at a huge rock (well more like a mountain) and saw a lot of Cormorants nesting on the side of it. The mountain was actually the one that we climbed earlier today, so it was neat to see the other side of it.

Then we actually headed back to the ship. Since we were soaking wet from all that sledding, we changed clothes and then ate another one of Sepp's awesome lunches. After lunch we had another group meeting, and after talking for a little while, Coronal Sanders came up to us and told us that there was a couple of Humpback whales outside! So we all ran out of our meeting, got our shoes and coats on (well some of us), and ran out on deck. The whales were so amazing, I can't even describe it! There was a mom and her calf, and the calf was playing around and breaching all the time! The very first sight I actually saw of them was when they came literally right next to the boat and surfaced (literally 5 feet away)! It was just perfect! I kept trying to get good pictures, but you could never tell where they were going to surface and when. They were also far away, but I managed to get a couple ones. I'm sure between everyone, we got some great ones!

After all the drama and excitement of the Humpback whales, we had to get ready for our next (and final!) excursion. It was to a place called Couverville. It is the largest Gentoo penguin rookery on the Peninsula of Antarctica. We were there for a little bit when Brad came up to me and told me that there was a crab eater seal on an ice berg and that we were taking out a zodiac to go and see it. So, it ended up being Brad, Carrie, John, Bob, Elise, Craig and I with Kara as our driver. We went looking for the seal, but we couldn't find out (it probably went back in the water). But, Kara took us around to see all the neat ice bergs in the area…kind of our little personal tour! After that, we went back aboard the ship for the last time…how sad!!!

We had a lecture on Orca whales, given by Brandon in the lounge at 5:30 (we got back at 5), so we went to that and afterwards we had a group meeting again. Craig went over our oral presentations and our journals so that we knew exactly what to do. I don't understand why people are so stressed about this…it doesn't seem like the directions given to us were that hard to understand.

Anyways, after our meeting, we had a meeting for the whole boat to "debrief" today's events. Right after that, we went to dinner. After dinner, we headed to our cabins for a nice warm (but rocky) shower. By this time, we were in the last channel and it was going to get quite rocky. After the channel we are going to head out into Drake's Passage, which will not be any nicer by any means!

After my shower, we had yet another lecture from Charles. The stuff he was talking about was kind of interesting - how they flew over the continent and took measurements of ice thickness from the wings of the plane. The only bad thing was that his voice is very monotone and he speaks so slowly, everyone kept falling asleep during it! I dozed off for a bit, and I even caught Craig sleeping too…busted!!! We got word that there were some humpback whales outside, so of course we all ran out to see them. They were so far away all we could see were their blows, but of course, it's good data for our project! There actually ended up being 7 total whales, but the story was the same, too far away to see anything - except for the fact that one breached pretty far out of the water! But, now we are back in our cabins finally to relax. I am so tired, and all of this rocking back and forth isn't helping! I suppose that we will just hang around for a little bit longer and then go to bed because we are all so tired (and those of us who aren't tired are already seasick)!

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

After the lecture, Amanda and I geared up and hit the deck for an hour of whale watching before we went to another lecture. Bob and Elise saw a whale, but of course we didn't. But, I think that after our whale sightings yesterday, and also our group meeting, I'm not as concerned as I was about having a lack of data. One neat thing that did happen while we were whale watching was to watch the birds. They are following our ship and they don't even need to flap their wings. They are really neat to watch - so graceful!

Then, we came back to our room and I started sprucing up this journal with some pictures, and I ended up falling asleep. Being in these waves is like a constant lullaby! We woke up and went to another lecture by Charles about his 2 year Antarctic expedition 54 years ago. Wow, things were a lot different back then!

Back to the room I went, and again, kept working on this journal. I love keeping journals, and I think it was an excellent idea to make us because it is something that I will always look back on. I also love the idea of including pictures because it adds so much to the writing! Dinner was as usual, but I think that this is the best meal that I've had on the ship so far...it was awesome! After dinner, we had yet another lecture by Olle on a Swedish expedition which was kind of boring.

At the very end of the meeting I saw people running around on deck with their cameras, so I thought that there might be a whale. So, I left the lecture early (it was almost over anyways), went up to my room to grab my gear, and then out I headed. I followed right behind Matt the zodiac driver and he asked me if I was going to their party on the deck. I told him that I didn't even know about the party, so he told me to come and bring my friends too. So, I whale watched for about a half hour and John came up and sat with me and we started talking. Right when I told him that I wished we had seen more whales, he stood up and shouted "WHALE!" Yes, of course he saw one right away.

John and I talked for a bit more, and by that time a lot of passengers started to come out on deck. So, I went in to put warmer clothes on, grabbed Bill, Ben and Kannan, and then we went back outside. It was fun because they had music playing, and people were even dancing. I didn't want to dance, but finally Bill dragged me out there with him, Cathy, Jenn, Justin and some others. So, in turn, I dragged Ben out there, and we were all having a good time.

I started to get cold, so Bill, Ben, Kannan and I went inside, watched a couple episodes of South Park on Kannan's computer, and then I went to bed around 1:30 or so. When I was in the room earlier (right after dinner), I saw that we all had a little box of chocolates on our pillows with a Happy Holiday's Card signed by Sepp…thanks Sepp!!!

Thursday, December 25, 2003

Well I was right. I had to leave in the middle of the lecture because I couldn't handle all of the whaling pictures. As gruesome as it was, I know that the people were just doing it because they needed it to live - kind of the same reason we dig for oil. But, it still hits me a little too close to home.

We went back to our rooms for a bit, and then it was time for lunch. After lunch, we got an announcement from the Colonel that we would be passing Cape Horn in about 15 minutes. So, we got our gear on and went on deck. It was a surprise to see that much land, not to mention naked of snow! It was really beautiful.

After we saw Cape Horn, we went inside and had to all settle our bills from the bar and gift shop. Luckily, I didn't have any, so I worked on this journal for a little while. But at 3, we went to see a movie about Cape Horn which in all honesty was pretty boring.

After the movie, we hung around for a bit and then had another lecture from Mike. He talked about his old diving days, and it was neat to see some of the things that they saw underwater. The best part was his encounter with a leopard seal…very curious critters!

After the lecture, we all went and got dressed for the Christmas festivities. We went to the lounge and had "farewell cocktails" with everyone. All of the staff said a little thank you and then we had some champagne. All of the thank you speeches were for the great weather we had (like we were really responsible for it). But, apparently, it was the best weather that they've had in 2 or 3 seasons, so we got really lucky.

After the cocktails, we went to dinner. Let me just start by saying wow. It was a 6 course dinner with bread already on the table with the appetizer and a plate of cookies. Then we had soup, a little fish dish, a lemon sorbet, filet mignon, and finally death by chocolate to top it all off. They even had complimentary wine and beer! I was sitting with Ben, Bill, Cathy and Jenn, and Olle came and sat with us. It was really neat to hear some of his stories all throughout dinner. It was a great meal, and afterwards the wait staff all came out and said a little something. Apparently in Russia, it is custom to give something back to the guests, so they sang us a song. I think that one of my favorite things about the boat (besides the actual Antarctica journey), was that there was so much culture around to learn about. Even in our own MSU group, we celebrated Christmas and Hanukah (which I enjoyed learning about from Dave and Alyssa).

After dinner our MSU group all met in the lounge to have our little Christmas exchange. It was really fun let me tell you. Craig had a gift that he hadn't opened yet and for some reason just wanted to get rid of it (I think that he just wanted to start some trouble). There was a rug and a hat that everyone wanted so they kept getting stolen too. I had number 21 out of 24, so I had a pretty good draw. On my turn I ended up taking Craig's gift (mainly to start trouble, but partly to keep him quiet). The gift that I gave actually got stolen a couple times, so that made me happy. Ben ended up with it at the end, and he liked it, so that also made me happy. And, to make it even better, I absolutely loved my gift of a Quilmes glass and an Antarctica patch.

After our little exciting game, we opened up one of the bottles that were given, and then we hit the bar. Everyone was out there and pretty much everyone was drinking…it's Christmas, time to celebrate right? I didn't have too many, but it was still really fun. Let's just say I'm sure that some of people will definitely have rough mornings! I ended up going to bed at 2:30, and at about 2:40 Carrie and Brad came in our room and Carrie had to pack up her stuff still. They woke me up and I figured that about 15 minutes she would be done packing and she/they would go to bed. Well I was wrong. They started talking and at about 3:40, I had enough entertainment for the evening, so I went and slept in Brad's bed. Kannan and I had a little slumber party…good times!

I am so amazed by this trip, and it's only half over. I can't imagine what else is to come! But, today being Christmas and all, I really wish I was with my family. Today is my favorite day of the year because I get to see my whole family, we get to spend the whole day together, celebrate, and just be happy. Don't get me wrong, I am so happy hear and having an amazing time. I just wish that I didn't have to forfeit Christmas to do that. But, as much as I hate missing Christmas (and New Year's too in fact), this is an experience that I will definitely be telling stories about over and over again.

Friday, December 26, 2003

So, after saying our goodbyes to the ship, we got off and on to dry land. Cathy and I took a picture with Olle, said good bye, and then we all grouped together and loaded our luggage on a bus. Bill, Ben and I walked around for a bit, and then decided that since we weren't meeting until 10, we would go and check our email. So, 258 unread messages and 7 of them were actually something that I would want to read…I hate junk mail! So, we all met and had our meeting and then left to work on our group projects. Jenn went to bed, so Amanda and I talked about what we were going to do. We still have a lot of questions, and my project seems to overlap hers and Jenn's, but we do have a lot of ideas too. When we talk to Craig tonight, that should take care of a lot.

Afterwards, Amanda, Ben and I sat in the hallway and worked on our journals and played with our pictures for a little while. Then, when Bill got back from doing laundry, he, Ben and I went out to lunch for pizza. We then hit the grocery store to buy lunch for tomorrow and Monday because we will be hiking all day long.

The best thing happened after lunch…I got to take a nap! It was such a nice nap…a 2 and a half hour nap! After my nap, we met with everyone downstairs and talked about our projects. I hate having meetings about our projects just because of the fact that it makes me think of how much I have to do! But, at the same time, I like having project meetings because it makes things clearer…ironic! Anyways, we got a lot of questions answered, and Craig helped me feel a lot better about my project.

After the meeting, Jenn, Amanda, Jaquelyn, Kannan, Bill, Ben and I went to X-Burger to eat. Once we found out that we turned the wrong way on the street, Kannan, Jenn, Ben and I just went to the restaurant that we were at and we split from the rest of the group. It was a little pizza and pasta joint that was kind of expensive (for this area at least), but very good.

We walked to the convenience store so Kannan could get some food for tomorrow, and then we came back here and I got a huge jump on my project. I feel so much better about it now that I have a lot of it started. I was a little nervous at the meeting, but like I said, now that I have it started, I feel so much better! Now it's time to go pack for our hike tomorrow…g'night!

Saturday, December 27, 2003

We took a chair lift up mostly to the top, and then hiked the rest of the way up to the glacier, stopping at several points along the way to hear a little tid bit of info from Craig. Then we split off into our groups and started hiking. As soon as we got into the woods, my groups stopped to eat (thank goodness because I was starving)!

After lunch, we headed above tree line (about 700m), and it was an awesome view! You could see all of Ushuaia, you could see the bay where all the ships are, the mountains, the glacier, and everything else…it was amazing! Then we started collecting data. We marked off a grid of 30 meters by 2 meters, and then got in 2 groups of 3. We had to army crawl into the trees because they were only about 3-4 feet tall in order to get at the roots and measure the diameter of the tree trunks.

After we were done with that sight, we headed down into the woods 100m to the 600m sight. The trees there were all about 15-20 feet high and weren't as crowded as they were at the tree line. This made things a little easier, so we decided to mark one line of 30 meters, and then have a moving line of 5 meters on either side of that line instead of making a complete grid. We again worked in groups of 3, but it was much easier this time.

It was really interesting to me how the trees near the tree line were so much smaller not only in height but also in diameter. It seemed like as we climbed down the mountain, they just kept getting bigger, and also more spread apart. Perhaps it is the altitude, or perhaps it is the runoff water from the glacier, or perhaps it is the temperature associated with either height or openness of the area. But, either way, I'm not sure how or why this phenomenon happened, but it was still really interesting.

After we were done, we headed out to the road. Craig was pretty crazy the whole time because of the fact that he moved like a spider through all the trees and brush. When we got back to the hotel, we desperately needed a shower, and I think that it was one of the best showers that I have ever taken!

At 8, Jenn, Carrie, Brad, Bill, Ben and I went to dinner, and after a long discussion about it, we decided to try a new place - The Fruit Garden. Even though we know some places in town are better than others, I really want to try different places. So, Ben and I decided that tomorrow (and maybe even from now on), we are going to venture out and eat at new places.

After dinner, we hit up Gadget for a soft serve ice cream for only 1 peso. Then we came back and started working on our journals and projects. Of course, we had new pictures to play with, so I didn't really get too much done. I have the basis of my project laid out, but I still have some work to do. Unfortunately, I am one of the ones who is the furthest on their project, so apparently everyone else has even more work to do! Oh well, it will all get done sooner or later.

During my procrastination, I headed to Bill and Ben's room to look at pictures. Then we ended up watching an episode of South Park. After that, I decided that it was time to go, finish my journal for the day and hit the bed. We've got lectures at 8:30 tomorrow morning, a good project to finish up and probably some shopping to do tomorrow, so I'm going to need to be recharged from our exhausting but really fun hike today!

Sunday, December 28, 2003

After lunch, we came back and worked on our projects for a little bit and then went downstairs at 2 for another lecture. This time it was a guest lecturer who was an IAATO, SCAR representative. He had some interesting things to say, but after 2 and a half hours, I was getting a little restless and definitely ready to head out of that lecture room. However, it was interesting to hear about how they are making plans to clean up the mess that we have already made in Antarctica and more importantly how to keep it from being ruined like other places that are sacred on this earth.

After he finished, we chatted about what was going to happen for the rest of the trip (in regard to presentations and exams etc.). A lot of people had major issues with things changing, which got really annoying after a few minutes. I just think that people are adhering too much to the course pack and not realizing that we can't do everything that we had planned because we are abroad. I am a very flexible person, and I guess that I just need to realize that some people aren't. But in the end, we got it all figured out.

Then it became project time. As I said before, I am very close to being done. So, it was time to finish that up as well as I could before dinner. And, that's what I did! I felt so good! I had a little fine tuning to do, but my presentation is basically done.

But, then an unexpected turn of events happened. I went to Craig's room to return a tape measure from the tree counting yesterday, and he asked me how I was doing. I told him that I was doing great because I just finished my project. He looked at his watch, and said "well, it's about 6, so come back at 6:30 and we'll go over it." So, I went back at 6:30 and he said that my project was good, but he gave me a lot of tips to make it a lot better. So, I started to fix it, but I didn't get very far because John, Bill and I went down to dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was probably the best dinner that I've had since I've been here…it was great! The only bad thing was that John told us that him mom was sick, and we started talking about death and I started thinking about my grandpa and it got so in depth that I actually started crying at the table. But, I don't think either of them noticed, and if they did, they didn't say anything.

After dinner, we came back to our room, and Bill was nice enough to come back and see if I was ok. Then he brought his computer in and we started working on our presentations. Soon after that, Carrie and Brad came back, so the 4 of us worked on our presentations together (amongst listening to selective comedy on our computers).

Monday, December 29, 2003

Bill, Ben and I took a lunch break and it was really good! We wanted to try a new place, so we went one block towards the water and checked out some of those restaurants. They were all pretty much the same, so we went in one of the last ones on the strip.

I liked the little place a lot because it had old artifacts on the walls and it played Spanish music while we ate. I wish that the restaurants here would be more like that. I just think that if I am in a foreign country, it would be nice to hear and be shown more of that country's culture. But, none-the-less, lunch was really good.

After we got back, we worked on our projects some more. It was a slow process, but eventually more and more of us are getting closer to being done. From what I've seen, they look pretty good too!

I got to a point where I couldn't work anymore until I went to the internet, so with only a half hour to work, I sped to the café and tried to get what I needed before the review session at 6. I got all my info, except that the A drive didn't work…again! By this time it was nearing 6 so I just left with the idea that I would come back later just to save it to my disk. On the way home, I saw another internet place so I ran in really quick. I tried to load the webpage that I needed, and it wouldn't load at all. So, by this time it was really almost 6, so I just quit and came back. There was a one peso minimum at that place, and I couldn't argue that I was only on the computer for a minute and it didn't work, so I just gave him the money…at least it was only a peso!

After the review session, Carrie, Brad, Kannan, Jacquelyn and I went to the restaurant downstairs to eat dinner. And damn was it good! I think that this restaurant definitely has some of the best food that I've had since we've been gone!

Now it was time to finish the projects, so Carrie and I went off to the café once more. I got my info up and of course the A drive wasn't working again! Luckily the one on Carrie's computer was working, so I just used that. She had to keep my disk for her info, so I came back here to take a shower. After my shower I couldn't work on my project for about a half hour because of the fact that Carrie had my disk and Bill still had my computer. I love helping people out, but I needed to work on my project. Oh well, I got it back soon enough...they owe me!!! Carrie, Brad, Bill and I ended up staying up until 2:30 working on our projects. It is not going to be a fun morning!!!

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

We then got back to the bus and stopped at a different place to eat. My favorite part of the park was just the scenery itself. Chaniel told us all about the plants that we found, and also about some of the flowers. We even got to eat a different type of mushroom and also a seed of some kind that tasted like pepper. Then we ended up going on a couple more smaller hikes before we headed back towards Ushuaia and getting home a little before 4. It was a really long day, and my back was killing me from all the hiking the past few days, but it was really fun and just amazing scenery!!! We had an hour to shower and do some project work before we started oral presentations at 6 - luckily I don't have to present until tomorrow. We sat through almost 4 hours of presentations, but it didn't seem that long because the presentations were really good (and some of them very humorous).

After they were finished, Carrie, Brad and I headed off to dinner. We ventured down off of the main strip and went down to the street by the water. All of the restaurants are basically very similar, but we went to one called something like the Nautical Pub and Restaurant. Well, this place was a little different than the others because it was super nice. I ended up getting some kind of fish with salsa and guacamole on it. I've never heard of that combination before, but it was really good!

We came back, and of course, I put the finishing touches on my project. Then Ben and I helped Justin with his penguin project, and after that we joined Carrie and Brad to study a bit. It was a pretty funny picture because Brad and Carrie were on her bed, Ben and I were on my bed, and we were all snuggled next to each other leaning up against the headboards. But, at 2:30, we had enough and went to bed…I had to get some rest before my presentation in the morning!

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

After presentations we headed upstairs to eat, nap, work on journals or study. I chose to work on my journal and study a bit. I have my journal completely done, and I feel really lucky because there are some people are really far behind. But, with that done, it was now time to really study for the exam, so Carrie, Brad and I went to Central (the best ice cream and coffee shop). They have the best ice cream that I have ever had in my life…no joke. It is so amazing!!!

After our ice cream and a little studying, my computer died, so we headed back to the Cap Polonio and studied some more until quarter to 4 when we headed downstairs for the dreaded exam.

I think that the exam went pretty well, despite how I thought it would go. I feel like I performed in the 85% area, but I have no idea how hard they will grade it. But either way, it's over, and no matter how I did, I can't change it now right?

After the exam I came up stairs and showered, and then we had a meeting at 7 to go over the plans for tonight. Dinner starts at 9, so we are supposed to be there before then. I'm excited because of the fact that the ice cream that I had for lunch didn't quite fill me up as much as I wanted it to. So, this all you can eat buffet thing will be excellent! Not to mention an open bar (well not really open…the faculty paid for the dinner and the open bar for us…thanks!) I just hope that no one abuses it too much. Don't get me wrong, drinking is fine, but we are representing MSU so I hope that nothing gets too out of hand.

After the meeting, we came back up to our room and got ready. I can't wait for tonight…no more school, no more things to worry about except for having a good time. I have a feeling that I am just going to have to write about tonight in the morning, so until then…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well I was right, I am writing this the next morning, but it was awesome…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Last night was basically the best new years I've ever had. Don't get me wrong, I missed my friends terribly, but it was such a different experience from anything else I've done, and it was with my new friends! We started out by going to the Albatross a little before 9. We got there, and started out the evening by being handed a glass of champagne. Then we got seated and saw that they had this marvelous display of food for appetizers.

The food was basically good…different and fancy, but very good. I found myself thinking something interesting about the food though. As I was eating the sea food that they had displayed, I wondered if it was endangered. I know that there are laws out there on the limits of catch sizes etc, but I also know that a lot of fisherman cheat the system and go around those limits. People in Japan still whale although it's illegal, so I just wondered if this food was acceptable to be eating. Then I figured that it was because of the fact that this was a fishing town, and so they probably caught their own fish right in the bay. Not that that means anything, because I'm sure there are some endangered fish in the bay, but I guess I just trusted them and also the people around me, because they were eating it too. I guess that's what studying abroad does to your way of thinking!

We sat around at the table forever waiting for our dinner and dessert. One funny thing that happened was that I felt a sudden hand grabbing my butt (in hindsight I see that it was accidental mistake for the chair) and then all of a sudden my chair was being pulled clear across the isle to the other table. Craig decided that he wanted me to try and explain my joke that I made in my presentation…hahaha. So we started talking for a bit, and let me tell you, he was hilarious!!! Finally it ended up being midnight and we stood up and toasted to the New Year with another glass of champagne. After the toast we hit the dance floor and got the party started.

Everyone was dancing - literally everyone…it was so much fun!!! Cathy and I decided that we wanted to bring some culture into the party, so we wanted to start the Russian dance that we did on the ship...so we did! At first I thought it was going to be kind of lame, but everyone on the dance floor ended up doing it, even people not in our group. Then Craig started a conga line and grabbed me and threw me in behind him and the others. That didn't last too long, but it was still fun. I think the people at the hotel thought that we were a little crazy. Even if they didn't at that point, they did soon enough because that's when they started to bring out the party favors like leis, noise makers, hats and masks.

I grabbed a little streamer and suddenly had a brilliant idea. I gave one end to Cathy and told her that we were going to start the limbo. Again, at first I thought it would be kind of lame, but it ended up being almost our whole group involved. Some of the wait staff even joined in!

We then went back out on the dance floor and Justin grabbed my hand and we started dancing. It was a lot of fun because he was twirling me all over the place! Then Ben and I decided that it was time for our tequila shot that we had been talking about all week (because we are 2 of the few people who actually like them). So we did, and it was very yummy! The guy didn't even charge us for them either…bonus! After that we went back to the tables and just hung out for awhile and then we decided that it was time to leave. Ben had gone to try and call his family, so Cathy and I waited for him and when he came back down we all walked back to the Cap Polonio.

When we got back, we ended up standing in the hallway outside our rooms talking with Bethany, Cathy, Bill, Ben and Mark. Cathy went to bed soon, and then Bethany and Bill decided that it would be a good idea to start wrestling, so Mark and I sat on the stairs and were quite happy being observers.

Finally we had enough and went to bed a little before 4. It was such a late night, but it was so worth it because it was so much fun! As I said earlier, it was definitely the best New Year's that I've ever had. We had a toast early in the evening to "great memories and 23 new friends". I think that just sums up the evening and the whole trip…

Thursday, January 01, 2004

So, Ben and I went and started to paint the town. We walked all the way down to pretty much the end of the main part of town. Unfortunately most of the stores were closed, but we still had fun anyways. Then we came back to the hotel and we, along with Kannan and Karalea at lunch at Marcopolo. Karalea had to leave to go to another town with a group of people, so as the 3 of us sat there, Craig came up and sat down. We started talking and he ordered his meal, along with a beer for all of us (a coke for Kannan). So, we sat there drinking a beer and talking with Craig until he was done…it was a rather enjoyable meal if I do say so myself! Then Kannan, Ben and I brought Ben's computer downstairs and sat on the couch to watch South Park in the room where we had all of our lectures. We watched an episode, and then decided to watch another. I was falling asleep during the last one because I was so tired, but we finished up and then headed out on the town.

Brad and Carrie came with us this time, and we headed to the outskirts and went to the old airport (the one where the runway was a bit too short, and some of the planes got wet - remember?). We just ended up walking around for awhile, and then we went to Central to get some more amazing ice cream (do you get the picture yet that I LOVE ice cream?). The owner there knows us now and is one of the nicest people that I've ever met (not that I really know him all that well).

After ice cream, Carrie and Brad went back to the hotel and Kannan, Ben and I kept on our trek. We headed down to the very end of town (on the other end) before we decided to turn back. Then we walked all around taking pictures of all of the places that we've eaten while we've been here. More of the souvenir shops were open now, so we stopped in a couple of them (and I bought some wine for my mom and her boyfriend Brian). Once we got back to the hotel, Kannan went inside, and Ben and I wanted to check out the mall so we kept walking. We got to where we walked to this morning and since that was pretty much the end of town, we figured out that we passed it, so we turned around. When we finally got to the mall, we discovered that it was actually right across from where we left Kannan and right next to the hotel, so we walked all that way in the rain for nothing. To make matters worse, it wasn't even open!!! Oh well, it was nice to walk around the town for a bit, even if it was raining. I especially liked it because it's nice to walk and talk with new friends and get to know them better.

After the mall incident, we headed back to the hotel and soon after that Carrie, Brad and I decided to go to Tanta Sara's for dinner for our last night. We ended up bringing Cathy, Jacquelyn, Amanda and Jenn with us too. We had told Bill that we had to eat at Tanta Sara's again, and he completely agreed, but he ended up going out to eat without us. Oddly enough, April, Callista, Justin and Bill walked in right after we sat down…it was a merry time at the 2 tables!

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and I packed up my stuff. Tomorrow starts our long, broken up venture home. I'm excited to go see these new places, but I don't want to go home. Actually, I mostly don't want to stop seeing the people here. But, at least most of the people will be at MSU…I guess all good things must come to an end right?

Then at about 12:30, a bunch of us set up the projector in our room to watch Old School on the projector that we borrowed from Craig. What a great movie...it's one of my favorites for sure! I'm glad I already packed though because it's going to have to be an early morning in order to get some more last minute shopping done!

Friday, January 02, 2004

We had to check out of the hotel at 10, so we all left our bags in the lobby and Bill and I went shopping for some last minute souvenirs. I got some chocolates for my mom and my grandma, and he ended up buying some things for his family too. Then we decided that it would be perfect to make one more stop to Central for some ice cream. Bill was nice enough to pick up the tab again too.

After ice cream, we met up with Ben and although we were done shopping, we just walked around for a bit with him. I was disappointed because there was a sign that I saw on the way back from the National Park and I really wanted to take a picture of it, but I had no idea where it was. But, lucky as I am, right when we came out of a store, Bill pointed up and said "hey, isn't that the sign you wanted a picture of?" So, now I have my picture and I can leave Ushuaia a happy camper!

We had to be back at the hotel by 12:45, so Ben, Kannan and I decided that was just enough time to stop at Marcopolo for food. They had an omelet and I had dessert. I love how at noon I have already eaten ice cream and another dessert…yet another reason that I don't want to leave! Right when we started our meal, Craig came over and told us to get a move on. So, we scarfed it down and helped load up the bags onto the bus. Then, at 12:45 we were officially on our way out…so sad! The airport was just as usual, except that the architecture is really neat (and surprising for such a small airport). On second thought, perhaps that's why it can be so unique, because it is so small.

After we got on the plane, I realized that my seat was right next to Amanda - good. But, then I realized that it was right behind the stewardess cabinet so we had zero leg room - bad. We also looked out the window and all we could see was a huge blue engine - also bad. Luckily the flight wasn't that long.

After we got off the plane, we rode the ghetto little tram to the baggage claim. That's where we had some trouble. Our bags didn't seem to want to come off the plane. Finally a security guard asked me if I still was waiting for bags, and when I told him I was, he asked me to see my tickets. Of course, we had checked our bags all together, and we needed them to leave the airport, so therefore John had them all at the exit. So, I just basically ignored the guy, and eventually all of our bags came out - except Alyssa's which apparently went to the other Buenos Aires airport, and would be delivered to her later tonight.

So, I go to leave the airport and the woman can't find my bag's on the ticket. After a few minutes she found them, and I went on to the bus. Whew!!! We got another little tour of Buenos Aires from the guide on the bus, which was really interesting. Again, it was hard to listen to the tour because of the newness of the city all around, but it was still interesting.

When we got to the hotel, as my bag was being taken off the bus, the shoulder strap broke - crap. Knowing that we still had 3 airports to travel through, I needed to go upstairs and repack. So, we all got dressed and showered to go out, and I repacked all my lightest things in my duffel bag so that I could carry it.

We got a whole group of us together and headed to a steak house. Mark, Brad, Jenn, Cathy, Carrie and I (and later Callista), ate together and decided to celebrate our almost last night by ordering a bottle of champagne! And was it yummy!!

They gave us free empanadas that were delicious, and then Carrie and I split a fish dinner (the portions were so big that everyone had to split their meal). After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to see if Bill and Ben were back there and also so Callista could change.

By that time everyone was ready to go, so 10 of us started walking around the town looking for a club. The group consisted of Mark, Callista, Jenn, Carrie, Brad, Cathy, Kannan, Bill, Ben and I. After walking for what seemed like forever, we decided just to stop at a little café and have a couple beers outside. After that, we started walking again, and it wasn't until Carrie asked some locals that we had any clue as to where we were going.

We followed their directions, and soon found ourselves lost in the ghetto, and if we weren't in such a big group, I may have been a little scared. No streetlights, no house lights, no nothing. Just 10 American college students lost in a foreign country…can it get any sketchier than that?!?

Finally Carrie found some more guys and they directed us to a club that was actually where they said it was. We went in and luckily there was no cover, but it wasn't the type of club that we wanted. We all wanted to dance, and this club was definitely for sitting only. But, we all had a drink anyways, and not only was Bill nice enough to not only get me a drink from the bar, but pay for it too! Some guy was walking around taking pictures of everyone, which I thought was pretty strange. After he took our picture, he handed us an internet address, and then I realized that they were going to put our picture up on the website to buy. Then we hit the road, on to bigger and better things…we hoped!

This time we had real directions, so we ended up hailing 2 taxi's, smashed people on laps, and got to this other club about 10 minutes later. It cost a total of about 4 pesos per cab - nice! So, we walk into the club and it was perfect! First of all, it was 5 pesos for women to get in and 15 for men (fair? No, but I'm not complaining!) The only thing different about paying cover there than here besides the fact that it's cheaper, is that they give you a ticket for a free drink…perhaps our bars should take note.

This club had an upstairs and a downstairs, both were equally fun. The only part of the whole night that I didn't like was when Cathy and I came out of the bathroom. Some local guy grabbed me and just felt that it was ok to start making out with me. I kindly pushed him away and informed him that indeed, that was not ok! So Cathy and I proceeded to find our group and we just went in and kept dancing.

It was about that time, when Ben and I decided that we needed to do a tequila shot - very scrumptious! After a bit more dancing, Brad, Cathy, Jenn, Carrie, Ben and I decided that another tequila shot was in order. After yet more dancing, Kannan, Brad, Carrie, Ben and I figured that it was time to leave the club.

We hailed a taxi, piled in and headed to the Gran Hotel. Once we got there, it was around 4am. Kannan, Ben and I felt the need to watch South Park, so we set up Ben's computer in the Dining room of the hotel and I don't remember which episode we watched because I kept falling asleep - I was so tired!

After that, we headed back up stairs. Then I discovered that my room was locked, with Amanda and the key inside. She had already been woken up twice that night, so I felt really bad having to wake her up again. Ben was super nice and he told me that if I couldn't get in, just to knock on his door and I could crash there. But, at about 5am, Cathy and I went down to the front desk and got an extra key. I've never slept as soundly as I did that night. A few days with 2-4 hours of sleep will do that too you I guess!

Saturday, January 03, 2004

Of course, the airport had some of the longest lines that we've encountered on this whole trip. But, eventually we made it to the gate, where we were supposed to take off at 11:15. We got word that we weren't going to be able to board until noon because of a maintenance problem - no biggie right? WRONG! At 1:15, they finally came on the PA and told us what was going on (in Spanish of course). Well, when all of a sudden everyone around us start morning, we got a little scared. Come to find out, the plane is not able to be used, and we have to wait until the next plane gets here…at 8pm tonight! So, with a couple meal vouchers and a rather large waiting area, we owned the Buenos Aires airport, gate 13 for the day.

Now, one would think that being stuck in an airport for an extra 10 hours wouldn't be the most fun thing ever…well, they would be right. Luckily we were able to come in and our of the security area whenever we wanted to go to the cafeteria and get food. For Christmas, my roommate Stacey gave me a book entitled "Conversation Starters" because she knew I was going to be with all new people. Well in between card games, some of us sat in a circle and busted out the book. We got through almost half of it before lunch…it was pretty fun, considering we were stuck in an airport. After we ate lunch, we played a lot of cards, including euchre and hearts.

Then we had tea (which ended up being Pepsi and croissants). After we ate, I took a nap on the floor, and then Justin woke me up because we had to all leave the gate and go through security again. Why you ask? I have no idea. It's not like any of us left and are now carrying something not allowed on planes. But, for security measures, I guess it had to be done. So, we finally boarded the plane around 8 or so and took off at about 8:45. Now, as I said before, being in the airport isn't the most fun thing that I've ever done, but it by far wasn't the worst. The only bad things were these: 1- we were in a foreign city that was really neat, and that we didn't get a chance to look around last night, and I would've much rather done that. And 2- when we finally got on the plane, we realized that we still had a 9 hour ride ahead of us!

I was lucky because I had a good seat. Bob and Elise were on the end, and then in the middle rows was me, Carrie, Brad and Bethany. I'm glad that I got to sit with Carrie and Brad because I got to become really good friend with them on the trip (Bethany was a little too far to talk to very much). I'm glad that I got to sit next to Elise too, because we didn't talk that much on the trip, but we did on the plane. I'm glad that I got to know her at least a little bit.

Now if you recall, the 9 hour plane ride down here was horrid. There were about 100 15 year old girls yelling, clapping and walking around all over the place. This ride was so much better, but there were still a few kids yelling and screaming. But, when the plane got dark they quieted down thankfully.

My back has been killing me for about 3-4 days, so after we ate dinner, I took my medicine. It happens to knock me out, so I went and talked with Bill for a bit, went and said hi to Ben, and then I was out like a light for a long while!

Sunday, January 04, 2004

So, at 9ish, a woman named Susan and 2 other people came into the hotel. We chatted a bit, and then loaded in the vans for our trip. We were in 2 15 passenger vans, and stopped several times to take little hikes through paths and boardwalks. We saw a lot of birds in the beginning of the day. Now I'm not a huge bird person, but the thing that I found really interesting was that some of the birds that we saw are found just in the Everglades, but some are even found in Michigan!

Then we got to see some alligators!!! We ended up seeing somewhere between 15 and 20 of them. Kind if ironic that we just got back from seeing penguins, seals and whales, now we are looking at gators and turtles!

Then our group split up into 2 groups. One group put on their rubber boots and went wading out to this little island. I didn't feel like getting muddy and wet, so I stayed in the group that went into a nice (and dry) path in the middle of something called a Hammock (made out of Cyprus trees I think). It was beautiful in there. It was completely enclosed, and just breathtaking.

When we met back up with the rest of our group, we headed out to the last stop of the day, Florida Bay. This place had a souvenir shop, restaurant and everything. But, the view was a little different, but it was still just as beautiful! We took some pictures with our travel pals, and then talked a bit with Susan and co. to end the day at the Everglades.

When we got back to the hotel, a lot of people wanted to order Chinese food, but Cathy told me that I couldn't because we were going out for my birthday. So, everyone keeps asking me if I wanted to order food, and I told them that I didn't know because I thought we were going out. But then in my mind, I felt kind of bad going out with just the 2 of us because it was our last night. Everyone kept trying to pull me in different directions, so by this point I was getting very frustrated. Isn't celebrating supposed to be fun, not chaotic?

Anyways, Bill came outside and asked what we were doing, and I kind of snapped at him and told him that I didn't know. He said that he wanted to go out for my birthday, and then Ben came out and said the same thing. While that made me feel a lot better, I was still frustrated, so I told them that I was going to take a shower, hoping that it would get ironed out when I was away. Luckily, and to my surprise, it did! When I got out of the shower, someone came in our room and told me to get dressed because a lot of us were going out. So, we met downstairs, and to my surprise, there ended up being 17 of us going out to dinner!

We ended up going to a Chinese buffet so that we could make everyone happy (gotta love compromises!) Once we got there, I heard Cathy and Mark talking about going somewhere "to make things a little more interesting". I had no idea what they were talking about, but they said that they would be back soon. (This will have more relevance in a little bit).

So we had a great dinner, and everyone was so stuffed! Carrie and I got up to get ice cream, and as we were standing in line, I glanced over at the table and saw everyone looking at Cathy. She likes to talk, so I didn't think it was that abnormal...until I saw the fire. Then I see Brad come and grab my arm and take me back to the table. Apparently Cathy and Mark went to K Mart earlier and bought a piece of cake and candles for me! They are so sweet! Of course, the cake and candles were followed by 16 people singing happy birthday to me in the middle of a Chinese buffet - can a girl ask for anything more?!? I was kind of upset before, but everyone made me feel better, and they probably didn't even know it!

After, we waddled back to the hotel because we were so full, I packed up my stuff to get ready for our early departure in the morning. Then I went to Kannan, Bill and Ben's room to watch the football game with them. Amanda and Cathy came in a little while later too. Near the end of the game, we decided that it would only be appropriate to watch an episode of South Park. It was kind of a lazy, not very exciting way to spend our last night, but honestly, I loved it. I made so many good friends this trip, and although we didn't do much, it was nice to spend the last night with most of them.

Monday, January 05, 2004

By this time I was starving, so Ben and I went to Burger King for breakfast. After breakfast, we went back to the gate and I started to work on my journal but then I decided that it was almost time for our trip to end and I would much rather spend time with my new pals instead of working on my journal. So, that's what I did! Mike, Bob, Elise and I started looking through my pictures that I had on my computer, so that took up a good chunk of time. After that, I went over and chatted with Carrie and Ben for awhile, and Ben asked me to switch my seat with Bob and Elise so that I could sit with him on the flight. Luckily, Bob and Elise didn't give a hoot, so Amanda and I switched with them.

The flight was good, not too long, but just long enough. The 3 of us (Amanda, Ben and I) watched South Park and then we took a nap. Actually it ended up being only me that took a nap, but it was wonderful! Then Ben and I just talked about random stuff for the rest of the flight.

After we landed, we headed of the plane and met with the group right outside. Craig gave a little speech about how great the trip was and how he's excited for our adventures to either begin or continue with this trip. As corny as it sounds, I did get a little teary-eyed during it. Then, John said a couple things and then suggested that everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to me. So, in the middle of the airport I got a nice happy birthday (again). I had a little epiphany today too. I missed my favorite day of the year with my family - Christmas. Even though I had so much fun on New Year's, I missed that with my family and old friends too. So, since my birthday is on a transient day, I decided that it wasn't going to be the best birthday either. But, as long as I knew that ahead of time, I wasn't going to be upset about it. But, dinner last night and singing today meant so much more to me than any of my new friends will ever know…thank you!!!

After we had our little meeting, we headed down to the baggage claim. Of course, I looked for my mom as soon as we climbed down the escalator, but of course I didn't see her! So, I made my way toward the baggage carousel and finally saw her and my grandma there to pick me up. I ran up and gave them a big hug…it was definitely good to see them again.

After we picked up my stuff, it was time to say goodbye. I gave huge hugs to whomever I could find nearby, making sure to hit all of my closest friends of the trip. I know that I will see them all again up at school, but it still made me really sad to leave them. But, as I have said before, all good things must come to an end right?

So, with bags in hand, we head out to the street. My mom decides that it will be ok to go in a "do not enter" zone, so after we get yelled at by the police/security guy, we head back toward the terminal. My grandma and I decided to wait until my mom went and got the car. Just as we started to wonder where she went, my phone rings and it's her. Is she on her way? No. Is she almost there? No. All that happened is that she can't find the car!!! Finally, about an hour after I first got my bags, my mom pulls up. Apparently she had been looking on level 3 and 4, and then branched out to 2, 5, 6 and 7 just in case. Then she met up with a security guard who offered to help her, and by her description, he told her that she was parked on level 8. Since she was now on level 3, he gave her a ride in his little golf cart. So, we finally loaded up the car and left.

We got home about 25 minutes later and after I emptied my bags out of the car and got my laptop ready to go, the 3 of us headed to El Charro's - my all time favorite restaurant. After an amazing birthday lunch, we went back to my grandma's house so that I could show her my pictures. She couldn't believe what I had seen, and to tell you the truth, either could I!!!

Then we hit up Best Buy to see what they could do with my camera. They told me that it needed to be sent out, and it would take 2-3 weeks and they would either fix it or give me a new one, either way, it was of no charge to me. One word…awesome!!!

So, then my mom and I headed home and relaxed for a bit. I checked my email and then we finished up Christmas that we started before I left. By that time Brian was here, and I started all over with the picture story of my journey.

Then it was time for birthday presents and cake (have I mentioned that I LOVE my birthday?!?!?!?!) Anyways, after that, we went through my pictures yet again so that my mom could pick out the ones that she wanted a copy of. Now I am typing in this journal and am so tired that I feel that I may fall asleep right in the middle of my living room. So, it is time for bed. I feel like this is not how I want my journal to end, and that I do not want this to be my last entry, so tomorrow will finish this up. Sweet dreams until then…

Tuesday, January 6, 2004

I think, no, I know that my favorite part of the trip was the day that we actually set foot on the continent. Not only were we actually on Antarctica, but the best part was the whales. If you know me at all, you know that I absolutely LOVE marine mammals, especially whales and dolphins. We had the Minke whale swim right under our zodiac and then only a few short hours later, we had Humpback whales literally a couple feet away from our ship and breaching all over the place! I said that this trip was a dream come true, but that truly put the icing in the cake. After we saw the Minke, I mentioned to someone that all I would need for this trip to be complete was to see some breaching Humpbacks…and we got that!

I think that my low point would be three things. One, the anchovy pizza was awful (ask Mark)! I had a bit of Spanish under my belt, but I think that it made it a little difficult to get around. However, I would not have changed it because it was a huge learning experience. I got to learn a bit more Spanish, and I also got to teach some to other people too. As long as we knew the basics, we were just fine.

Number two, the seasickness over the Drake Passage was not fun. Luckily, I did not get sick, but 75% of our group did get sick, and it made it really hard to get to know people when they are laying in bed barfing every once in awhile. I would strongly advise not trying to be a "tough guy" and taking some medication so you won't get sick. We had some of those "tough guys", and they ended up throwing up over the side of the ship. Number three is that the trip was not long enough. I know that we had the time constraint of school starting and all, but just as I felt like I got to know everyone really well, the trip was ending. Luckily, I will hang out with some of them back at MSU, but I would definitely not be opposed to going for a whole month.

If I ever do return to Antarctica, I would want to go to places that we didn't go to on this trip. I am really excited that we got to go to Bailey Head, because they don't get to go there very often. However, I think that I will go to the arctic before I went back to the Antarctic, just because it's somewhere new (not that I didn't LOVE the Antarctic)!

I would have to say that this trip definitely changed my life for many reasons. I love to travel, but now I know how much I love it. I've never really traveled hardcore before, and now I never want to stop! I have realized how passionate people can be about what they do, and I want to do that. Craig, John, Bob and Elise for instance love what they do, and I have always thought that to be most important. The paycheck at the end of the week is nice, but if you don't love what you're doing, what is the point? After seeing them on this trip, I realized that it is possible to make a living of doing something that you love, and that itself makes me excited for the future after graduation.

I also realized how close you can become with people when you are with them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and over 3 weeks in a row. I knew that I would get to know everyone, but I didn't know that I would get to know some people so well.

Finally, I want to thank everyone on the trip. First and foremost, thanks to everyone who gave me their pictures (some of which I used in this journal)…Ben, Bill, Cathy, Brad, Bethany, Callista, Mark, Amanda, April, John, and there are probably others too (sorry if I forgot you!). Thanks Craig, Bob and John for putting so much work into the course and the travel. I learned so much from all of you, and I appreciate all your dedication to the program, and most of all the students. Thanks for being our friends, not just our professors…it made the trip that much more fun! A special thanks to Craig for pushing us on our project, and not keeping grudges when we got angry with you. Thanks Elise for all of your extra info throughout the trip, and also for keeping me company and making me laugh on the 9 hour plane ride.

Thanks to the people whom I may not have gotten to know exceptionally well, but I am grateful to know none-the-less. Thanks Karalea for your spunky self and upbeat personality, even while you were sick. Thanks Alyssa for bringing a bit of variety that was not MSU. And thanks for teaching me about Hanukah with Dave! Thanks Dustin (Knuckles) for being a great guy and for teaching us how to push Craig's buttons...it was always good for a laugh! Thanks Bethany for always being yourself and not being afraid to speak what's on your mind. Thanks Callista for making me realize that the excitement that I have towards animals can also be felt towards plants…I've never seen anyone get so excited about plants before (well maybe Craig and Bob when they saw the plant on Antarctica).

Thanks Jenn for being very good at Spanish and helping those of us who aren't quite as good when we needed it. Thanks Jacquelyn for keeping Cathy under control. Thanks also for your little comments here and there; I think they were more comic coming from such a quiet but great person. Thanks Mark for being anorexic...there had to be someone right? Just kidding! Thanks for keeping me laughing, and for being one of the nicest guys I've met. Thanks Mike for being so sarcastic…my kind of guy! Thanks Amanda for sharing "issues" with me regarding my project…it's nice to have someone with the same sense of humor to work with. Thanks April for always helping with everyone else's projects (not that we didn't help with yours)! Thanks for also being one of the sweetest girls ever. Thanks Dave for teaching me about Hanukah and also for having the damn best penguin impression I've ever seen…you will forever be my #1 penguin (Hanukah, Hanukah, Hanukah)! Thanks Justin for keeping it real and fun. You're an awesome dancer and even though we didn't take another spin in Miami, we'll hit the floor soon enough.

Most of all, thanks to the people whom I got to know extremely well…the bread group and our groupies. Without you, this trip wouldn't have been nearly as good. Thanks Kannan for being you. I've never met anyone who is so unique, and so proud of it. You're so funny even if you don't mean to be. I learned so much from you on this trip, and I can't wait to learn even more. Thanks also for you and Ben introducing me to South Park…now I'm forever hooked! Thanks Brad for laughing with us and being the king of nicknames. I will never think of the name grandma the same again! Thanks also for asking me that question after my oral presentation…I really appreciate that!

Thanks Cathy for being the life of the party with me (even if you call me grams). I love the fact that you aren't afraid to be yourself. Thanks for a birthday that I will never forget. I was really dreading it, but you made it wonderful, and you'll never know how much I appreciate that (thanks to everyone for helping out)! Thanks to Ben for being real. You're a unique individual, and I love that you are proud of that. You stick to what you believe, and aren't afraid of it…thanks for being your sweet self (and also for introducing me to South Park). Thanks to Bill for being such a nice guy. You're always thinking of other people and you're so genuine. You definitely make me feel special, even if you didn't do it on purpose. And finally, thanks to Carrie for being the best roomie a gal could ask for. Weather it was late night rides to pick us up ("you're ride's here…their waiting!), good morning songs with Mr. Bluebird, being "weird", or not understanding ("no? ok."), we always seemed to have fun times (even if most of them were at the wee hours of the morning when we wanted to be sleeping). I am really glad that we were roommates and were able to share this amazing trip together. Thank you for being you, and sharing these experiences with me, it wouldn't have been the same without you.

Thanks to all of you for making the first ever MSU study abroad to Antarctica (and my first and only study abroad) one to remember. There isn't one thing that I would change about the trip, and I have all of you to thank for that…so from the bottom of my heart, thank you!