Antarctic Field Course - Study Abroad
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Bill's Journal
QA
Name: BillMajor: Accounting
Year of Study: Sophomore
Why Did I Want To Study in Antarctica: I wanted to go to Antarctica to do something new, exciting, and different from my typical traveling.
Biggest doubt before the trip: My biggest doubt was that I wouldn't be able to handle the science-related coursework.
Best moment/experience: Best moment was when the whale was swimming around our zodiac boat.
Worst moment/experience: Worst moment was vomiting during Drake Passage.
Favorite Scenery/Place: My favorite place was Paradise Bay.
Favorite Animal: Favorite animal was any whale.
Would I Do This Again? Of course I would do it again.
What do I think differently about since being back? I think differently about different cultures around the world after living in Argentina for over a week.
How Enjoyable was the Trip?I enjoyed the study abroad trip to Antarctica on so many levels. First of all, I learned more about the Antarctic System than any other topic I've studied in the past. Second, being able to actually be there and experience the things that we learned about made it so much better. It was amazing to see penguins, seals, whales, icebergs, and just being down there was pretty sweet in itself.
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Please use the links below to view a specific date further down the page.
December - 2003 January - 2004 |
Photos credited to William. Click an image to enlarge, hover over an image for a description.
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Sunday December 14, 2003
The excitement was building on this day, which was the second day of travel and the day we arrived in Ushuaia. As we made the trip here, I felt like I was getting a taste of the experience that I am anticipating from this trip. The main reason why I wanted to go on this trip was to broaden my horizons. I want to learn about and do things that are totally different from the same monotonous stuff I'm used to. It's not that I don't enjoy what I study at MSU or the culture that I live in, but it's so very fascinating and fulfilling to experience something different, and since I've never left the US/Canada before, I'm expecting to encounter differences in culture. Some I'm sure I will find interesting, fun, and more desirable than the U.S., and then some I'm sure I just won't be able to get used to.
Nearly everyone in the group had something to say about the middle school group that was on our plane today. This was a large group of kids around the age of 15. On the plane they were moving about the whole plane, having endless conversations, brushing up against people trying to sleep, and generally disturbing most of our exhausted and irritable group. Sure, they bothered me too, but I think we need to be understanding of culture differences. To us, they may have been loud and invading personal space and to us that is rude. The Latino people on the plane didn't seem to mind. Perhaps in their culture, trying to restrict the joy and fun of innocent kids who are very excited to have just visited Disney World with all of their friends is rude. So, that is what I think about that situation. I actually made an attempt to resurrect some Spanish I learned several years ago and talk to a couple of them. We tried to have a conversation but we didn't get far. We could not adapt to each other's culture in this situation, but we were both understanding of the situation, thus there was no conflict, just good old laughter. In the airport I even met a young woman from New Zealand and we had a long conversation about differences in our cultures. We laughed about how we have different names for everything. Unfortunately all differences in culture aren't this easy to solve.
When we arrived in Ushuaia, I just had a great feeling about this town. I took a snapshot of it from across the bay at the airport because it's just a really cool sight. It has a small town look and feel, and it's at the base of some snow-capped mountains. How cool is that? I like how Ushuaia has the feel of a little ski-resort town, but is bigger and has a different culture. I've been to Colorado ski resorts, so I've seen mountains before but with the lone exception of the size of the town, the culture is just like Bloomfield Hills, MI, which is where I live.
After refreshing myself with a nap in the hotel, I took a self-guided tour of the city. Even after thinking about this for so long, I still can't come up with the words to describe the neat feeling of interacting with a culture that is so different from what I'm used to, especially since I'm used to the cookie-cut Bloomfield Hills where everyone and everything is the same. After walking around the town and taking notice of all the cool sights and sounds, I went out to dinner with a substantial size portion of the trip's group. It's great how at the beginning of the evening I barely knew these people, and just a few hours later we were real friends. It's a great group of people, students and instructors, on this trip.
Monday December 15, 2003
Whew! Our exam was moved until tomorrow. It's going to be nice to have an extra day to get familiar with the material. I feel like I've finally recovered from a finals week where I got little or no sleep, and then a two-day trip that was just as exhausting. Following the lecture we had first today, we split up into groups and headed off to two museums in Ushuaia. I really liked these two little museums. I made a comparison between them and the big city museums that I'm used to from back in the U.S. I feel like I learned just as much, if not more, at these little places than at a big city museum. They were very informative and fascinating. And I loved the cozy small-town feel they gave. (and yes, technically Ushuaia is a city)
Just like my fellow student Justin Komori said at our recap/review this evening, perhaps the coolest part about going to the museums is the excitement about how we're seeing and learning about the same things that we're going to be experiencing first hand in just a few days. To be honest, the amount of material that we have to learn is a little overwhelming, especially since my mind functions best dealing with numbers, ratios, and graphs. It's hard for me to just flat out memorize species names and locations on a map, especially since I don't know anything coming into this trip. But I knew that this would happen before I signed up for the trip, so I shouldn't really complain.
As a group, we have become even closer in the past 24 hours. It's just great how we can all come together and find things in common, and live and learn together. We go out and we have a great time out on the town. I've never really enjoyed having a roommate, but I like rooming with Ben. He's a cool guy, except he's too neat! My things are just laying around the vicinity of my unmade bed while he's pretty neat and tidy. Stop making me look bad, Ben. Besides that, Ben is the man. The rest of the trip should be a blast. Everyone in the group is great, and all of the people in Ushuaia are very friendly.
Tuesday December 16, 2003
I am still having very positive feelings about the trip. Everything just keeps going so well. Me and Ben just got back from a nice evening including dinner with roughly half of the group, and John H. came too which I thought was great. All three of our instructors have been just great. They have done so much to ensure that the trip has been running smoothly, and I know that they put in a lot of time to plan and prepare for the trip. John has shown that he's not only a teacher to us, but also a friend. And I feel like Craig and Bob are the same way. They are very understanding of the fact that the students on the trip are not here just to study and nothing else. This is also like a vacation for many of us, not to mention an experience that we can enjoy and learn from in other ways as well. So they certainly do let us have our fun but they do a great job of teaching us as well. They are willing to do this because like Craig said, we've been going out and having a great time, but we've been responsible and courteous to the people in the town, the other tourists, and to each other. I think that we really have a great group here. This could just as easily be a social science trip rather than a systems science trip with this amazing interaction I've witnessed.
We took the first exam today. I have to admit that after taking this exam, I am feeling a little worried about the academics of this trip. We did a recap of the questions following the exam and I got a significant number of them wrong. Considerations should be made that this is just the first exam and we did not have much discussion or review of the material before hand, and we just didn't have much time to read the packets in the first place. But on the other hand, some of this material I do find quite difficult and so far it has been almost entirely memorization of names, places, terms, and definitions. This is not compatible with my learning style which is more number orientated, and involves analyzing and interpreting as opposed to reciting memorized information. I've always been the type to say that the actual learning aspect of education is more important than achieving good grades, but I also contradict myself because I have very high expectations of myself for my performance in school. But this is also because my family has very high expectations for me as well. So the point of all this is that I will certainly try my hardest to learn and understand the material, and I really want to. That's why I came on the trip. But performance like mine on the exam today makes me worry about the grade I will end up with, and that worrying will take away from the experience that I really came here to get. I know that understanding the Antarctic System and seeing what I've learned about in action will be a life changing experience, and I shouldn't let GPA concerns interfere with it. I do plan on studying a lot more though!
Today we took the exam and then had a lecture at the Cap Polonio. Following this we moved to the Albatross Hotel. We then went out to eat lunch, and then went to our third and final museum. I really liked this museum, like I did the other two. It had some great exhibits about 19th century sailing vessels. I've been fascinated by sailboats since before I could talk so this was pretty cool to me. The prison was pretty neat as well. Then we came back to the Albatross hotel to discuss our group projects for a bit and then some pre-departure information for the ship.
Wednesday December 17, 2003
Obviously, the highlight of the day was departing on the ship. This was so exciting and cool. I could tell that everyone in the group was excited as we boarded the ship. It's like they were thinking, "this is what we came here to do." We had several hours to get settled in before departure due to a crew member being delayed. So during this time we got settled in, ate a magnificent dinner, and enjoyed some champagne with all of the ship's passengers. It's hard to think of the words to describe the first few hours following departure.
First of all, the views of Ushuaia and the surrounding mountains were great. I saw my first albatross shortly after departure. But more so than the sights and sounds of leaving on a ship was the great feeling everyone had about it. It was the beginning of the most special part of an already very special trip. I could barely restrain my excitement when I was up on the high deck checking out the sights and sounds and thinking about how amazing of an experience this is. I thought back to the past few months when I would tell people that I was going to Antarctica for a study abroad program and they would say, "Antarctica? Who goes to Antarctica?" And now I have finally figured out what to say to them. Who goes to Antarctica? Some very lucky and privileged individuals, like our group from MSU.
Since the ship departure was the main aspect of our day, I skipped right past the first half of the day. We started with a great lecture from Craig followed by some free time. During this time Mike, Justin, April, and myself got some snacks and walked out to a big open grass field which was just beautiful with a stream running through it and everything. It was so peaceful and in touch with nature, and I think it's something all four of us will remember.
Thursday December 18, 2003
After such a wonderful beginning to the study abroad trip, today was rather depressing. The only event of the day to speak of really was crossing the Drake Passage. This is a very rough journey even for a ship that is about two-hundred feet long. The Polar Vortex which we have been learning about is bringing very strong winds. As a result of this, there are huge swells that are tossing the ship around. This is certainly not a dangerous situation, but it does cause inconveniences such as trouble walking, eating dinner, or even just standing still to take a shower. So why is it a depressing day? Well, my roommate and I have gotten quite sea-sick. We both have spent a majority in bed and when we tried to go out and walk around, we vomited. What's funny is that although neither of us have been on a big ship like this before, we were actually looking forward to the roughness of the Drake Passage because we knew it would be safe, but also adventurous.
We also decided that we would not use any sea-sickness drugs and let our bodies become stronger by dealing with it. As a result, we have both vomited and are spending the whole day in bed. We're not alone however. Our friend Kannan had a similar plan to avoid drugs going through the Passage, but he has also gotten sick. I know that I'm going to plan differently for the way back to Ushuaia. John gave our room a call this afternoon to check in and see if we were feeling all right. I thought that was really nice because even though he had to deal with the sea like everyone else, he still took the time to check in with the students and I really appreciate that.
Friday December 19, 2003
After a very unpleasant day of sea-sickness yesterday, I can say that I am feeling quite a bit better today. The queezy feeling sticks with me when I'm not lying down but I did not vomit today, which is a big plus. The late departure and the undesirable conditions in the Drake Passage have added between a half and three quarters of a day onto the length of our journey down to Antarctica. This is a little disappointing because although we have a pretty decent amount of time to be down there, I already know that I'm going to want to stay even longer. Besides resting off the sea-sickness, I did not do a whole lot today, but I did make it to some lectures given by the staff on the boat, which were very informative. It was great to see photos of the animals that I had previously only read about in text.
I saw my first iceberg today. That was pretty exciting, because for the past 36 hours all we have been able to see around us is the seemingly endless ocean. This is also cool because this, like seeing albatross, is another sign that we are officially in the Antarctic. I'm really looking forward to landing on Aitcho tomorrow morning.
This evening we had some discussion within our groups about the project. My topic is climate so I'm going to get as much climate data I can and then find the trends and see if they correlate with what Ben finds out about glaciers and what Kannan finds out about sea ice and what Dave is doing with remote sensing. The only thing that worries me is that when I visited the bridge today, and I spoke with the captain and his crew, they told me that they didn't have any instruments to measure wind speed, water temperature, or sea state. All I'm going to be able to find is air temperature, which is useful, but I could contribute a lot more if I had the other data as well.
I guess I'm just worried about the whole project in general because although I have the direction as to what I'm going to be doing, I don't really know what is going to be expected of me for the finished product. This all goes back to what I was writing about earlier. I really feel like I'm going to get a lot out of this trip, and I am trying hard to learn all of the material, but my concerns about my grade are kind of detracting from the enjoyment of the experience. All I can really do is work hard and do my best so that's what I'm going to do. I shouldn't be worrying, because that's not how I want to remember this trip.
Saturday December 20, 2003
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but not even a thousand pictures could describe how special this day was to me. I don't even know where to begin. Well, we started off the day by landing at one of the Aitcho islands. I was quite amazed to see not only a penguin in the wild, but thousands of penguins in the wild. We went around to the other side of the island and saw a bunch of seals lounging around on top of each other which was really cool. The island was very pretty with snow covered mountains and a rocky winding beach leading to the ocean where massive icebergs were not far away. We were only allowed to go within 15 feet of any animal but this is actually really close. It was just astonishing to be able to see these animals up close in their natural habitat, when before I had only been able to see them in pictures. Those penguins are fascinating creatures. I felt like I could have sat there and watched them waddle around all day, and the smile would not have left my face.
And those seals… although they weren't the most beautiful animals with their molting and burping noises, they are still just so interesting to look at. Maybe it was the shock of seeing those animals and a landscape that were so exotic and different to me, or maybe it was the natural beauty and wonder of this place, but either way my first day on Antarctic land will be one that I never forget. I've experienced and appreciated something that is so new and astonishing compared to what I am used to that I just feel different as a person. My experience in Antarctica to me is nearly unbelievable; I still can't believe I'm here.
Sunday December 21, 2003
I think I'm still a little cold from SWIMMING IN THE ANTARCTIC!!! Yes you read that correctly. Ask anyone in the group and they will tell you that the highlight of the day was the little dip we took at Deception Island. After checking out the magma rock, exploring the coast, taking some data measurements for our project, and looking at the old airplane hanger, I was still unsure if I wanted to take the "polar plunge." But I figured that I should make the most of this trip and that I'll never have a chance to do anything this crazy ever again so I did it, and it was extremely cold. The little pool of warm water that is naturally heated by the volcanic activity under the island was not enough to bring me back to a comfortable temperature. I shivered all the way back to the boat. This was a really crazy and silly thing to do but it sure was fun.
Earlier in the day we went to Hannah Point which was a very beautiful island. What I really liked about this island was that it had a more diverse array of landscape, which made for some very beautiful photos. There was magma rock, ice and snow covered ground, moss coverings, and lots and lots of rookery space. My favorite part about the scenery here was that there was a stream running through the middle of the valley. I can't quite explain it but there's something about a stream of flowing water that I just find intriguing. I stood and stared at this one point where a diversion of the stream went right down into the ground. Even though it was technically possible to figure out where this stream went, I enjoyed the mystery of watching the water flow out of sight.
Monday December 22, 2003
We had another busy day today. We started off going to Port Lockroy and Jougal Point. These were beautiful places. Since today was our third day of landings, our project work was in full swing. I'm feeling a little better overall about the way the project is coming along. I certainly feel like we are being productive out there, gathering data and learning a lot of new things, but I'm still a little unsure about the final product. I think that the tricky part of this whole thing is going to be piecing together everything we've collected into something presentable.
At the first landing today, my group members and I did more of the light reflectivity tests that we had been doing, and then individually I spent a lot of time describing weather and sea ice conditions, and photographing the different varieties of sea ice that were drifting near the shore of the island. Part of the morning landing was going to what used to be a British research station, but is now a post office as well as a very small museum. The scenery here was absolutely beautiful. (But what place that we've been to hasn't?) Since it was rather warm, and the sun was beaming down, I was able to see some icebergs break in half which was a pretty neat thing to watch.
Since our second landing was delayed, I was able to do whale watching for several hours during the afternoon. Chatting with my friend Stacey helped the time pass by, which was good, because it takes a lot of time and a lot of patience to spot a whale. After the ship dinner, which was a lovely barbeque, we went to our second landing which was the Petermann Islands. Here we were able to see the Adelie penguins, which we previously had not seen much of, unlike the Gentoo and Chinstrap which are all over the place. We were lucky to see some of their cute little fuzzy chicks. This was also the place where I had my first ever Antarctic snowball fight. I saw a few of the Zodiac drivers throwing around some snowballs so Stacy and I thought we would just kindly join in and we did. It was fun and playful, not violent, and it was just a lot of fun. While cruising in the Zodiac boat, we saw a Leopard Seal which was neat. The seal was just relaxing on an iceberg when we saw it.
Tuesday December 23, 2003
It's hard to believe that it's over already but today was our last day on land in Antarctica. It was also our first day on the actual continent of Antarctica, when we landed in Paradise Bay. I think that this place's name was very fitting; at least it was when we were there. The weather was absolutely beautiful. I had to take off my jacket and my fleece because it was so warm. We climbed up a hill where we were able to get some spectacular views, and on the way down, many of us chose to slide on our bottoms which was hilarious. Following our time on land here, we took a little tour on the Zodiac led by Ollie, who is our expedition leader for the whole cruise and a very fascinating and nice guy. One of the two highlights of this little cruise was being able to walk up onto an iceberg. This iceberg was grounded so it was safe to walk on, but it was still very exhilarating to be standing on nothing but frozen water, and being surrounded by nothing but more water.
The other highlight of the tour was seeing a whale go almost right under our Zodiac. This was absolutely incredible. At first, we had seen the whale one or two hundred meters away coming up for air but then we were lucky enough to encounter it much closer to the boat. When it came up for air, and then proceeded right down and I saw it swim underneath our boat, it really just took my breath away. I didn't even know what to do or say I was in such amazement. Living in a suburban city environment for most of my life, I tend to be quite astonished whenever I encounter the beauty of unspoiled nature. But seeing the whale so close to the boat like that was an interaction with nature that I know I may never have again. That was not the only whale sighting of the day, however. After lunch but before our final landing, we got word from Ollie that there were some Humpback whales outside the ship. When our group heard this, everyone ran out to the deck as fast as they could. The whales were very amazing to watch. One of them was breaching and when it did, its crowd of onlookers cheered. I had never seen a whale before this trip and likewise, I never really understood how massive, graceful, and beautiful they were.
It was an emotional time on the ship following our last landing of the trip. I found myself talking to my fellow students about how we want to come back in the future. I think that the fact that today was the last day on land, and that the four days had gone by so quickly, and also that we have been so busy and stressed out trying to gather data for our projects had made us forget that this will be the most incredible thing that most of us have ever done, and will ever do in our lives. Now that it's over, we're realizing this and although we feel sad that we can't stay longer to explore, enjoy, and learn about the land, we're happy and appreciative that we were lucky enough to have had this life-changing opportunity.
Wednesday December 24, 2003
The incessant rocking of this monstrous ship has brought back memories of the nausea and vomiting that the Drake Passage had given me no more than one week ago. This time, however, my roommate and I are fighting back by taking the seasickness tablets. Ben and I agree that so far they have made an improvement from last time, but still neither of us feel good getting up and walking around. So, like last time, we have spent a lot of time just taking it easy. I'm hoping that we'll both be feeling well enough tomorrow to go outside and get a good view from the top deck of the ship as we approach Cape Horn. We are supposed to be to that point around lunch time, and I think it will be a great sight.
There were three lectures today given by the ship's staff. The lectures were very informative and interesting and had excellent visuals to accompany them. Right before Ollie's talk about Antarctica 100 Years Ago, we heard word of Humpback whales off the starboard side of the ship. It turned out that they were quite far away but we could still see them despite the rough seas. I think that whales have got to be some of the most exciting animals on this planet. They are so huge, mysterious, and all around fascinating. The fact that people will jump up from whatever they're doing and run out to the freezing cold deck of the ship just to see the tip of a fin illustrates my point quite well.
Thursday December 25, 2003
As I am typing this journal entry, the M/V Orlova is anchored in the Beagle Channel. The first ever MSU study abroad voyage to Antarctica is coming to a close, at least the Antarctica portion of it, anyway. Today we finished the trip through the Drake Passage, which was very nice because that means no more seasickness! We were able to see some beautiful views of Cape Horn as we approached the Beagle Channel. I thought that the sunset tonight was particularly pretty as the sun dropped down below a hilly landscape of trees, something we have not seen in a while.
There were a few lectures and videos to keep us busy today. In the evening we had what was probably the most terrific meal I've ever had. We have been receiving top-rate dining service for the entire voyage but tonight topped them all. Besides the great food, it was great to see everyone come together to celebrate the great trip we just had and to thank all of the hard working people who made it all possible, including our three great leaders from MSU. Also tonight, we had our "secret santa" holiday gift exchange. The whole group really enjoyed this which was good to see. I remember one of my fellow students saying, "this is the best Christmas ever." It's amazing how 24 people who don't even know each other can come together and enjoy the holiday like we did. I've been feeling pretty homesick recently, especially since I haven't been able to email home from the ship, so it's nice to have such a friendly atmosphere around me.
Friday December 26, 2003
We woke up pretty early this morning for disembarkation. Since I opted out of the excessive partying that went on last night, I was feeling energetic enough to wake up a little extra early and catch the delicious breakfast in the dining hall on the ship. I think that as we walked down the gangway and onto the pier to gather our luggage, our group was feeling a little sad that such an incredible trip was coming to an end but we also had a kind of satisfaction that we had completed such a great journey. Although we have so many wonderful memories from such a short period of time, I'm sure that none of us will ever forget.
So after we walked down the pier back to Ushuaia, we walked around town a little before meeting back at the Cap Polonio for a group meeting. Following this, I took care of a few things such as getting groceries for tomorrow's lunch with Ben, and doing my laundry at the local laundromat. Interacting with the people at the laundromat reminded me how friendly the locals are, despite difficult language barriers. I really like Ushuaia, and this is one of the many reasons. Ben, Kannan, and I spent the whole afternoon working on our project. I didn't feel like I was making much progress but during our evening meeting, we discussed it with Bob and now I feel like I have a lot more direction with the project and I can see my final goal more clearly. I still have a lot more work to do, however.
Saturday December 27, 2003
Today was a busy day, and my feet are sore! In the morning, we had a few lectures down in the basement of Cap Polonio and then following that, we all piled into some taxis and went up into the mountains to do some field work. The main task of the day was collecting data that April and Karalea are going to use for their project. I believe April is using this data for her senior thesis, and by the end of the day we had collected a ton of data about the trees on that mountain. Although the data collection was rather long and tedious, I really enjoyed being up in the mountains today. The scenery was really beautiful and we were able to see a lot of aspects of nature that you can't find in East Lansing, or even Antarctica.
Perhaps I need some boots that are better suited for hiking, because my ankles were a little sore when we got home. I enjoyed being active today, however, it felt good to get back into my dry, comfy sneakers. This evening I went out to dinner with a few fellow students. We decided to try a new restaurant instead of going back to the same place. I'm really glad we tried out the new place because it was great, and John, Craig, Bob, and Elise just happened to come into the same place. I suppose I'm the type of person who generally will just stick to what they know, because I feel like when I venture into unknown territory it just ends up as trouble. But I think that trying new and different things, whether eating at an unknown restaurant, or going on a study abroad trip to Antarctica, can be adventurous, a good learning experience, and just better than the alternative that you are diverging from. I know that although I was nervous about going on a trip that was so out of the ordinary, especially for me, I'm very glad that I did because I feel like my life has had so many positive benefits because of it.
Sunday December 28, 2003
We were quite productive today, and it has tired me out! There were three lectures, which I thought were actually very good. Craig talked about the marine environment of Antarctica which was a rush of information. Then John talked to us about chemical contaminants in lakes and how it affects fish. I took particular interest in his lecture because one of the places where he was tracking PCB's while working for the DNR was White Lake, Michigan. This is the lake that my parents, and all of my grandparents, aunts and uncles grew up on. I had always known about the chemical pollutants that have been dumped in that lake over the years, but John gave us so much more data and other examples of this and it really interested me. When you can relate what you're learning to an aspect of your personal life then it really sparks the interest and that happened today. The third lecture of the day was by a guest speaker who Craig knew and met up with here in Ushuaia. He is here because he will be going to Antarctica on a tourist ship to make observations for IAATO. He came to the Cap Polonio and talked to us about what he does, and about all the environmental issues that have to be addressed by the scientists' as well as the tourists' presence in Antarctica.
I was able to get a good start on my PowerPoint project this evening, which is good because that means I'll have time to talk about it with the instructors tomorrow. Within the next few days we will be working on our individual presentations, studying for the final exam, as well as our group projects. It is very stressful but I actually talked to Craig about this today and I told him that like most everyone else, I am also stressed out about the work. I do feel optimistic, however, about my ability to do a good job on the work. Although my major puts me at a disadvantage compared to Biology and other science majors, I know that I'm capable of learning the material, and that's what I told Craig today. This evening John, Stacey, and I had dinner in the Marcopolo restaurant which is right here in the Cap Polonio. Somehow we ended up talking about the ill health of my grandmother and John's mother. Both have had the same thing happen within the past few weeks. I said that I thought it was good to discuss emotional things like this, and not to keep them balled up inside, but it's so hard to talk about things that make you sad. I really believe that John is dedicated to our group because although he really wants to be back at home with his family during this tough time, he's staying with us until the end. As he showed us today during his lecture, and as I have learned from talking with him on a personal level, John's passion for his work and his passion for life are so very admirable and are an inspiration to me.
Monday December 29, 2003
It's late at night but I have finally completed my PowerPoint presentation that I will be giving tomorrow night after we get back from the National Park. It's been quite stressful trying to get this project finished, while also preparing for the final exam which is the day after tomorrow. We started off the day bright and early with a lecture. Since I had stayed up quite late last night, I was a couple minutes late to the lecture which made me feel bad because I hate the possibility that I could be disrespecting the speaker. I liked learning about Macquire Island though, it seems like a fascinating place, with so much cool stuff to learn about. I bet that was an amazing life experience for Craig to be able to live and work there.
Besides working on my project and going to lecture and review for the test, I went out to lunch with Stacey and Ben to a place that we kind of picked at random. It turned out to be a great little restaurant. I really liked the atmosphere of the place. It was small and cozy, and had so much character because of all the decorations all over the place. In the evening, Kannan, Ben, and I walked down to the grocery store to get some lunch for tomorrow, and we actually got our dinner there so that we could eat while working on our project. It's such a relief to be done with the presentation. Tonight I told Craig that although this project was difficult for me, it really helped me to learn more about this topic and it was actually a good way to investigate the topic and understand it better than just reading about it in a book.
Tuesday December 30, 2003
I really enjoyed going to the national park today. It was very beautiful and it just gave me a good feeling to be in the midst of so much unspoiled nature. They had policies in place at the park that prevented people from corrupting the nature including that you cannot litter, and you cannot tamper with vegetation or wildlife. The first trail that we hiked along was spectacular. It had such a great variety of scenery which was very beautiful. The trail winded through the forest and alongside the bay, across from which were snow-capped mountains. At one of our rest stops, we had some fun skipping stones in the water. Following the first trail, we stopped for lunch at a picnic table right alongside the river. I got a few mosquito bites, but besides that we lucked out with the weather because it seemed like rain was threatening to fall all morning.
We went on a couple shorter trails in the afternoon, including one that went through a bog where we learned a bit about some carnivorous plants. I have never gotten much of a chance to go hiking like this, but I really enjoyed it today, just like I did when we visited the glacier a couple days ago. It is a really good, refreshing feeling to go out and experience nature while getting some good exercise. Most everyone slept on the bus on the way back to Hotel Cap Polonio. I guess we were pretty tired. Shortly after we got back we started the presentations. I gave mine tonight, and I think it went pretty well. Everyone has been working very hard on them for the past couple days and so far they have been pretty impressive to me. I usually get nervous about speaking in front of groups, but I feel like since I know everyone here and I've made myself well prepared for the presentation, it helped me to relax and I'm happy with the way it went.
Wednesday December 31, 2003
Today was the second day of presentations, which were in the morning. Following this, it was crunch time for studying for the final. We had a solid 4 hours of studying up in our room. It was a little stressful trying to go over all of the material again in this short time frame but when it came time to head down to the basement, I was all studied out and didn't feel like I needed more time. It would have been nice to have one more day though, because there were several things on the exam that I was really unsure about. I was a little disappointed that our non-major's review never actually happened, because I wanted to ask Craig a few specific questions that ended up being on the exam and I really struggled with. I felt like the test required too much memorization, especially since my learning style is exactly the opposite. The essay where we had to make a flow chart with the effects of climate change was a good question to ask because I think it was a lot more relevant to the course than listing names, dates, and countries of explorers. The one thing I can say for sure is that it's a relief to be done with the exam. It was a stressful time leading up to it.
Tonight we had an incredible time at the Albatross hotel. Craig, Bob, and John organized a great evening with dinner, drinks, and dancing. I had so much fun there. I don't even like dancing that much, nor am I any good at it, but I still enjoyed it very much. I think everyone enjoyed the New Year's Eve party a lot. Also, it was good to see that everyone in our group was able to let loose and have a great time, while being responsible and respectable to the older and upscale Ushuaia crowd that was also there.
Thursday January 1, 2004
Happy New Years Day! Today we were free to spend our time as we please, which I am really happy about considering how busy I have been in the past few days trying to complete the presentation while also studying for that final exam. Needless to say, I slept in quite late today. I actually got to sleep until about 11:00 a.m. which was very nice considering I've been used to having to wake up at around 7:00 or 7:30 each morning. So after I got up, I hung out in our room for a little while and watched some cartoons on my computer. Then a couple other students stopped by and we went across the street to Tante Sara to eat lunch. I was actually quite surprised to see how few restaurants were open on New Years Day. The one that we went to across from the hotel was pretty crowded and there were more people in the Marcopolo restaurant then I have ever seen before, so I wonder why more places weren't open. Also, most of the shops up and down San Martin Ave were closed.
After this we hung out for a bit before deciding that we should all take a nap. We were all still pretty tired from last night, which was certainly a blast, but kept us up a little past our bedtimes. So after we took a nap we socialized for a while before going to a different Tante Sara location for dinner. This location is farther away, but I believe it's worth the wait because the menu is better and it has a better restaurant atmosphere. When we came back from the restaurant a few of us watched a movie using the projector that Brad borrowed from Craig. That was pretty cool, it was just as good as a big screen television. I also wrote my mother an email today. She gets pretty worried about me, I think, and it makes her very happy to hear from me so I try to send her an email whenever I get the chance just to check in. I miss my family a lot and it's not long before I'll be back home.
Friday January 2, 2004
It's hard to believe that today is our last day in Ushuaia. That little hotel room has become the equivalent of my dorm room back in East Lansing and I really feel like Ushuaia has become my home away from home. Over the past week and then also the first few days we were here, our whole group has become quite familiar and accustomed to this small city. It has so much unique character and a very friendly feel that we have all grown to love. As our airplane from the Ushuaia airport took off and started heading towards Buenos Aires, April and I got a beautiful view of that wonderful city nestled in between the expansive bay and the tree-covered and snow-capped mountains. April shed some tears as we flew away from it and looked out the window. I was also pretty sad as well. I've never experienced a place such as this. The culture is so different from what I've been used to for my whole life, (not having internationally traveled before besides Canada) and it's a great feeling to have lived in it for this time.
The plane ride to Buenos Aires went smoothly and on the way from the airport to our hotel, we got to see some of this gigantic city. I believe Patricia, from the bus company, told us that there are 14 million people living in Buenos Aires and its suburbs. This is really a breathtaking city. On the ride to the hotel, I just gazed out the window in amazement and didn't say a word for much of the ride. Everything in the city is just so fascinating to see, and we didn't even get to see very much. I wouldn't say that this city is any better or any worse than any U.S. city that I've been to, but it's different, and that's why I like it so much. The architecture isn't like anything I've seen before in person. It's such a densely constructed city, yet there are still many parks and wide grassy medians for people congregate and enjoy the beautiful summer weather. Tonight we'll have a while to go out and explore the city and hopefully have some fun. But as we learned from our little tour on the bus, the fun in Buenos Aires does not get going until after midnight, so I will journalize the evening in tomorrow's entry.
Saturday January 3, 2004
On this early morning when so many people struggled to get out of bed before the bus left without them, I am proud to say that I was the first one to breakfast. I did not get much sleep last night, however, because I was enjoying the nightlife of the city and it was fantastic. To start with, Ben and I went down to what someone called the equivalent of "Time Square" where there were a ton of people, shops, restaurants, clubs, and massive office buildings. This area was very robust and Ben and I joked around about the fact that we must have looked like stereotypical tourists because we kept stopping on the sidewalk to take pictures of everything that was an everyday normality to them, but was something new and different to us. After we did this we went to a restaurant which was good, but it was too much like Ushuaia. I would have liked to experience a different type of restaurant atmosphere, specifically the steakhouses that Buenos Aires is famous for. Following dinner we went back to the hotel and met up with a few other people and then proceeded out on the town.
We walked around for a long time which was kind of a self-guided night tour. We knew that we had a lot of time because as we learned from Patricia on the bus, the nightlife doesn't really get going until after midnight. We went to one bar, but left shortly because there were very few people there and we got bored. Then we went to a club, or a disco as it's most commonly referred to here. This was a blast. They had music and we danced for hours. By far my favorite aspect of this was interacting with some of the local people in the club. Although they usually didn't know a lot of English and I don't know much Spanish, I managed to have some fairly good conversations with several locals. It was a really cool feeling to be able to interact with them like that.
So we went to the airport for the morning flight but we ended up sitting in the airport all day long because of a massive flight delay. I believe it was a mechanical problem with the engine. Kannan and I could see them working one of the plane's engines for much of the time. I got pretty frustrated during this time because I was tired from the night before, and I just did not enjoy being stuck in a big room with a ton of other people who were just as frustrated as me.
Sunday January 4, 2004
Today we went to the Florida Everglades National Park which was great. This was an excellent way to wrap up an excellent trip, although it was an experience quite different from what we have gotten used to over the past three weeks. We went from 30 degrees, snow, and penguins, to 80 degrees, high humidity, and alligators. This is certainly a fascinating place. I found it especially interesting listening to our tour guides talk about the huge project of draining the Everglades into a system of canals. That makes the human impacts issues in Antarctica look small, it seems to me. As we toured around the park we saw a beautiful variety of wildlife. The alligators are really cool animals. They're so calm and tranquil but you know that at any second they could burst out with strength and power to capture their prey. We also saw so many different kinds of birds, fish, and turtles that I can't even remember their names. This was certainly an excellent day trip, and I'm very glad we went.
Monday January 5, 2004
This was our final morning together as a group. It was a pretty emotional time for everyone as we got off the plane, hugged each other, and went in our separate directions. I think that everyone's true emotions were somewhat concealed due to the fact that we were exhausted from our busy schedule and lack of sleep. I was so happy to see my mom at the airport. It felt like so long since the last time I saw her or the rest of my family, who I was reunited with later that day.
Looking back at this trip, I don't think I've ever made a better decision in my life. Before I decided to go on this trip, I had many doubts and concerns, such as how expensive it was, would I get homesick, and would my non-scientific brain be able to handle the difficult course work. Well it did cost a lot, I did miss my family, and the work was a test for my learning abilities, but it was more than worth it. I met a lot of nice new people and experienced a place that is like a whole different world. So many people will only get to read about Antarctica and I was able to actually be there and learn about the life of this amazing continent. I feel very lucky that I had this opportunity, and I appreciate everyone's efforts that made it possible.
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