As soon as life begins to fall into a routine that seems as though I could be living it anywhere on earth, all I need to do is look out the window at the incredible mountain ranges surrounding McMurdo and my breath is lost when I realize where I am. Every time I hear someone complain about the unexciting dinner options, infrequency of incoming mail packages due to backed-up flights, or prevalence of muddy volcanic-ash around town, I go for a hike beyond this Americanized bubble and once again remember how incredible it is that our lives are so “normal” here. [View Full Entry]

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McMurdo Station sits with in the Ross Dependency, and is the largest community in Antarctica (capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents and a science research center operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. Located at 77°51′S, 166°40′E, McMurdo sits on the southern tip of Ross Island in Antarctica, on the shore of McMurdo Sound, 2,200 miles (3,500 km) due south of New Zealand. The station is America's largest, and serves both as their Antarctic research facility, and the logistics base for half the co [View Full Entry]

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Happy camper School If you were going to be working at one of the deep field camps, and had never been to Antarctica before, or had been away for some time, you were required to attend a two day course on survival basics known as Snowcraft I, Snow School, or Happy Camper School. The class began at the Field Services Training Program (FSTP, or "F-Stop") office in McMurdo. Following a few lessons at FSTP on cold weather medicine, operation of VHF and HF radios, how things are done when working around helicopters, and how to operate portable camp stoves without lighting [View Full Entry]

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More photos for your viewing pleasure! [View Full Entry]

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Nov. 20 ushuaia I'm in the cafe on the waterfront with a couple of cups of cafe con leche, fresh OJ and croissants, all the things we don't have on the ship. Lots of other staff here too, but I'm hiding away in the back with my cold - just caught myself dripping on the keyboard so I hope it doesn't go boom like the last one!). Orlova also in town, Susan EL, so I'll have to look her up on my way back. Last night was fun: had a couple of glasses of wine with Kim, Hannah and Sarah in [View Full Entry]

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This was my first week of work in my new hometown for the next 3 months. I definitely had the “first day” jitters (complicated by a noticeable lack of caffeine due to the fact that I forgot to bring a full coffee mug that morning) but they were quickly abated when I met my future coworkers. Everyone in town works 6 days/week, 9 hours/day so I'll be spending a lot of time doing carpentry with these people whether I like it or not. After our morning safety meeting and group stretch, I was treated to an in-depth tour of both sides [View Full Entry]

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Technically known as Field Safety Training Program (FSTP- pronounced “F-Stop”) Snow School, I had the amazing opportunity to attend “Happy Camper” this week to learn all the “how-tos” and “what-ifs” of surviving on this beautiful, harsh climate. Our 2 instructors were both formerly mountaineers on Denali (aka Mt. McKinley) in Alaska and both ladies were therefore highly qualified to teach such a course. First we had to show up bright and early with ALL of our ECW (extreme cold weather) gear packed- we were going “Delta-camping” (like [View Full Entry]

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Here's a blog of just photos to catch you up on the visuals of my adventures so far. Not that my little digital camera does any of this scenery justice. I don't think they make wide enough angles for that... you might just have to come down here and experience it for yourself! [View Full Entry]

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Whew, what a life! It's amazing that I'm living in a town parked in a snowdrift on the loneliest continent on earth and haven't been amiss for humanity once since I've arrived. In the last couple days nothing has happened yet everything has happened as I learn the ropes, meet new folks and settle into my new home for the next three months. We were lucky enough to arrive on Saturday afternoon right before the weekly day off. On Sunday I got to sleep in, unpack and saunter down to brunch sometime in the AM. I met up with some of [View Full Entry]

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White. White. White. Geeze, it's beautiful here! I've been in Antarctica now for about 26 hours and have yet to see the sun set. They tell me the next one is expected mid-March. The last one was in September. Wowzers! Backing up a little... on our 5th scheduled day to depart New Zealand we finally got the all-clear and shuttled to the airport at 5:30AM. We put on all of our ECW (extreme cold weather) gear that we had been fitted for the week before (surprisingly, it all still fit after all the great food in Chirstchurch!) and then dragged all [View Full Entry]

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