First Impressions

From October 11th :

Hello! I'm writing you from my lower bunk bed in my dorm. It's 10 pm and its still bright out! It looks like an hour past sunrise. It was an incredible sunset from this light tonight. The warm glow fills the clouds then bounces off the white landscape and glows pink into the mountains. It's awesome!

Things so far have been great! We've had good weather around 0 to 7F in temperature during the days with little wind. I've learned most of the buildings and got the lay of the land for the most part. We are working on detailing out our schedule and will be piggybacking with several science research teams to go out to many locations around Antarctica- weather permitting of course. Most people here only see a few spots so I feel so lucky to see so many during our time here (fingers crossed for good weather though). I will have some of the most extensive training here ranging from Snow School (Happy Camper) to sea ice training, snow mobile school, science lab training, altitude training, and more. That's what I've been working my way though so far. 

I leave tomorrow morning for overnight Happy Camper school. Right now the weather looks like it will be good, but there are rumors of "weather" coming in. That really just means some wind though so it should be great! 

There are so many scientists here doing some incredible things! Some studies include : atmosphere, snowflakes, lake coreing, sea urchins, ice diving, seal tracking, penguin studies, and more. Most of the scientists either have or are working on their PHDs or Doctorates. Really smart folks. 

The staff is also super friendly! The ratio of support staff to grantee is currently 20:1 but that will change to 5:1 once some science crews go out to fields and more come in. Most of the staff members work here for 6 months of Antarctic summer, then travel around the world. Many of the staff are experienced expedition guides

I haven't had much time to explore around here just yet but tonight anyone who wanted to could go to Scott Base, which is owned by New Zealand to go to "American Night" at their bar. Their base is totally different from ours and I hope to post photos and send descriptions soon. I don't remember what you can see on the live cam, but there's a huge blue building in the center of it all and that's where we eat! My dorm building and our science lab are also nearby.

Headed out now for a good night's rest before Happy Camper!