Interim Report

(Disclaimer: This blog may be a little bit longer than normal as I have a bit more to say – It has been like 6 months or something)

I’ve decided to start blogging again, which I am super excited about. I don’t really care if nobody reads it. It’s my own creative endevour and positive habit in making me focus on the funny things in life. I’m not going to talk about my dogs in this one, I promise. Although, be prepared, and warned, I have a sneaky suspicion that they will feature hugely in all the rest. For now though, a quick interim report…

So, I came home from overseas and back to Sunny Dunedin. Coming home is never how you anticipate it and, to be honest, it was probably the hardest thing about going away, by a country mile. I was so busy worrying about going away that coming home didn’t even feature. Until I got home, and reality crashed down around me.

Sunny Dunedin

I got home during a real inbetween stage too… Like, I didn’t have enough time to go back to uni for second semester, but then I had summer break right after, so I had about 8 months of time to kill before semester 1.

So, like any normal person would, I went to Antarctica. I went to summer school. And now I’m back at uni. The thing that everyone seems to want to hear about is the trip to the Deep South.

Dry Valleys, Antarctica

A lot of people ask me to tell me what it was like, as their bright little eyes light. And I feel like everyone kind of expects me to say 'mind-blowing,' or 'jaw-dropping,' or 'insanely beautiful,' or, I dunno, 'life-changing.' And it was all those things (to a greater or lesser extent), but, to be honest, if I was free associating, bizarre would be what would come to mind.

Man-hauling on the ice 

(I'm the one slacking off)

I can give you an example of this… So in my great little team, there were three big wig professors (I mean, like BIG WIG), two of the world’s funniest Russians, my task-setter and another oompa loompa (who had already been there twice, so was very familiar with the systems). And me. The only girl. No degree. No skills. In fact, I discovered that I couldn’t even put tent pegs in right, or turn on the gas stove, or help take apart the mess tent. I think they just needed someone to help eat the food or something.

Chilling out in the Deep South

Oh, and choose the entertainment. Yes. We had a laptop, in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, for our amusement. No wi-fi unfortunately. I should explain also, that I refused to chose the music for the entirety of the 3 weeks we were in the field as I claimed (and believe to this day) that it’s a window to my soul.

Pearse Valley, Antarctica

So picture this:

Dry Valleys Antarctica

2 900 m altitude

-30 ˚C

Sunny. All the time.

BIG WIG professors

Other people to judge.

Steph’s turn to choose the movie.

Cyanobacteria, The Ice, Antarctica

What did I choose?

Fired Up.

I’d never seen the movie before, but I’d heard it was funny.

Brief synopsis:
Two football guys go to cheerleading camp to get girls...

Maybe not my finest hour...

'Oh gosh,' was kind of my mantra for the whole movie. Luckily for me, the BIG WIG professors and other people to judge kind of took to it. From then on, 'We are drilling! We, we are drilling!' became out chant.

If that doesn't make my experience in the Deep South bizarre, then I don't know what does.

Other anecdotes from the interim:

Christmas involved surfing in the Pacific Ocean with my beautiful Canadian friend who went swimming in the ocean for the first time ('so salty!'). January and February were summer school, with some fantastic professors of Middle Eastern descent (why does the fact that you had curry last night have anything to dow with me?'). And now I'm back to the grindstone. But hey, funny things happen even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light (loosely paraphrased from Albus Dumbledore - RIP)

Till next week!

Oh and I'm not jet-setting anytime soon, so my posts will probably not have oodles of travel in them, as all the others have... Just letting you know now, ahead of time!