In the middle of attending summer school lectures, being “on watches” at all hours to observe clouds and ice, working on projects, deploying instruments and doing experiments around the clock whenever the ship reaches its decided-upon “station,” everyone tries to have a little fun, get a little exercise… and get their laundry done. Rule #1: Be creative, in all cases. If you want to play a game, you can use dice that someone brought, grab a cup and a piece of paper, and make your own Yahtzee game (like Eric, Marie, Antoine, Ioana, and me). If you want to relax, there’s a sauna that has times allocated for men and women. If you want to work out, you can go to the gym, which has one stationary spinning bicycle, a ping-pong table, and what looks like a ladder bolted to the wall, for you to grab onto a rung and do leg lifts and ab crunches (there are times allocated for the gym too, for crew and expedition members). Here’s me doing the obvious first choice at the gym, with Kseniya (FYI, this is more difficult on a swaying ship). Or you can go to the impromptu cardio or yoga session that some have started onboard in a meeting room. Of course, exercising adds to the laundry needs. When there are only 2 washers (and no dryer) onboard for over 60 expedition members, that can be a challenge, especially when one washer is in the science lab (which you don’t want to disturb too much), and the other is temperamental and periodically not working (as Antoine, Ioana, and Alena are discovering here). How many scientists does it take to make a washing machine work? It varies day by day.
Do you have fun everyday or is it time for fun and time for work?
Hi Trinity, there is always work to do here, day and night – because you need to do your observations of the ice and ocean all the time. But we also find time for fun things too, like movies, games, or ping-pong!
Hello Lindsay,
We continue to follow your blog with lot of attention. Same story everyday : straight to the computer when we wake up in the morning, straight to the computer when we come back home at the end of the day : new posting on the blog, new posting on the blog ! Day after day, you increase our appetite for learning more about the trip. How lucky you are all ! It seems that the team is in place by now and that the “chemistry” works between participants from so many different origins (I do not just mean countries, I mean scientific backgrounds). Nice cross-fertilization … Any chance that this trip will give rise to new international collaborations ?
Thanks again for being our main channel of communication !
Pierre
Hi Pierre, thank you for the awesome comment! That made my day to hear that the blog is increasing your appetite to learn more. We are certainly very lucky to be here. In my opinion, we are even luckier that we are here not as tourists, but as people wanting to understand the Earth. The diversity of scientific disciplines onboard reinforces for me how important it is to have people with different skills and knowledge actually work together to understand the big picture. Definitely opportunities for new collaborations – this project is an ongoing one that began as a partnership between US and Russian agencies, and now about 11 countries are involved one way or the other. And always room for more. Keep on following us!
Have you found any unknown species of animals up there ?
Dear Alana, we have not encountered any unknown species, but we have seen a lot of amazing animals, big and small! Scientists are studying phytoplankton in the water (they are microscopic, but are important because they are at the beginning of the food chain), then we have seen birds like skuas and Arctic terns, walruses, seals, and even polar bears! And even though the animals are not new to someone else, some of them are new to me! Did you know that the Arctic tern has the longest migration route of any animal? It actually goes back and forth between the Arctic and Antarctica every year!