I've got a post coming about all of the work that we do here but there are loads of things to do for fun, too. The station has several cool rooms like:
The Quiet Reading Room
The Quiet Reading Room. Looks like I didn't need to bring my own books here... Sometimes people will take naps in here, too.
Arts and Crafts room
The Arts and Crafts room. It's got a ton of supplies that are free for anyone to use. I used paper and crayons from here to draw the schematic for the ARA drill that's in my blog post from Dec 13th.
The lounges, B1 and B3
The B1 lounge. You can't see it in this picture, but there's a little room off the side of this that is great for watching movies. People are almost always hanging out in B1.
The computer lab
The computer lab. Notice how it's deserted. That means that the satellite probably wasn't up (so there's not an internet connection).
The galley
The galley. It's more than just a cafeteria. People hang out here. There are games, magazines, and news articles here. It's a fun place to be.
The gym
The gym. I'm actually standing upstairs in the workout room to take this picture. The workout room is pretty nice - they've even got a rowing machine!
The greenhouse
The greenhouse. People can sit here and hang out. It's a little humid and it smells like dirt, which can be a good thing since it's the only place around here that smells so organic.
The store
The store and post office. The store is open 1 hour every day and the post office is only open for 1 hour a week, on Sundays.
And, of course, you can always go to your friends' rooms. But, remember, this is how big they are:
My small room. But, average-sized here. The problem with hanging out in your room is that the walls are thin and people work all sorts of hours so you're supposed to be quiet when you're in this area.
In addition to all of the fun places, there are events scheduled for almost every night. Here's a look at this week's calendar:
The weekly events calendar. There's always a ton of stuff to do.
I haven't gone to any classes yet because I've mainly been hanging out with the IceCube/ARA people. On Mondays and Thursdays, we watch Breaking Bad. Wednesday night is sauna night.
The sauna. It's pretty awesome - you can get nice and toasty and then run outside (as in, outside the building) to cool down.
Other nights, we may just hang out for a bit after dinner and talk, play pool, etc.
Hanging out with the drillers in the galley. Photo courtesy of Rob Young.
Sometimes, there are special events, like Ladies Night at the South Pole telescope.
The flier for Ladies Night at the South Pole Telescope.
It was fun - we got a tour of the telescope and we got lots of chocolate, crackers, and cheese. They even had a dance floor and lots of 80's music.
On my way to Ladies Night at the South Pole Telescope.
Getting a tour of the telescope. The scientists got all dressed up for Ladies Night.
In addition to all of that stuff, you can also take tours of special parts of the station, like the Ice Tunnels and the Rodwells.
The ice tunnels that are underneath the station. I haven't gotten to tour these yet but hopefully I'll see them before I leave. Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Donenfeld.
You can also go to the Berms, which I'm hoping to go see soon. There's a lot of discarded IceCube equipment there and I'd like to see it before I leave. The ARA drill equipment is very small compared to what they had for IceCube so it'll be interesting to see the difference in person.
The IceCube hose reel. Photo courtesy of IceCube.
The ARA hose reel. Just a little different from the IceCube one...
As Christmas gets closer, there will be a lot of Christmas-related events, too. We've already gathered for a station-wide holiday picture that will be sent to the other Antarctic stations.
The South Pole Holiday Picture. We all gathered around the ceremonial pole. Several stations in Antarctica will email each other holiday cards and this was supposed to be part of ours.
On the 23rd, there is a cocktail party and gift exchange scheduled. The following day, on the 24th, there's the Race Around the World (more about that in a different post) and Christmas dinner. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas here. The events have been pretty fun so far so I think Christmas will be good, too.
One of the two Christmas trees in the galley. The whole place is decorated very nicely for the holidays.
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