"Ice people say that when you leave the Antarctic, part of you stays behind forever.”
From Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica, by Sara Wheeler
I do feel as if I have left a bit of myself on this amazing continent, but mostly I feel I have taken much from Antarctica. I have memories and photos and new friends and many learnings to share from this amazing experience.
Remember how I got to skip Monday, October 1st when I crossed the International Date Line? Well, today I got Saturday, November 17th twice!
I started the day with an early morning walk in the Christchurch Botanic Garden.
Spring flowers at the botanic gardens
Marcus and I flew to Auckland in the afternoon and then transferred to our international flight and went to sleep on the plane around midnight on Saturday night. But, because we crossed the International Date Line, we woke up Saturday morning again in Los Angeles. I arrived home by 9 pm on Saturday night - and got to see my family for the first time in 7 weeks!
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading these entries and continue to learn more about polar places for yourself and to celebrate International Polar YearThe International Polar Year (IPY) is a two year (2007-2009) program of international research and education focused on the Arctic and Antarctic. Click here for more information about IPY.. There are more expeditions beginning in Antarctica now, and there will be even more over the next two years!
Thank you to everyone at Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy for letting me participate in this amazing opportunity. Many thanks to Ted Tonkinson for teaching my classes while I was gone! Thank you also to the following local businesses who supported me with donations: Kahtoola, Home Depot, and Staples.
Thank you so much to the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS), who proposed and now manages the PolarTREC program; to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for funding this program, and to my entire SCINI team for bringing me into their warm embrace on the coldest and windiest continent. May we all continue to learn about the life under the sea ice through the eyes of the divers and SCINI and VideoRay!
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