As we finally are getting into the pattern of how things will be working here for our group at Palmer Station, I decided to dedicate this journal entry to describing a day in the life of myself, a UAB graduate student in Antarctica.
Each morning I get up about 7 a.m. and get to breakfast, which consists mainly of cereal, juice, and coffee. I was never a real coffee drinker until I got here and realized that my usual caffeine source, Dr. Pepper, was gone. Right about now, I would pretty much do anything for a one liter bottle of the stuff. I hear that stock in the company has plummeted since my departure from the states. Just a note to the shareholders: I’ll be back in mid-May.
At 8 a.m. every morning we have our official science group meeting where we discuss our plan of attack for the day. Mostly that consists of Dr. Amsler filling the group in on the dive and laboratory operations for the day. The group then decides who is going to do what and be where for the remainder of the day.
These morning meetings are important for those of us that tend to be night people because they, at least for me, make sure we do not sleep too late each morning, and possibly part of the afternoon. Rumor has it that the first person, whether it be Principal Investigator or graduate student, that misses the meeting, gets thrown in the bay … a cold awakening!
After the meeting, I do one of three things: I get ready to dive on a collection trip, I get ready to be a boat tender for the divers, or I go to lab and run bioassays. Bioassays are tests that I do to see whether or not an organism I think could be chemically defended from predation is really defended. Dive trips for both the divers and boat tenders tend to take until about noon or so, and lab work never ends.
Lunch and dinner are both served in a cafeteria-style atmosphere where the entire station, which consists of about 30 people now, meets, socializes, and consumes excellent food. Bob, our station cook, is the greatest. He isn’t the typical cafeteria cook that I have come to know. The food is fantastic. This explains why I have, every day that I am not out diving, at 4:30 p.m., begun running exercises on the treadmill in the station recreation room. For those of you that know me, this is not a lie. If I didn’t, I would probably have gained about 30 pounds already.
In the evenings after dinner, I go back to lab, check my e-mail, and get a few more things done before bed, which usually comes about midnight or so. Possibly, on a slow day, I try to go watch some of the nightly movie that is shown on the big screen TV.
Finally, I get to bed and start the whole thing over at 7 a.m. the next morning ...
So is a day in the life of an Antarctic graduate student.
Till next time.
Andy
