And just like that, our time is up!
Hello and goodbye, dear readers,
The summer season took us by surprise, which is why we could hardly find the time to sit down and share our experiences.
But before turning over this blog to our successors, we wanted to check in again briefly and sign off properly.
(Photo: Eva Link)
The summer season is now moving full steam ahead. After roughly 30 summer guests suddenly moved into our cherished “student flat” in early November, it took some time for a few of us to get used to the hustle and bustle, and the many new and familiar faces. But at the same time, we were of course happy about the change of pace.
In the summer, various research projects are conducted in parallel to extensive construction projects like setting up a new magnetic observatory. Plus, there’s maintenance work to do on the remote automatic monitoring stations for geophysics and meteorology, the station needs to be lifted on its struts, and of course the provisions need to be restocked.
This summer, the resupply ship and the next group of ÜWIs arrived on nearly the same day, which meant they had to pitch in with moving the supplies, giving them the chance to be part of Neumayer’s operations right from the start.
After that, each of us had a ‘shadow’ that followed us wherever we went. We only had a few weeks to explain all our routine tasks at the station and go over potential problems and their solutions – in the scientific observatories, station systems, and galley alike.
But by now, the newbies know what they’re doing, which means it’s time for us to pack our bags and say goodbye to this place that we got to call our warm and safe home for more than a year.
Though we’re all looking forward to seeing our friends and families, green meadows, forests and mountains, doing our own shopping and having a bit more privacy, we know that we’ll soon miss those white expanses out there, the bitter cold, the sunsets, the way the snow crunches under our heavy boots in winter, and seeing all our teammates every day.
But before we get too sentimental, we’d rather leave you with a cheerful picture. Thank you, dear Antarctica, and maybe – for some of us – until we meet again!
Take care,
your 43rd ÜWI team
