Last Post

I've finally made it back to Los Angeles, and thus concluding my three week adventure. As my final blog, I wanted to add some random pictures that I forgot to post along the trip as well as some video.

As a boat leaves Palmer Station, it is tradition for the people staying to jump into the Artarctic Ocean. Thankfully, there is a hot tub right around the corner that people can run into to avoid hypothermia.

Captain letting me take over for a little bit on the Bridge.



A seal hanging out on an ice.

Navigating through ice.

Looking through my window. Doesn't that just make you sea sick looking at it?

Dolphins. Didn't see much of them, so I was lucky to get this on camera.

Albatross. They don't look that big here, but they have a wingspan of 6 ft. It's amazing how they glide through the skies so gracefully.

Whales. During my trip I must haves seen about 5 or 6.

Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Palmer Station. Because there are only about 40 people on station, there is a family feel to it that is very welcoming. For me, it was just a little too small. Once, I had left my mittens in a lab, and about 5 people told me about it that afternoon. (And those were just mittens! Imagine anything else!) But there are things about Palmer that sound like a lot of fun. For example, there is the liquor luge, where you get a glacier and make a small slide out of it and send liquor from the top and drink it at the end. Or the "300 club" where you wait till it gets 100 below, and strip down, run around the station, and run into a sauna that is 200 above (hence the 300 differential). But talking to someone who did both the "300" and the Antarctic Water jump, he says that jumping into the icy sea is more of a shock. Not that I would do anything that reckless *cough, cough* but it sounds like people at Palmer have a lot of fun with their free time.

The little time that I spent in Chile was not as positive, but I'm not letting that stop me from looking forward to my trip to Chile in the future. Next time, I'm going to learn Spanish.

Finally, the videos. Blogger doesn't do a good job with the videos, but, it's the best that I have.


A seal swimming through the water as we ride in the Zodiacs. Most of the animals are not really aware of the humans.


A penguin waving at us. They are so cute, but I'm sure the penguin is trying to be tough and protective.


Riding back through ice. Listen to the boat breaking though the ice. It's like glass shattering.

So that's it! Thanks so much for reading my ramblings and leaving comments. During the tough times of the trip, it was comforting to read them. And thank you to UCLA for giving me this opportunity to experience such a life changing trip!

Barely made it to Punta Arenas

Sorry for not blogging. There really wasn't much to blog about on the boat. The water was rough and everyone got sick. I did see tons of whales as we left Antarctica, which was pretty cool.
So, I have some bad news. My wallet was stolen today after I grabbed some lunch. It happened while I was walking from the drug store to the internet cafe. I got to the internet cafe, and looked down at my bag and it was open. I had this sinking feeling because I remember clearly that I had closed it at the drug store. And sure enough, my wallet was gone.
But the bright side is, my passport is with me, and I have enough cash to check out of the hotel and get to the airport. *whew* And I canceled my credit cards, so everything is okay.
For now, I just want to get home and give everyone a hug.