Dagaetch
Many years ago (too many, ugh) I was a college student who decided to actually read a random email from the dean of my department. Turned out they were inviting people to an information session about a study abroad trip to Antarctica. Well, I was bored that night and figured “hey, free snacks!” Hours later, I was on the phone to my parents explaining why THIS was the opportunity of my lifetime and, uh, money please? We made a deal – I get straight A’s the next semester, they would pay for it. And whaddya know, it turned out I could get good grades when motivated, a lesson I tried to forget as quickly as possible. Anyway, I wasn’t lying, this truly was the opportunity of a lifetime. We flew to Buenos Aires then Ushuaia, Argentina (the southernmost city in the world!), then boarded a research vessel (a converted Russian icebreaker) for a trip through the Drake Passage and a week of poking around the Antarctic Peninsula. The academic purpose of the trip was political – I was a PoliSci major and politics of the area were pretty interesting, actually – and artistic, as one of the tour leaders was a photography professor. So here is the product of the second part!
Pictures are deceptive of how high some of the icebergs are floating. And how big they are in general. We were there in January, so ‘summer’ (temperatures hovered around freezing), and the sun never set. Which was both very cool and very weird.