Dorm room and icebreaker vessel

7:40am Thursday, 1/26/2012
15°F 


My posts may less interesting and less frequent now as my last three weeks down here may not include another adventure out in the field. Like today, I've decided to share photos of my dorm room and the ice breaker vessel circling around in the sea ice in front of McMurdo.


Dorm Room


My dorm room has two beds and has mostly only been occupied by me. I have heard that rooms of the same size can have a set of bunk beds so that the maximum occupancy can be three people, but thankfully my room isn't like that. With the exception of my first week here and two nights last week, I have had my room all to myself and it's been quite nice. 


The furniture isn't all that exciting, but it serves its purpose. My mattress is really comfortable and I enjoy being next to the window. I still haven't decided if I like sleeping with it open wearing a sleeping mask or sleeping with it closed and waking up to darkness. It is surreal that the sun never sets. I am not sure how one gets used to that.


Right across from my room is the women's restroom for my floor and down the hall is the laundry room. I imagine this is what living in the dorms at a college is like and I have to admit I am not sorry I missed out on years of living like this.

My bed for the last 6 weeks

My closet

Where my shoes live. My toe shoes are on
my feet, which is why they aren't in the lineup

My bag of warm clothes
goodies!

Icebreaker


The icebreaker vessel has arrived and it's clearing the way between the Ross Sea and McMurdo through the Ross Ice Shelf for the cargo vessel that arrives in mid February. The cargo vessel will take away the summer's waste and bring supplies for winter and next summer. It's very strange to see open water out in front of McMurdo and even stranger to see a ship moving around in and disturbing the sea ice.

Its progress- all the open water is new as of its arrival

The icebreaker and Mt. Discovery

Breaking a pathway in the sea ice