“Orientation” by David Rusak

Orientation

From Argentina: prepping to set sail for Antarctica with Students On Ice

By David Rusak • February 15, 2011 • 2 Comments

From Argentina: prepping to set sail for Antarctica with Students On Ice

Students On Ice

“Always think about where you are.”

At just this moment, I’m in a wood-panelled hotel conference room with a small stage at the front. Outside the windows are the slanted streets of Ushuaia, Argentina, a cozy port town nestled in amongst the awe-inspiring mountains of Tierra del Fuego. The people in the rows of chairs around me have arrived over the last few days from more than a dozen countries from around the world, and Geoff Green, the utterer of the words above, is giving an orientation talk, our group’s first official get-together. From the moment he begins speaking to us, Geoff exudes the sincerest enthusiasm for the mission of his organization, Students On Ice. We are here, in his words, “to use these amazing parts of our world as classrooms.” These amazing parts of the world being its north and south polar regions; the classroom in question today being Antarctica.

Always think about where I am: I am planning to take this motto very seriously. About a week and a half ago I learned of the existence of Students On Ice, a Canadian organization that runs yearly educational expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic for students in university or high school. (In 2009, Nicholas Hune-Brown wrote here about SOI’s trip to Canada’s Arctic.) At the same time I learned of their willingness to take me along on their Antarctic University Expedition 2011 — and now here I am, a little bewildered to find myself in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, preparing to leave tomorrow on a ship headed for the most alien and unwelcoming land on the planet. But as far as I have gotten to know the fifty-seven students and twenty-nine professors, scientists, experts, and staff who are coming along, I will be making the trip in delightful company.

For the rest of February, watch this space for updates on the icebergs, lectures, people, and penguins I will be encountering.