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I am so behind. I want you to know everything.

UGH! I have no real way of trying to catch you all up on what’s been going on the last several months. Besides adopting an adorable and bratty pooch named Meli, I spent a month in North Carolina, went on a 10 day sailing adventure with my family in the San Juan Islands, spent 18 days exploring Alaska and the Aleutian Islands with Hurtigruten Expeditions, went back to San Juan Island to spend time with my brother, and then flew to Spain with my dad to help him launch his 550 mile journey on the Camino de Santiago Francés.

It was a lot of flying, a lot of emissions. I’m not going to try and sugar coat it. But it did come with some incredible experiences. I was able to spend 10 days with my dad, walking 10-15 miles a day through the countryside of Spain. I’ll write a separate post on the Camino, but it was a humbling experience made that much more special through comraderie with my dad.

I’ve been realizing that graduate school doesn’t have to be a death sentence to the lifestyle I’ve lived before this (one that I’ve been simultaneously missing and happy about leaving behind). I had a great deal of mobility prior to my move to Santa Cruz, and now I have a home base and all of the financial pros and cons that come along with that. My landlords were fortunately open to me subletting my place, which relieved some of the rent burden I’ve been experiencing here. Having a home base has meant decorating, having all of my books in one place, and buying nice frames for meaningful art. And of course, being somewhat stationary has allowed me to adopt Meli, although she’s turned into one well-traveled dog! She’s been to North Carolina, Idaho, Washington and of course, home in California. She’s an expert plane traveler by now. My brother’s even taking her on a train ride as we speak!

Another quick update: the grad students of the UC system went on strike this quarter for better wages and overall better benefits, since we’re living with severe rent burden and many students are having a challenging time even living near the school they attend (photos below). Especially at UC Santa Cruz – the university just isn’t able to provide enough affordable housing options for the amount of grads they accept. It’s been an interesting experience. The photo on the right is one of me passing my departmental exam at the end of November…it was a big one! 2-hour oral exam, with a 30-minute question-and-answer period from each professor in one of the oceanography disciplines. I’m so proud of myself, although I never considered oral exams my forté. Maybe we shouldn’t accept limiting beliefs about ourselves all the time…because we can surprise ourselves.

Enough catch-up; the rest of this post is dedicated to filling you in on my upcoming field season in Antarctica.

In an effort to keep it brief, here’s why/where/when I’m going: I’m finally starting my research for my PhD. Last year was all about classwork and planning; this year, it’s time to shift into action mode. Members of my lab have been conducting research in the Antarctic for many years with a variety of different partners, from the NSF to cruise ship companies. I’m meeting one of my lab mates, Blake, down in Ushuaia, Argentina – the launching point for most Antarctic cruises. We’re going to hop on the Roald Amundsen, an expedition-style cruise ship operated by the Norwegian company Hurtigruten. They graciously agreed to forge a partnership with our lab a few years ago, allowing us space on board their ships and resources to conduct our research (a captain, Zodiac, etc.) in exchange for us interacting with the guests and giving some onboard lectures. I’m set to embark on January 3rd. Our itineraries will vary, but I’ll be onboard for 6-7 cruises scheduled for the first three months of 2023. That means we’ll cover much of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. It will be A LOT of ship time, but you won’t hear me complaining about that! This past summer, I was able to go out on the exact same ship up in Alaska and had an incredible time. Below are a few snapshots of the Amundsen, and some of the crew I’ll probably get to see down in the Antarctic!

Now for the research…we’ll be doing what we can, when we can, weather and schedule permitting. The goal is to conduct as many controlled exposure experiments as possible on resting humpback whales; we’ll be looking at how and when they react to whale watch boats (which are the Zodiacs we’ll be using) and analyzing if their level of reactivity can be tied to other variables, like the time of the season, their stress levels, demographic, location, etc. I’m a bit nervous about not finding many resting whales. I’ve never been to the Antarctic before, and feel a bit like I’m heading in blind. But hey…I’m too excited to get too worried about that. When we can’t conduct experiments, we’ll be flying drones over the animals to capture body measurements and behaviors in addition to collecting biopsies for hormone and DNA analysis. There will be data to collect, whether or not it’s data for my PhD questions.

That’s the spark notes of it all. Please stay tuned for more updates. I’ll fill you in on the Amundsen, life on board (it’ll be like Lauren’s version of Below Deck but way more mellow), Antarctic wildlife, weather, fieldwork woes and triumphs, and whatever else comes to mind. It means the world to have you following along, because if you know me personally you know how therapeutic writing can be for me.

Adios, friends, and I’ll talk to you soon! Here’s a picture of a whale in Maui – NOT the same population of whales we’ll be studying in the Antarctic, but the same species.