Antarctica Inside

A friend commented, "National Geographic has already shown us what Antarctica is like outside. What's it like inside the buildings?"

This is the tiny little 8 x 13' dorm room that we share. To get more space, we took the doors off the 2 huge wardrobes and laid them on their sides. Then we made a platform with the doors. On that we put the mattresses. Bunk bed frames are wedged along the walls. Below is storage--accessible on hands and knees. Note the black-out curtain. That's how we turn on the night at 10 p.m. and turn on the day at 6 a.m.

Over 1000 people eat 3 meals a day in the dining room. The food is excellent, plentiful, and there's always something available to eat. Just yesterday we had fresh strawberries with the stems on. Imagine! Sunday brunch is like Club Med. Huge amounts of everything wonderful. The cold here has everyone eating more than normal.

The computer room is always a busy place. We have full email and internet access. Phone calls are local to Denver. Other LD calls are billed as if they're from Denver.

There are 3 bars, each in its own little building. This is our favorite because it's quieter than the others, though the Sat night card game gets pretty lively. Saturday is the only eve that most of us don't have work the next day.

This is the lecture hall in the Crary Science Center--where all the science projects are headquartered. On Sun and Wed evenings different scientists give presentations about the work they're doing here. It varies from penguin research to studying the composition (very slow) of the garbage that this place used to dump into the ocean. This last week the researcher that Pat's been working with showed slides of the creatures she finds below the many feet of ice. They're colorful like the tropics! Amazing.