Journals 2007/2008

Megan O'Neill
Fairhope High School, Fairhope, Alabama

"The development of an Arctic ice stream dominated sedimentary system, the southern Svalbard Continental Margin (SVAIS)" Spanish Research Vessel, B.I.O Hesperides July 29 - August 17, 2007

Journal Index: July 25,26,27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 August 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9            10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16            17 - 18 Additional Resources

July 29, 2007
All Aboard!

Here we go! I was so excited to make it to this day! We loaded our stuff onto a van and boarded the B.I.O. Hesperides. My roommate is Maite Pedrosa, Catalina Sureda and Rosa Martinez are next to us. We are fortunate in that we have our own bathroom and comfortable looking bunks and room. The rooms open up to a central room that will be great for getting work done and enjoying down time watching movies, etc. Maite showed me around as she has been on this ship last year. She is such a big help and is going to assist with my Spanish lessons! With me from the U.S. and Monica from England via Tromso, there are many Spanish language lessons occurring all the time. I am even learning the difference between Spanish and Catalan! I am thankful that everyone is so patient and helpful in the hurdles of communication. I keep telling everyone that my mom and dad are both fluent in Spanish and are saying "I told you so" if only in their heads because I took four years of French in high school!

I learned about churros and chocolate today in the cafeteria. What a fabulous snack! Very similar to funnel cakes at home except thin and you dip them in melted chocolate - yum, yum! We had a staff meeting and learned that we would be heading out of the area towards our test site this afternoon. We will reach the site tomorrow morning and begin recording data. After dinner, some watched a movie or read books and I prepared my bed to wake at 3:30am for my first shift! We are assigned to one of three different shifts for the duration of the cruise. The first shift is from 12:00 midnight to 4:00am and 12:00 noon to 4:00pm. The second (mine) is from 4:00am to 8:00am and 4:00pm to 8:00pm. The third shift is 8:00pm to 12:00 midnight and 8:00am to 12:00noon. This is a great set up as you are not in one place too long and can have some free time. I am very fortunate because I have heard of some cruises that are 12 hours on and 12 off, which would be very difficult! Good night for now!

Catalina Sureda and Megan O'Neill boarding the Hesperides		B.I.O. Hesperides in port at Longyearbyen, Svalbard