18 March, 2000

WOW!! Today we were given our assignments! First the groups were divided by pole, and or cruise. The group going on the Icebreaker will be the first to go this season...some as soon as a week from now...I am not sure that I could be ready so soon. Much to my excitement I found myself in the Antarctica group......But, then that is the side of the earth I had applied for. Once the groups were settled into their respective rooms the process (slow I might add...at least for me) of giving assignment locations started. Several of the group are going to Palmer Station, south of the southern tip of South America, several are going to McMurdo, one to the Dry Valleys, one to a drilling project way out there...and two to the South Pole! I feel very fortunate to be going anywhere on the Antarctic Continent...but the pole has always been one of my dreams. I can't really express the sense of excitement that i am experiencing. Now the only hurdles left are to find a research team to take me and to pass my physical.