February 14,1997
Here I am on Valentines Day down in Palmer Station in Antarctica! It's very exciting. I'm just trying to go to sleep after having a great first day down here. I'm in a room with quite a few other people. They've all been really nice to me. Almost all of them have been members of the LTER team in earlier years. They're really helpful.
Anyway, I'll start off with what I did this morning. I got up around 7:00 and took a really quick shower. This was nothing like I'm used to back home. At home I can usually take my time in the shower.... not here! Since we have to be careful with the amount of water we use, I had a very short shower. I had to shut the water off whenever I wanted to put shampoo or soap on, and turn the water back to rinse off.
After my shower and breakfast I went to the main room to meet the group leaders. They introduced themselves and explained a lot of the safety precautions we would need for the up-coming weeks. There were many layers of clothing for us to wear when we go outside and we were taught the proper manner and order in which to put them on. We learned a lot of things like that.
After I had learned what to do to keep warm in the cold weather I finally went out. I went out with one of my leaders and a group of new people like me after lunch. We went out to see the penguins. They were so cute! They're a lot different from other birds. We watched as a few people tagged some penguins to try and keep track of them.
We spent a long time with the penguins and then went back to the main building. I sat with a bunch of people in a class and learned about the rules for safety at sea. We get to go out on a ship tomorrow to gather krill for the labs! I'm scared, but I listened closely to the safety rules so I hope I'll be O.K. I can't wait! Goodnight!