Week 29: The great icecapade!

right. so i'm not sure how many of you already know about this but i was telling a few of you rather tentatively when i met you. it's all finalised now though: i'll be going to antartica from the end of october and only returning back to non-iced soil on the first week of march!

ye? did you get that? i'm going to antartica for 4.5 months! the trip to the ice will take 10 days but the return journey will be about 3 weeks to a month. yup, a month on a ship.

at first i was kinda hesitant about wanting to commit myself to the research trip just because there were so many uncertainties plaguing my mind! just the thought of being stuck on the ice for 4 months is enough to kill my enthusiasm because i'm so intolerant to the cold. i'm not made for the cold! i'm made for warm tropical climates! also, i wasn't too excited about missing the lab trip up to one tree island, christmas, new years' eve and day, my cousin's wedding, my mom's birthday (which also happens to Valentine's Day - but who am i kidding, Valentine's Day is dead to me) AND chinese new year (oh man, the angpows)! basically it's gonna be a whole year-long of winter because i've just missed all of summer! and then, not forgetting the logistics of it - having to buy clothes worthy of sub-zero antartic temperatures AND finding someone to take over my room or else having to pay empty rent for 4.5 months (i did the maths - it comes up to $3600).

all these cons were enough to make me not want to go.

but then, IT'S FUCKING ANTARTICA FOR FUCK'S SAKES! how many people can claim that they've been to antartica!? not many, that's how many! how often would i get the chance to be invited to go for an antartic research expedition all expenses paid?! not very often, no sir, not at all, that's how often! not only would it be the trip, nay, the EXPERIENCE of a lifetime, but it would also be a great opportunity for me and my future budding scientific career!

so i did the math again (now i know why i did Specialist Maths in SAM - it comes in handy during times like these), and realised that i would be a total fucking idiot and complete tool if i turned the chance down. what's $3600? something that i can work for and recoup later in life - but could i recoup another chance at going down to the antartics? i don't think so! and what's summer and missing the lab trip up to one tree island, christmas, new years' eve and day, my cousin's wedding, my mom's birthday (Valentine's Day - YOU ARE STILL DEAD TO ME), chinese new year AND ang pows? things that'll come around again the next year (except for my cousin's wedding la - sorry!). but, trip to antarctica, will you come around again? no. no i highly doubt so.

and, apparently, that's what everyone had already caught up on except me. everyone who i ever tentatively spoke to was way more eager and excited and enthusiastic than me! ye, even my parents when i told them that i could potentially end up like rose dewitt bukater ala titanic. their response? BUT IT'S ANTARTICA OF COURSE YOU MUST GO ON PAIN OF YOUR LIFE (ok they didn't actually say that, but something of that extent)!

so ye, i'm going! i'm going! i'll be leaving possibly before the 30th of october for tasmania so if you feel like visiting me one last time before i leave on this voyage for the great unknown, DO COME! you have less than 2 months to do so! who knows, the melanie that comes back will be a melanie with one less finger or toe, or god forbid, no nose, due to frostbite! or even worse yet, NO MELANIE ANYMORE! ye, i'm trying to turn this into a guilt thing too...SO COME AND SAY GOODBYE TO ME! soon.

p.s. who am i kidding? no nose = WOOTS!