Dear Future Me

I know you still remember your first continental landing in Antarctica and the first whale you saw, but I hope everything you learned about yourself and the way you think has left a lasting impact. There are countless videos and photos that document the different excursions and events, but I hope the feelings of awe and delight from seeing the largest King Penguin colony in the world or the largest moving object on earth (Glacier A76A) still make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I doubt you’ll forget how you celebrated the holidays in 2022. It was definitely one of the most unique ways to spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve as you rang in 2023 in Antarctica. That is definitely hard to top.

Being more or less without internet was initially a cause of anxiety, especially with your sister having a baby due during the program, but it turned into a truly freeing experience. When we were in Ushuaia, Argentina before departing back to the US, all the emails and notifications went off like a bomb. There were so many things I needed to get in order before school started, so many pointless snap chats and text messages, Facebook birthday notifications to someone you sat next to in 7th grade, and everything else that could not be described as anything more than spam. Having to return to the modern world was so much more difficult than leaving it ever was. Perhaps you may have further reduced your presence on social media and spend a little more time outside enjoying the ecosystem you live in. It’s a little silly to fly to the end of the world and spend a small fortune to walk away from the important lesson of disconnecting from civilization every now and then. But it’s a silly world we live in.

Sarah, I hope you never stop replaying your videos full of whales, penguins, glaciers, mountains, and the open ocean and that you never forget your colleagues sitting with you laughing just as hard as you are. The social aspect of being with 14 others from ASU and 175 other passengers was also one of the more difficult parts to navigate. When everyone is hungry and tired with little opportunity to separate, it can be difficult to not become frustrated with one another. I am proud to say that our cohort did a hell of a job remaining not just respectful, but kind throughout the journey. Each of us walked away with our own perspective and unique memories but we also never underestimated the strength that was within us as we shared the same surreal voyage. Some of my most cherished memories were playing Uno as a group or chatting in the hot tub, not just being in Antarctica. Most of us would never cross paths and now we are bonded for a lifetime.

It’s easy to remember all the good and magic that South Georgia and Antarctica leave each visitor with. When you’re feeling heartsick for your (now) favorite continent, maybe think about:

• the harsh pain in your hands while you fumbled to take a photo of sights that belong in a magazine
• walking up 20 flights of stairs a day
• having to choose between being nauseous or drowsy
• how smelly penguins are

Try to think about how nice it is to be on land and how much you enjoy being in control of your diet. Remember that sometimes you just want to call your family, see your cat, and how much you value your privacy and space. News on a ship travels like a boomerang.

Still.

I bet you would trade all of that to breathe that air again and feel that feeling of truly living, not just surviving.

Best, SS x