Greetings from Christchurch, NZ, gateway to Antarctica! I was scheduled to leave on my “ice flight” this morning on a C-130, but we have been put on a 1 day delay due to weather. This gives me more time to gather “freshies”- the last fresh food I will have for a few months! The last few days have been filled with orientations, Covid testings, and the cold weather gear issue. Every US Antarctic Program participant is loaned a set of extreme cold weather gear for the duration or their time on the continent. I've been enjoying meeting the other people in my cohort- a mix of contractors and scientists, all doing different interesting things: surveying work for new construction projects, maintenance on weather stations all over Antarctica, astronomy research using the high tech telescopes at the South Pole, flying drones to study melting permafrost, Weddell seal research out on the sea ice, to name a few!