by 
It’s currently about 700 miles to Nome. We’ve got a fully stocked boat, a half charged portable battery pack, it’s never dark, and there’s rain on my glasses.
Hit it.
To those of you lovely readers out there who get that reference, I tip my hat to you. That fact combined with the fact that you’re currently reading this lets me know that you’re my kind of people. The kind of people who understand references to hit film Blues Brothers, and the kind that care about marine science and the opportunities it presents.
Being from Denver, it is these opportunities that excite me most. I grew up surrounded by mountains and dry, yellow, grass fields, beautiful in their own way, I suppose.
Nothing compares to the view I have as I write this now.
Grey seas and a matching sky as far as you can see to the front and port sides. Shadowy and faint mountainous islands cover the starboard horizon, and aft of the ship, a trail of teal seafoam is churned constantly by the R/V Sikuliaq. These past days, I have seen more and experienced more than I could’ve thought. I flew to Alaska by myself, and stayed in a hotel without my parents for the first time. I hiked a glacier, saw puffins swimming, and a baby muskox eating wildgrasses. I have learned different ship terminology and watched the crew in action. I have donned an immersion suit, practiced how to abandon ship, and I have been shocked by the impressive quality of the food in the galley. I have made new friends, genuine, kind, and hilarious people who I am delighted to have shared this cruise with, (shout out to my amazing roommate Malva!). And most importantly, I have discovered that this is what I want to spend my life doing. Being on a ship, seeing the endless water everyday, stumbling around off balance from waves, staying up into the wee hours of the night towing plankton, and being excited by it all. All of this experienced by me, the youngest of the STEMSEAS students chosen, just having finished my first year of university. To make a long ramble short, if you have a friend who encourages you to apply for an obscure and highly competitive science opportunity, take it. No matter your experience, age, major, background, or how motion sick you tend to get, apply to this program, or any others like it that you find. Because one random midnight in January you might apply, and then come July you could find yourself aboard a vessel on quite the epic voyage. Furthermore, as my lovely roommate Malva said, “What’s the point of doing anything, unless you can brag about it.”
So thanks to STEMSEAS for giving me this opportunity, and thanks to Melanie McCoy for encouraging me to take it.
Best of luck to you in chasing opportunity,
Bex Oaster
