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| Our home away from home at sunset |
As we all know, the most important
aspect of real estate is location, location, location and the same can be said
for room assignments when at sea. On
first glance, you might be tempted to opt for a room on a higher floor
accompanied by a nice porthole to allow full view of the spectacular sea
outside. However, hold that
thought! Remember that the further above
sea level you are, the more you will move with each passing wave. What may feel like a peaceful sway down on
the lower levels can turn into a ferocious veer strong enough to topple chairs on the top deck. Thus, if you
have any inclination that you could succumb to seasickness it is probably best
to pass on the picturesque vista and opt instead for a windowless cabin below. Fortunately, for many of the
scientists mental struggles over room selection never occurred as cabins had
been assigned to us before we walked up the gangway. Most of the students aboard are sleeping in a
suite of cabins that share a common living space endearingly termed the “Snake
Pit”. The origin of the room’s namesake
remains mysterious, perhaps previous groups of students did some sort of battle
there? Or fought snakes? Who knows, for now though it represents a comfortable
room where many spend their off time reading books from the library or taking
short siestas in between work.
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| The "Snake Pit" where students read and lounge between shifts |
All of the cabins aboard share
similar features such as a set of bunk beds and matching closets. Depending on the individual setup, you might
find yourself lucky enough to also have a set of desks and perhaps even a small
couch though these furnishings are found mostly in the higher rooms reserved
for the principle scientists and the superior ship mates. Given that work continues around the clock on
the Langseth, all bunk beds include an individual light for private reading and
also black out drapes to both prevent any light from your bed reaching your
room mate and conversely any light from your room mate reaching you. Additionally, all rooms come with either
adjoining shared or private bathrooms (termed “heads”). Given the combination of rolling waves
and slippery tiles, it could easily be said that the heads may be some of the most
injury prone rooms aboard. Thus whenever
attempting to take a shower, remember to always keep one hand on the hand rail
and if the ship starts swaying don’t neglect to hold on tight otherwise you
might suddenly find yourself autonomously ejected onto the cold, wet floor.
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| Our cozy cabin equipped with bunk beds and closets |
I think that about does it for now, dinnertime
is just around the corner and I can smell the ahi tuna from here. Buenas
Noches!
Natalie Accardo
Lamont-Doherty
