While most students found themselves stuck in class anxiously awaiting the end of the fall semester last November, Alexis Janosik was on a ship collecting invertebrate animals in Antarctica. Janosik, graduate candidate in biology, has been to the South Pole twice. She returned from her most recent trip in January. "It really wasn't what I expected at all," Janosik said. "It was such an adventure, stunning landscapes, amazing animals, pretty much the trip of a lifetime." As part of her graduate research Janosik studies invertebrates and how their populations are structured around the Antarctic. But Janosik said her time at the South Pole wasn't all sitting behind a computer and studying sea cucumber DNA. She also got to go ice-climbing, mountaineering and hiking.
"It's not only devoted to scientific research, but it's really enjoyable to be there," Janosik said. "It's a great sort of little community, there are lots of things to do, and everyone takes time to work hard and do their research, but also to have some fun and do some exciting things." She first got the opportunity to go when her research adviser received a grant to travel to Antarctica and he brought her along. The second time, she went as a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey. During her first trip Janosik was in Antarctica in near-winter so it was either dusk or dark all day. But when she went back it was almost summer so the sun shone all day. "When it's dark all the time you get amazing sunsets and amazing stars, so that's really cool," Janosik said. "But when it's light all the time you can just work whenever because it's sunny all the time."
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