31 August 2018 Auf Wiedersehen

Journal Entry

See You Again Soon

I am now back in NJ and mostly adjusted to this time zone. The past few days have been spent unpacking, sleeping, snuggling my kids, and wading through emails. With the new semester at Rutgers University starting next week, there was little time for me to readjust before picking up where I left off with my course and museum work at the start of August.

But it was all worth it!

The past month has been an experience I could only dream of and my geeky little geologist heart is full of amazing science and glacial landscapes. I look forward to continuing to share my PolarTREC story with family, friends, co-workers, and the public in the months and years to come.

So this is not goodbye, but just goodbye for now.

I say Auf Wiedersehen to the lovely Swiss landscapes and know that I will make every effort to visit them again. And I say see you soon to those who have been following me as the next chapter on this journey is yet to come.

Many Thanks

I would not have had this amazing experience if it were not for the support of many people. There is no possible way for me to thank Dr. Neal Iverson and Dr. Luke Zoet for choosing me for this expedition. Thank you for all your support in and out of the field and for allowing me to join you on this amazing fieldwork.

Thank you to Janet Warburton and Judy Fahnestock for running this amazing program and for working so hard to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Thank you to my parents for helping my husband and I out with childcare while I was gone. It truly takes a village to raise kids these days, and we are so thankful for your help.

And finally, a big thanks to my husband, Chris Adamo, for always allowing me to chase my dreams. Without your support and your assurances that things would be fine in my absence, my PolarTREC journey never would of even started.

Final Hike

On our last day in the field we hiked 10+ miles and 2+ hours each direction to reach the Aletsch Glacier forefield. This is the same glacier that we viewed from above when we took the gondola rides up to the mountain peak. The views up close and personal of the glacier were even more impressive than those from above, so I wanted to share a few photographs. When we started the hike it was a bit chilly with many low hanging clouds. As we hiked farther up the mountain, we were pretty much hiking through the clouds, and at one point it started to snow. All of us were worried that we would not be able to conduct the survey due to the weather, but by the time we got to the forefield the skies were clear and blue.

Views of the low hanging clouds hugging the mountainside on our hike into the Aletsch Glacier. Aletsch 2b

Snow covered thistles on our hike to Aletsch Glacier. Aletsch 3b

Amazing close up view of the Aletsch Glacier. Aletsch 4b

We all stopped on our hike out to take a final few pictures of the Swiss glaciers.

Glacier Flags

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about the rest of the flags, so days were just so busy that I would bring them to the field with me and just forget to take the picture. Here are the final 3 glacier flags that I brought with me on my trip.

Here are 2 flags put together by 4th grade classrooms at Memorial Elementary School in East Brunswick, NJ. Hopefully they will all be excited to see these flags again when I see them in the fall.

Jake and I hold the flag from Room 4D from Memorial Elementary School, East Brunswick, NJ. Memorial flag 3

PolarTREC teacher, Dr. Lauren Neitzke Adamo, holding a flag made by 4th graders at Memorial Elementary School in East Brunswick, NJ in front of the Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland.

This flag comes from Room 207 from The Phoenix Center in Nutley, NJ. These kids did such an amazing job drawing some of the Arctic and Antarctic animals.

PolarTREC teacher, Dr. Lauren Neitzke Adamo, holding the flag from Room 207 from The Phoenix Center.

As Promised

I promised that I would share the photographs in the “Lauren is the last one up the mountain” series, so here they are. And yes, I was the last one up the mountain EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.