Photo courtesy of Nicole Eshelman.

By Maddie Hobbs

A Manheim Township High School teacher recently traveled to the other side of the world— to Antarctica. Nicole Eshelman, a social studies teacher, was in Antarctica for two weeks as a part of a program that enables teachers to accompany researchers from National Geographic and other companies. The trip was also another check off of her bucket list, with her now having visited four out of the seven continents on the planet.

The trip to Antarctica, Eshelman said, was, “like, eleven hours, another four hour flight, and then two and a half days across the roughest waters on the planet.” She traveled from Newark, through Argentina, and, finally, across the stretch of water between South America and Antarctica known as the Drake Passage. The group’s  research and sightseeing began almost immediately after their arrival. “‘Round the clock people are doing things, and it’s up to you and what you’re taking part in, if you want to stay up the whole night or not,” Eshelman recalled, adding that “often we’d go on a hike or observations, taking specimens or samples of things, and then we would get back onto the ship.”

During her exploration, Eshelman got to experience her favorite parts of the continent in real life for the first time. She mentioned how “they [penguins] would approach us, because they’re curious to what these people are doing, and so they come right up to you. But we would try not to infringe upon them and what they’re doing.” Aside from the penguins, she also enjoyed spotting and cataloging different whale species while on the water and sightseeing around the continent.

In all, Eshelman said, “it was just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m so grateful for the powers that be, the company that supplied the opportunity for us to go.”