63PE370 - Dagboek 4 (Engels)

My name is Marietta Anthoulas and I come from Rhodes in Greece. I work at the Institute of Oceanography, HELENIC CENTER FOR MARINE  RESEARCH (HCMR) in Athens as a technician in heavy Metal Laboratory.
I was given the opportunity to participate in this trip for the collection of samples in order to measure the total organic carbon. These measurements will take place at our laboratories in Athens.

The journey for me began on the 13th of May, 2013 from Athens and I boarded on Pelagia on the 14th of May, 2013, in Lisbon, having lost my luggage and with a few things that I bought the last minute from a shopping mall in Lisbon.
But something told me that things would not be as bad as they started.
Indeed, after a few hours of bad weather my hunch was confirmed, a walk on the deck overlooking the ocean along with the dolphins which kept us company under the Mediterranean sun, a chat with my colleagues on the deck and the full moon, all these things told me that things will go well. Well, they did!

The following days, work started. Most of the procedure is very familiar to me but yet there are several things that are new and different. All the sampling is done in a specially designed area in an ultraclean environment.
Everything is kept in order, every procedure is performed methodically and with precision. Even those of us which perform the sampling must wear special working overalls, as you may see in the photo (Marietta taking samples from the ultraclean titanium CTD in the clean container - Photo: Micha Rijkenberg).
I like all the procedures overall, I am focused 100% on it as I am sure that there are a lot of things to learned which I can use in my everyday work back in HCMR as well as in the samplings conducted by the center's research programs in future.
Today, 17 days already on board, approaching more and more in Greece with the sun hanging out and the samplings passing around more easily, the trip is reaching at the end.
I am certain that the outcome of our measurements back in our laboratories will be interesting as well as beneficial, as the whole research it is expected to be.
And for all of us who participate in this trip we will reap a nice experience.
We've met and worked with people of other nations and learned new things.
A very nice memory, an excellent experience worth remembering... A really nice trip.

Marietta Anthoulas