Yale sophomore Joanne Li grew up in the heavily populated city of Beijing, but for her, the most beautiful places on Earth are where the fewest people have ventured.
During winter break, she fulfilled her dream to travel to one of those places — Antarctica — and, now that she has been to all seven continents, declares it “the coolest continent,” not for its temperature but for its scenery and its wildlife.
Early in her visit, while traveling by ship near the Antarctic Peninsula, Li recalls being overcome — and humbled — by the pristine beauty of the scenery. “The ocean was a deep, deep blue and filled with icebergs,” she says. “Far in the distance, I could see glaciers with white clouds overhead. Tears ran down my face. The scene was so beautiful that I wanted the moment to stop so I could be there forever. Being in the middle of the ocean with icebergs and that scenery made me feel really small. It was amazing.”
Li traveled to Antarctica as part of an expedition hosted by Students on Ice, an organization that aims to educate, inspire, and empower youth through cross-disciplinary exploration and learning in polar regions. Students on Ice selected 66 students (out of more than double that number of applicants) from around the world to participate in the expedition.
Li recently spoke with YaleNews about her Antarctica travels. Here is what we learned.
Reaching her sixth continent: Li heard about Students on Ice from a fellow Yale student who had participated in the program, and decided to apply last summer while she was studying wildlife management in Tanzania.
“Tanzania was one of my favorite places I’ve ever been,” says Li, who is majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology. “I really love the wilderness, and while I was in Tanzania I realized the beauty of nature and why we should protect it. I wanted to take part in another program that would take me where not so many people have been.”
In the fall semester, Li began reading about Antarctica, its history, and the creatures for which it is most famous — penguins. Just before Christmas, she made a 50-hour flight from Beijing to Ushuaia, Argentina, to meet up with her expedition team. There, she took part in two days of pre-expedition activities, including a hike in the Andes Mountains in Patagonia. This was her first trip to South America, making it the sixth continent she had visited.
Where Shackleton went before her: The Students on Ice expedition team then spent almost two days at sea traveling across the Drake Passage. Even during this part of the trip, Li found herself fascinated by the sights.
“We would observe wildlife, and on our last day at sea, these birds were following us as we sailed. The ornithology experts aboard the ship showed us a wandering albatross with a huge wingspan, and we also saw cape petrels. As we approached Antarctica, we could see floating icebergs and glaciers.” She and her fellow travelers also saw a variety of species of whales.
After disembarking off the ship on a Zodiac boat, Li and the other students traveled near Elephant Island, the northernmost of the South Shetland Islands, where explorer Ernest Shackelton and his crew took refuge in 1916 after the loss of their ship “Endurance.” Here, Li first saw penguins covering the hills and ice sheets illuminated with “the purest blue I’ve ever seen.” She also saw her first leopard seals.
Cartoonish: The expedition team also visited Brown Bluff, Deception Island, Danco Island, and Port Lockroy, among other places. All along the way, Li was able to get close to a variety of penguins, observing Adelie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguins living in colonies.
“I fell in love with penguins and learned why their habitat is such a heaven for them,” says Li. “On one beach, I watched them for three hours. I had my Go Pro camera on one side of them and then took pictures of them from the other side. … Penguins are very curious about humans; they haven’t learned to be afraid of us yet. Some of them would just come over to me and stare. The Adelie penguins, which have black eyes with a circle of white, just reminded me of funny cartoon characters when we stared at each other.”
On a glacial hike on Danco Island, while knee-deep in snow, Li began to understand just why penguins walk as they do. “We think they look silly, but when climbing the glacier, I saw trails of penguins walking in a line one by one. I realized they are much more elegant than I was when climbing in the snow,” she said.
In the quiet: At the end of the 45-minute climb on Danco Island, one of the expedition leaders asked the student explorers to find a seat and be silent for two minutes, just to soak in the sights and sounds.
“Everyone was quiet for about five minutes,” recalls Li. “I could hear an avalanche far away. In Antarctica, everything seems huge and slow. It feels like nothing is moving, but everything is always moving: The glaciers are moving at a slow rate, for example. I loved that feeling.”
Waiting till last: One of her favorite places, Li says, was Neko Harbour, an inlet in the Antarctic Peninsula that features sparkling waters and enormous glaciers.
“It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen,” says Li. “It looked like a huge watercolor canvas. There was a gigantic ice sheet, and the water is remarkably calm and clear.”
At nearly every expedition destination, says Li, she was the last to leave. “Because of this, I often got to see amazing things. On one island, a seal came right in front of me and just stared at me for a long time, and I couldn’t stop taking pictures. It felt like we were both trying to understand each other.”
Li says her expedition team was lucky throughout the trip, as severe weather often prevents travelers to Antarctica from making landings. She was so fascinated by the wildlife and the scenery that she never gave any thought to the cold temperatures of the environment, she says. In the summer months in Antarctica, temperatures generally hover at the freezing mark, but with wind chill can be around 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I brought snow pants and just wore six layers, including a down jacket and a rain jacket, and never focused on how cold it was,” says Li. “It was funny to get back to New Haven after my trip and to hear everyone complaining about the cold when the temperature was minus 6 degrees Celsius [about 21 degrees Fahrenheit].”
A lesson in adaptability: The Students on Ice expedition featured numerous presentations by experts on the region, as well as hands-on workshops for the student travelers. In addition to learning about the geography and geology of Antarctica, and about its birds and other wildlife, Li says her experience in Antarctica also inspired her to think more deeply about how the birds and animals survive — indeed, thrive — in such an extreme climate.
“I realized how well the creatures conform to their environment,” says Li. “For example, most of the penguins land on shore in the summer and give birth, but in the winter they leave the mainland to live on the sea. They know well about their living environment. This is in contrast to humans. We don’t really conform to our environment when we are using up our resources and cutting down forests. I spent a lot of time thinking about how it would be far better for humans to conform to their environments and the principles of nature, rather than destroying and ignoring them.”
On her trip, Li learned during a presentation by an ornithologist about the behavior of Empire penguins, which are the only penguins that don’t leave the mainland in the winter, and says she was touched while hearing about one of their traits.
“The secret they have to survive is to have thousands of them gather in a clump to warm each other,” says Li. “The ‘volunteers’ who are at the edge are constantly changing; after they’ve been on the outside, they go back on the inside and new ‘volunteers’ go to the edge. There is no fighting.”
Next exploration: At Yale, Li works in the laboratory of Pincelli Hull, assistant professor of geology and geophysics, where she helps arrange and select fossils for the faculty member’s research. The Yale student says that along with her love for the wilderness and for animals, she is also fascinated with learning more about how landscape is shaped, and so has taken a number of geology courses.
Her extracurricular pursuits include serving as co-captain of the Yale Collegiate Figure Skating Club and as the events coordinator for the Yale Student Environmental Coalition. She also sings in the Chinese a cappella group C#.
“I love the ice,” comments Li.
The sophomore made a vow to explore beyond her comfort zone at Yale and has so far “stretched” herself by learning to play the organ and taking a hip-hop dance class. She says she never felt much of a culture shock coming to Yale from China. “I adapted pretty quickly,” says Li. “I feel really lucky to be at Yale.”
Now that she has been to Antarctica, the Yale student has a new “dream” destination: the Amazonian rainforest.
“In Beijing, which is a very populated and modern city, the only nature you see is some mountains, and some venues that are really touristy. I want real, true wilderness. I think I’ll continue seeking it for the rest of my time in college. I love being where everything that surrounds me feels big, and I can just be awed by it, feeling small.”