Hi readers, welcome to my blog recounting my adventures in Antarctica. I will be staying at the French polar base called Dumont D’Urville for 14 months as an employee (civil service volunteer aka VSC) of the French Polar Institute (called IPEV, “Institute Paul-Émile Victor“) (which is probably why you're reading this in the first place). In other posts I will go more into detail about my job with penguins as a veterinarian/ biologist - for now I will simply introduce myself so that you can get an inkling of who I am and how I got to where I am. I remember how I would go through multiple blogs when I was applying so as to get an idea of who gets chosen for this position and what my competition looks like - if that's your case, then good luck to you reader!
My name is May Li, I am 23 years old as I am typing this in my quarantine room in Tasmania, exactly a week away from boarding the plane that will fly us to Antarctica. A few words about myself, I'm French-American, born in Germany and currently living in Senegal (well not really now). Might I add that this is my first time writing a blog, thinking about what to put in my bio feels quite odd to be honest. However it’s not just family and friends that read my blog as I keep giving my blog to curious strangers I meet along the way. So hi stranger :) , it’s me that random Asian that can’t stop happily chatting away about penguins - this section is for you so that you can get a better idea to the journey that led me to this point.
So back to the bio - my background is veterinarian medicine having studied 2 years in France (class prépa pour ceux qui connaissent héhé, for those that didn’t get it, don’t worry you didn’t miss anything), then continued at the West and Central African Veterinarian University (EISMV, École Inter-États des Sciences et Médécines Vétérinaires) in Senegal with my thesis research done in North Germany on whale lice with the ITAW (Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research). Afterwards I did a Masters in Space Studies at the International Space University which I finished with an internship at German Space Agency (DLR).
Funnily enough, I found out about ISU by reading about NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. Seeing a marine biologist which lit a flame for my own forgotten dream, shoot for the stars eh? - so I went through her CV and decided to apply to ISU just as she had done 20 years before. During my space studies I met my class neighbor (and now close friend) who is passionate about getting to Antarctica (really, it’s only a matter of time before he gets there) which made me realize that going to the ice continent might not be that unrealistic. Antarctica, especially Concordia, is often used as an analog for space missions (aka astronaut training or research!). This all gave me the idea to look for jobs specifically in Antarctica - I was not picky, really I was happy to take any job as long as it included icebergs in the job application. So ironically, it took getting into the space sector for me to continue with marine biology; and I swear @astro_jessica I am not copying you haha (kidding, where can I apply for the Artemis mission ?).
And that's about it for my CV, other than that I also like surfing, windsurfing, boxing, horse-riding, skateboarding, diving, painting, inappropriate jokes, skiing and procrastinating administrative work by writing this blog.
If you had the patience to read all the way to here, don't hesitate to reach out, especially if you have any specific questions that I could help out with - I'm even chattier irl!
From an extreme climate to another soon...
Bientôt Antarctique vs Sénégal: deux salles, deux ambiances