Gina Jozef embarked on the MOSAiC Expedition to the Arctic to join the exploration ship, theWhen the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Jozef's team was in the middle of their expedition, and it soon became clear that their trip wouldn't be able to end in April as planned.
Jozef and her crewmates stayed nearly two extra months in the Artic before it was finally decided that they would have to sail theThis is her story, as told to freelance writer Molly O'Brien.My experience throughout the coronavirus crisis has been very unlike that of most other people. While everybody was stuck at home on lockdown, I was surrounded by people constantly.
I learned that just a little bit of laughter with friends each day made all the difference in my overall mood throughout the months I was stuck in the Arctic. I hope to carry this prioritization of personal and social time, to balance out a heavy work schedule, into the future of my career. Jozef at the drone ground control station., work was my daily focus, which was flying drones to collect data about the boundary layer atmosphere conditions .
Meanwhile, myself and the rest of the leg three participants sailed back to Germany after being gone for nearly twice as long as originally intended — ending our unintended 4.5 month long quarantine from the coronavirus, and thrusting us back into a world completely different than the one we left behind when we first set sail in January.