Message in a bottle
Hello, Mr./Ms. Stranger,
to do things properly, I should introduce myself first: my name is Nerea, and I am a 29-year-old Spanish woman. I was born in Huétor Vega, a small town very close to Graná (okay, Granada), where I have spent almost my entire life. There, I studied a degree in Geology, except for the year I spent in Bologna (Italy) on an Erasmus+ exchange programme... Quindi, posso parlarti anche in italiano. After that, I completed a Master's degree in Palaeontology in Madrid and began working at the Laboratorio de Biogeoquímica de Isótopos Estables of the Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC).
No, I haven't thrown this bottle into the sea from the coast of Granada, but from the Arctic.
What am I doing here, you ask? According to some people, I'm on a cruise... But in reality, I am spending a month aboard an oceanographic research vessel, the Odón de Buen, collecting water samples in thousands of little glass bottles while wearing my Captain Pescanova boots. Lots of bottles. UNA JARTÁ (a whole lot). Afterwards, all those water samples will be analysed back at the Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Laboratory in Graná in order to determine the isotopic ratios of C, H, O and N.
Oh! What!? You don't know what an isotope is? Don't worry, I'll explain it: isotopes are atoms of the same chemical element that differ in the number of neutrons they contain, which mean they have different masses. Thanks to that, we can separate them using magnetic attraction in the mass spectrometers we have at the laboratory.
Wow, what a drag!!! And all because you picked up a bottle to help clean the beach of pollution.
Well, don't think it's all work here. We also organise ping-pong and table football tournaments. Some people solve murdokus, work on Rubik's Cubes, go whale watching, or read. As for me, I crochet; I'm currently making a huuuge granny-square blanket.
And we eat, too!!! A lot. So much that my parents think I'll come home rolling.
Life is tough on the ‘tiny boat’.
Anyway, things are pretty good here, so don't worry. This isn't a S.O.S. message, hehe.
And with that, it's time to say goodbye... I'm off to eat!!!
Lots of love,
Nerea
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