What Am I Doing to Prepare?

*Author’s note: I wrote this three days ago before I had to throw it all out the window and race a typhoon to get out of Korea early. Disregard where appropriate.

Hello! It’s been a while. Sorry about that. Turns out that being an English teacher and a migration consultant while putting together ten Ph.D. applications and about 20 scholarship applications all while planning fieldwork is quite time-consuming. I thought in the lead-up to me flying off to Scotland though, I might give you a little idea of what I’ve been doing to prepare.

Academically

The first step to any expedition or academic pursuit is to conduct a literature review. You want to make sure that the questions you’re asking haven’t been answered already (if they have, that’s great, you can follow up on them). You also want to understand as much background information as you can so that the data you gather during your fieldwork can be contextualized. Because my project is weaving together so many themes, my literature review has been particularly ambitious. I’ve revisited some of my staple migration texts, as well as a lot of community and identity-building articles, and of course heaps of articles on the anthropology of space (which I might have to do an entire post about at some point). Research is always an iterative process though, and my interviews have also brought in concepts like trauma and wartime experiences.

Speaking of, in order to have an idea of what I might find, and what questions to ask, I’ve conducted a dozen contextual interviews with NASA and ESA analogue astronauts. As my research focus is on how the journey changes the astronauts, I’ve also conducted pre-mission interviews with our own Meili-I astronauts so that I can get a solid “before picture” to refer back to.

Logistically

This is a proper fieldwork experience for me–I’m currently living in Korea, and I have to get to a remote island off the coast of the UK in order to camp there for two weeks. Luckily, some of my peers have offered to retrieve my camping gear from storage in Oxford, but I’ve had to supplement that significantly.

I ordered journals, walkie-talkies, and a new (read: viable) set of waterproofs. To Space Health HQ. I’ll also need to pack the essentials to take with me, but I have to keep my bag small enough to fit under my airplane seat ($750 extra for one checked bag??). I have to be careful what I pack because I’ll need enough free space to bring back 6-10 journals with the same restrictions. I’ll be forgoing my laptop, as the island won't have a signal or power. In its place, I’ll have my own journal. I’m only bringing a few sets of small clothes, one set of thermals, one sweater, one set of water-resistant, lined trousers, and a few spare wicking shirts. I’ve decided to bring my camera, as photos generally help any academic paper, magazine publications, talks, and Space Health promotional materials. I have a universal charge adapter and a power chord. Essentials like my passport, COVID vaccine card, wallet, and phone are given. And that’s really it. I’ll be stocking up on toothpaste and trail snacks after I land.

Wellness

Maybe most importantly, how am I preparing myself for this mentally? To be honest, I’ve been burnt out the last week or so. This mission is just one part of a larger study, which itself is part of a Ph.D. application, which will let me continue years' worth of work. On top of that, I’ve been working as a teacher full-time and volunteering with a consulting agency that writes recommendations for the UNHCR, among others. It’s wheels within wheels, this thing.

I love this work. In fact, I don’t even recognize it as work. It’s pursuing my curiosity, letting my imagination run wild, and inquiring into everything that I find interesting. But you know how they say, ‘Do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life’? Well, I’ve heard that can sour the thing you love as it goes from ‘passion’ to ‘work’. I’m having the opposite reaction. When the thing that I love is all I do, how do I step away? How do I recover? What more can I do to rest my mind than the things that I already love doing?

It’s important to have a work-life balance. So many academics get caught in the constant roundabout of publish or perish. Thus, it’s important to be able to answer these questions. For me, running has always been an outlet, a daily chance for me to stretch and just go. As far and as fast as I can, or as calm and relaxed as I’d like. Climbing has also been a way to get out of my head and problem-solve in a different way. I’ve done a lot of both, but honestly, I’ve spent the last weekend laying in bed watching video essays and Good Omens. I would normally be ashamed to admit that, but I genuinely can’t remember the last time I watched TV. And sometimes, you just need to switch off.

I am over the moon about this fieldwork, and I cannot wait to get to our planet and start observations. And, hand-in-hand with that, I can’t wait to feel the cold Atlantic wind on my face, to see nothing but the moss, to hear nothing but the waves, and maybe even to be bored for a bit. To pause and observe, and listen.