PODCAST. “My life in Antarctica” (5/6): daily life

Sophie Faille, an emergency doctor, was selected to be the doctor at the French scientific base Dumont d’Urville in Antarctica for 15 months. The 5th episode immerses us in the daily lives of the inhabitants.

It’s the Saturday afternoon ritual, all the inhabitants of the base leave their slippers – because wearing slippers inside the buildings is a tradition – put on their boots and go out to form a human chain. The goal: to transport the food for the following week stored in the hangars to the main building. Clément, the cook, and Sophie Faille, our doctor, take the opportunity to take us to visit the freezer.C It’s a gigantic freezer, which has to stay at -20°C. So there are times when it has to be warmed up, when it’s -35°C here.“, jokes Sophie Faille. “It’s often better to be in the freezer.“, adds Stéphane.

The cold, when Sophie communicates with her loved ones who have remained in France, is a subject that comes up regularly.What are the temperatures, how do you manage?“, she is asked. For Sophie, after several months, the cold begins to be painful.” We all dream of being in summer mode, for my part, of having just a dress and flip-flops“, she assures.”Temperatures can vary between -5 and -10 to -35. Everything is conditioned by the strength of the wind, the snow. This can significantly lower the temperatures that we feel.” she explains.

It is 4 p.m., time for another ritual at the French Dumont d’Urville base: the tea call. “The snack is almost ready, first come, first served“, announces Stéphane into his walkie-talkie to the inhabitants of the base. That day, it’s pancakes, served in a jovial atmosphere. Yet there are only 24 of them, spending together the freezing months where night prevails over day, isolated from the world.

Isolation is a subject that inspires a surprise guest at the base, who came to spend a few days in Antarctica: astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who has experienced another form of isolation. He came to this base for “really confirm that there are similarities“. “We’re not going to train astronauts in Antarctica, but doing that kind of mission would make sense, estimates the astronaut. Especially since we are moving towards longer and longer missions, more and more distant, whether on the Moon or on Mars. Today, there is not much more similar to a mission on the Moon than a mission to Antarctica.“.

“My life in Antarctica”, an original franceinfo podcast by Solenne Le Hen, broadcast by Thomas Coudreuse, to be found on the franceinfo website, the Radio France application and several other platforms such as Apple podcasts, Podcast Addict, Spotify, or Deezer.