July 29, 2007

So my internship is officially over as of yesterday. It has been an absolutely amazing experience - which is precisely why I am staying in Clearwater to continue volunteering there on a regular basis. :) I guess my plan for the future is just to finish my degree at USF while volunteering at CMA, and then attempt to land a job as an actual trainer somewhere!

I'm talking for both the dolphin and otter shows all of the time now. My fear of the mic is completely gone - in fact, I really LOVE talking for the shows! I'm also learning more about training and doing new behaviors with the animals as time goes on. It's nice to be expanding my knowledge in that area, this way I'm very prepared when it comes time to get a job. Aaaand I'm STILL doing food prep and scrubbing buckets; as I said from the very beginning, it's a job that never goes away. But I don't mind it really, I just grin and bear it.

Last week, I did a really good dolphin presentation. So the head trainer decided to give me some "reinforcement" for a job well done: I was to be able to get in the water by myself with Winter for a play session! I got to rub her and play with her, and give HER some rides around the pool! She would actually lay down on top of me like a mat, letting me hold her while I swam backwards around the pool. It was very cute, actually. And despite her attitudinal nature, she is still very tactile with you when you're in the water with her, which surprised me. She really is a princess dolphin - or at least she thinks so! And I will love her forever for that.

I also finished all of my write-ups, reviews and tests. All of that, combined with the hands-on experience I've obtained... makes me feel incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to participate in this internship. I would like to be able to say that it was a "once in a lifetime experience", but that wouldn't be very accurate, now would it? There isn't a doubt in my mind that I will be doing exactly this for the rest of my life. :)