May 7, 2007

I moved in with one of the trainers on Saturday afternoon. Everything went smoothly, she's very nice and I couldn't be happier with where I've picked to live for the next 3 months! Sunday was spent enjoying a day off... and today was my first day on the job as a marine mammal intern. I learned a lot about food prep from the very moment I stepped foot in the door, and a lot about cleaning, too! I never knew there were so many different WAYS to clean, hahaha... but getting down-and-dirty with all of those frozen fish really requires some serious scrubbing if you want to go home later without scales stuck to your skin. ;) I also had to read about all of the standard protocols used around the aquarium and I got to experience some of them firsthand down in food prep. In the afternoon, I watched two of the dolphin shows to get a feel for how they're run. The show schedule is pretty tight and everyone is always on-the-go. I got a chance to take a picture for one of the guests during a photo-op with Indy the dolphin, which was pretty neat. The task was randomly thrown at me rather quickly, but I felt more than happy to do it! I also met a lot of wonderful people--not just trainers, but also a ton of the volunteers that help the facility to run smoothly every day. I think that a lot of people don't realize how much volunteers are really needed. Some of the long-time volunteers (with whom I was paired up most of the day so they could show me the ropes) even help to run the presentations that are put on for the public. During one of the shows, the trainers could not get the dolphins to gate properly.
The volunteer, who was originally only supposed to do a quick intro, somehow managed to talk for almost 25 minutes to distract the public from the gating problems they were having with the dolphins. It was amazing to see how efficiently everyone worked together to get through it. I worked straight through from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (with a lunch break, of course)... and I felt very accomplished when the time came to close up shop. I stopped by Publix on the way home to grab something for dinner quickly--still decked out in my board shorts, teva sandals and aquarium t-shirt, and probably looking exactly as tired as I felt--but it was all worth it. At the checkout line, I watched the cashier (an older woman) eye the CMA logo on the front of my t-shirt carefully, and then she looked up at me and smiled and said, "Getting off work?" , to which I replied, "Yeup!". And then she said something that really made me feel proud: "Good job you guys do out there!" I smiled, thanked her, and turned around to leave with my purchases in hand... and I think I sported the biggest smile EVER the entire way back to the parking lot. It was that one comment that finalized the feeling inside of me that I'm going to LOVE my internship this summer. To know that there are people out there who truly appreciate our efforts in working with such amazing creatures... it's totally awesome. :) I'm psyched about going back on Thursday!


**The names of staff members where interns are working will remain undisclosed, in order to maintain a certain level of privacy.**