Another week at the park

Hi!
I have finished another week of work at the park. The week was full of scrubbing coolers, learning how to control the sound for the show, observing feedings and training sessions. I have washed and scrubbed more than I have ever done in my life. These dolphins are constantly eating which means I have to try to keep up with the cleaning. It may sound boring, but the other interns and I try to make it more interesting by singing to the park music while we do it. I have also watched the sea lion feedings and on Wednesday I got to start feeding them! They are so cute and I finally have all of their names memorized. The winter group of interns just finished their last day, so now we are on our own. I am memorizing the speech about Humbolt penguins, and the speech about the sea lion feeding pool. I also have to get cleared to do the sound and gating for the show. There is a lot of stuff to memorize! We also had our first class about the fish house and our first class about training. We were given a lot of information and we will have exams at the end of each month to make sure we are understanding the material. I also had my first day of fish prep this week. I had to wake up at 4:45 am so that I could catch the bus and get to the park at 6:00 am. After putting on many layers of clothes and waterproof pants and a jacket, we signed in and began to sort fish. It was freezing in the fish house and even with tons of layers of clothes, I was still freezing. They had an i-pod in the fish house which made the process go by a little faster. After sorting fish for about 2 and a half hours, we cleaned out the fish house and broke for breakfast. After that, the buckets and tables all have to be scrubbed and rinsed. Fish prep ends around 10:30 or 11:00 and on your fish prep days, you get to go home at 2:30. I have been really busy and exhausted every day but I still love it.

Hello everyone!
Sorry I have not added a new post before now, but I have been so tired after work that I have gone to bed early everyday.
This week is my first week of work! Monday and Tueday were the orientation days. I listened to different lectures given by the trainers about fish prep, husbandry, animal behavior, sanitation, and other information that I will need to know for the internship.Today was my second day of actual work and I am already exhausted. I have been shadowing a current intern to learn the basic schedule of the day and it is crazy! I have been moving fish coolers and cleaning more than I have ever cleaned in my life! Right now all of the interns are just learning how everything runs. There are 3 phases to the internship and there are certain things that I have to know to pass each phase. Then if I think I am prepared, I have to take a test in order to move on to the next phase. Each phase should take about a month to pass, so I will still be in phase one for a while. The longer and harder I work, the more I will get to do so I have been trying to stay upbeat and constantly working. The atmosphere at the park is great and everyone is so will to help explain things. I know that this experience is going to really help me understand the field and hopefully increase my chances of getting a job somewhere. It is really cool to watch the training sessions, and today I got to stand in the shallows while they recorded the weights of the dolphins and the wholphin! I will give another update once I have had more work days. Bye.

Oahu

Hi everyone! Sorry it has taken me so long to add another post. I am in Oahu now in the house I will be living in for the next 3 months. My plane landed in Oahu on Thursday (May 15th) around 5pm. My landlord picked me up at the airport along with one of my roommates. We stopped to get some groceries and then we went to the house. The house is small with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. There is no air conditioning, so we have to rely on the fans to keep us cool. It has been extremely hot here the past couple of days, due to the "vog" from the volcano on the big island. It should clear up when the trade winds come back and then it should cool down a little. The day after I got here, I went to see Kristine at her house. She is renting a room with another intern out of some fanily's house. She thinks it is really akward because the family is living in the house with all of the renters. That day we walked to downtown Kailua with some of the other interns to eat breakfast. It took forever to get there but we made it. Then Kristine came back to my house with me. We took a tour of my nieghborhood and went to the beach to take pictures. That night one of the people in my neighborhoood invited us over for a bbq. The food was amazing! The next day, my roommate (Crystal) and I went to the beach for about an hour. The water looks so blue and clean. After that, we had lunch and took a bus to Kailua to meet up with some of the other interns. We all went downtown for pizza and ice cream. Then I came back home and meet my other 2 roommates that had just gotten here earlier that day. Today I am going to go to the grocery store with my roommates and then take the bus to Sea Life Park. I start work tomorrow! I will probably be extremely busy and tired this week but I will try to give everyone an update. Aloha

Maui!

I am finally in Hawaii! I arrived in Maui yesterday afternoon (May 13). The flight was long and boring but it was worth it. Elizabethe's (my cousin) best friend (Catherine) picked Kristine and I up from the airport. After fitting a ton of luggage into her car, we stopped to get a sandwich and ate at a bird sanctuary. Then we went to Catherine's house to drop off our bags and rest for a few minutes. We spent the rest of the day driving through the mountains and taking pictures. The scenery was so beautiful and the sunset was amazing to see. Everything just looks like a postcard. Today (Wednesday 14th) we drove up the road to Hana. The entire way, we took pictures and admired the landscape. The best part of the day was swimming in a pool next to a waterfall. The water was freezing but it was worth it just to swim there and stand under the waterfall. Then we drove back to Catherine's house to rest before dinner. With the time change and all of the sightseeing, I am exhausted. Then Catherine and her husband, Jeffrey, took Kristine and I out to dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. The food was really good but it filled me up really quickly. Now I am just tired and ready to sleep. I have taken lots of pictures that I am editing. I will try to post some pictures soon!
P.S. My computer has not automatically adjusted to the time change so the date at the top of the post is not correct. I am 6 hours behind eastern time.

Beginning of Summer

I have just finished my Freshman year at Florida Tech and I am getting ready to spend my summer in Hawaii. I have a marine mammal training internship at Sea Life Park in Oahu and I will use this blog to post all of my summer experiences. I can not wait to start living my dream of working with marine mammals. I will try to update this page as often as I can with my new daily experiences. I am leaving for Hawaii on May 13th!