Bermuda-Minnesota-Vancouver

Well, like usual I'm far overdue for a post.

In case you don't have time to read this massive novel, here is my few sentence summary: I left Bermuda, was home for 5 whole days, and moved to Vancouver. I have now started my fourth internship working with Beluga whales and Sea Otters. Instead of an ocean view I now have a mountain view.

I'll start at the beginning. Leaving Bermuda was so difficult. Definitely shed some tears over that one. I learned a phenomenal amount while living and working there. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I will always look back on my memories there with a smile and a warm fuzzy feeling. The people made me feel so accepted, and it only cemented my desire to work with marine mammals- it is what I want to do with my life. It was a beautiful occurrence. I met amazing people, and I can only hope that they continue to be a part of my life.

While home, I don't think I sat still for very long. I bought myself a new computer (Kelsey=poor now- macs are pricey! ha), went to my cabin for a night with some of my besties, saw both sides of the family, and switched out my summer clothes for cooler fall/winter clothes. That part made me feel sad. But I did enjoy being home. This whole moving all over the world experience would be a lot more difficult if I didn't have that time at home in between.

Upon arrival to Vancouver, I figured out Canadian customs and immigration doesn't have a soft spot for me. It took me 3 hours to get through it. I had to wait in a excruciatingly slow line to get my work permit, and found out later that it was because all the international students were coming in. My thought process on this was, 'Ugh even after I graduate school affects me'. Haha. Anyways, finally made it to my apartment, and I absolutely love it. It's definitely a step up from my living situation in Bermuda, and I have a view of the mountain. I suppose if I can't have the ocean view, a mountain view will do alright. We have a workout room, laundry room, and a pool. I was really excited about the pool because that means I can practice for swim tests for my (hopefully) upcoming job interviews. :) I haven't had much of a chance to explore the city yet, I arrived on Saturday and started my internship on Monday. Not much of a turnaround time.

So I guess the whole reason you're all reading this is to hear about my new internship. Well I'll tell you this. It is a learning experience all over again. I've found that the best way to come into a new internship is to pretend that you don't know a thing from your other ones, and just learn it from the bottom up. So the first week we're in fish house. (For those of you from other facilities or companies, fish house=fish prep). The big difference here is that when you're in fish house, you're in fish house for the entire day. We do fish prep for 4 Belugas, 3 Pacific White-sided Dolphins, 3 Sea Otters, 6 Fur Seals, 3 Harbor Seals, 1 Harbor Porpoise (The only one under human care in North America) and 4 Steller Sea Lions. That is a LOT of fish. We have 6 sinks. 2 measuring scales. Fish house is absolutely one of the most important things to learn, because it is the basis of training at most any aquarium or zoo. How can you care for an animal without fish? How can you train an animal without fish? It is the foundation of having animals under human care. So we're in there from 7-3 all this week. It's a lot to learn, and it is a lot of fishy gut-ness and cleaning. We clean everything. It's cool though because I think my cleanliness at work is reflecting in my cleanliness at home. I scrub everything here it seems. The only real downside to fish house is that we smell like the fish we prepare. Meaning clams. Clams seriously have the most nasty smell.

Anyways, we'll be working our way up to animal time and interacting more with the animals as the weeks go on. Eventually we'll be doing the otter talk too, which is very exciting. (Thank you Challenger, for preparing me...) :) Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this, hopefully I'll have some pictures of Van City for you soon! Feel free to skype me or drop a line- I miss you all.

Love love. BERMP BERRRRMP. :)