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. :)

Today was so much fun. I got to do my first Discover Dolphins program solo. I was absolutely freaked out, but Robyn said go for it. So I did. It actually went really well, and I have a bit more confidence in my program-running abilities. :)

I ran backup with Robyn today as well, and she had the absolutely brilliant idea of doing some desense during the program by having a surfboard out there. So Robyn and I sat on the surfboard in the middle of the pool during the program just messing around. It was so much fun. Then, at the end when the program was over, Robyn laid down on the surfboard and had Ely come over and footpush us on the surfboard across the length of the pool. Absolutely amazing. They are such strong animals.

I'm still reeling from how much fun it was. :) It's been Cup Match here, so everything has been crazy, and I'll take the time to update you fully sometime this week.

Hope you're all well. Love love.

Visitors and Birthdays!

Hello all!

It's been a bit since my last post, but lots has happened in that time. My visitors came! Mom and Keyla flew to Baltimore to visit my sister for a few days, and then caught a flight down to Bermuda to see me! It was so nice to see them. But first, I'll update about work a little bit.

So I've been getting more involved in programs. We are talking more during them, and I've noticed my confidence has increased. I cannot stress enough though, the importance of enthusiastic and receptive guests. It makes our job so much easier if the guests are excited and happy to be there. We do get people that come in who act like they could care less. When I see them I think to myself, 'If you don't want to do this, then why are you spending the money to do it?' It just doesn't make any sense to me. So that makes our job a little more difficult, because I know I for one feel like I have to compensate energetic-ness for their lack of it. So, if you guys ever do an interactive program, get excited! It's not everyday that you get to spend time with an animal that calls the ocean its home. It makes our job so much easier and more fun for everyone involved- plus the dolphins feed off your energy and they will get more excited as well. :)

Anyways, so last week was my birthday. :) I turned 22. I did have to work on my birthday, but when have I ever minded spending a day around dolphins. I was on photo for my birthday, so I spent my day taking pictures of everybody. I like photo, it's taught me the value of a good photograph. People always smile when they see their pictures too, which is nice. So it was a pretty busy day, and then when I came inside from shooting a program for lunch, everyone was sitting there with a cake and yelled 'Happy Birthday!' I was really surprised. It was so nice. They made me wear a tiara and took me out and bought my lunch. :) I have good friends here. And then, at the end of the day, Robyn (one of the trainers) told me to go put my camera away and come back outside. I was really confused, but then they put the tiara back on me and told me to get in the water with Caliban so I could take birthday pictures with her. It was so much fun, and Jamie (the DQ photographer) even brought his underwater camera so I have a few underwater photos with Cali as well. It was definitely one of the best days of my life.

Birthday kiss from Caliban! :)

Underwater! :)

Then, after work, I rushed home and packed up and headed into Hamilton to meet my Mom and Keyla! They arrived on my birthday- greatest birthday presents ever. :) The hotel we stayed in was amazing- infinity pool! Woo! So it was really nice to see them, and we went out to Rosa's Cantina for my birthday. The next day we went to Elbow Beach. I hadn't been there yet and it was absolutely gorgeous. They liked the pink sand and the blue water. Nice and relaxing. Then we headed to Dolphin Quest and they got to do their dolphin program! They loved it, it was very exciting to be able to show them around. They got to meet Bailey, Cavello, Caliban, and Cooper. After that we explored Dockyard and ate dinner at the Frog and Onion.

My visitors! :)

Dancing with Cali

The next day we traveled to Tom Moore's Jungle and Keyla and Mom got to jump into Blue Hole. That was so much fun. We snorkeled around and took some pictures. Afterwards we went to the Swizzle Inn for lunch- I really like that place. Good food and I love the gift shop as well. Then we made our way to St. George's and toured around. Had fun in the stocks and enjoyed some of the historic-ness of Bermuda. We took the ferry back, and we got to see Bermuda from the ocean, which was cool. We even had a local on the ferry explaining what everything was and gave us a bit of history. It's always nice to have someone from the area point things out to you. Then we hung out at the hotel for the rest of the night. We were exhausted.

Tom Moore's Jungle!

The last day I spent with them we went shopping in Hamilton a bit and then went snorkeling at Church Bay- which was beautiful but it was really rough that day, so the swimming was a bit difficult. Then we actually just went back to the hotel and spent time at the pool. We'd done so much running around the past few days that it was nice to just relax and enjoy the view. Sadly after that I had to go back to Dockyard, so they grabbed the ferry over with me and helped me bring my stuff back. Then we went to dinner and they got the ferry back to Hamilton. I hate saying goodbye, but I know I'll see them in a few weeks. So that helps. I'm glad that they were able to visit me and they were able to see where I've called home the past few months.

So last night Lindsey and I went with some of the crew from work to go see the glowworms. They only glow the day after a full moon 56 minutes after sunset or something like that. Really specific. They were really cool though, but they only glow for about 10 minutes. But that was exciting.

Then today, we had a TON of rain in the morning at work, because the outskirts of a tropical storm/hurricane hit Bermuda. Wasn't anything dangerous, it just rained a LOT. I'm still waiting for my first hurricane experience. Granted, I want it to be a small one. But a hurricane nonetheless. :) Exciting.

Anyways, that's about it for now, I'll let you guys know if anything else happens. :) Love love.

P.S. We are in the midst of a cockroach battle. We saw it, but lost it somewhere in the room. I doubt any of us are going to sleep well tonight... I hate those things. Saw one fly yesterday. Nasty buggers.

Echolocation!

Hello lovelies! Here's an update for ya!

So we've been working more on programs and getting us interns involved. Basically what we are up to now is talking about the dolphin body parts during the swim portion of the session. That includes their fins, flippers, flukes, mouth, blowhole, etc. Lots of things we can say. We've been gradually working up to doing layouts during the platform portion of sessions as well, which is exciting.

The other day I got to do a physical molding session with Marley, one of the calves. Basically it was me and the supervisor swimming around with her, and then I would just rub her down and roll her over. That's one of the best ways to build relationships with them. They're relaxed in the water, and rubbing them down is really reinforcing for them. It was so much fun.

So we occasionally do education programs for school groups or camps that come through, and sometimes we'll put a hydrophone in the water. It broadcasts to the speakers around the Keep and you can hear the dolphins whistling and can hear the clicks from their echolocation. Because of my hearing I couldn't hear the echolocation in the water like everyone else, until we had the hydrophone. I was so excited that I finally got to hear it. At the same time, I was a little bummed I couldn't hear it in the water like everybody else. I was wrong! Lottie (one of the trainers/intern coordinator) and I were paired up for a session the other day, and she knew about my hearing and how much I wanted to hear it with my own ears. So, she had one of the calves, and fed the calf right next to my ear, and I heard it! I was so happy. It's just one of those things that gives you a warm fuzzy feeling. Makes me feel better too knowing that I just have to be close by in order to hear it.

So exciting update: Mom and Keyla are visiting this week! They arrive tomorrow (my birthday!) and are staying until Friday. I am so excited. I've been a little bit homesick lately and this will definitely cure it. Plus they'll be here for my birthday! What a grand birthday present.

Anyways, hope this is enough to satiate you guys for a little while. :) I'll have another update after my visitors head home probably (sad thought!). Love love.

Adventuring :)

Alright, so I guess I'm beyond overdue for a post. I apologize to everyone for my delay. I've been very busy these past couple of weeks!

So I'll start with work. We interns have been making lots of progress. We've started talking during the programs and sharing dolphin information with the guests, as well as doing a few behaviors. I don't remember if I've mentioned DDAs before, but I'll talk about them anyway. DDA stands for Daily Dolphin Assessment. Basically it's a series of layouts that we do with the animals to check their bodies over for any scratches or injuries. We do it every morning and throughout the day. It's part of our extensive husbandry (medical behavior) routine. So they taught us interns how to do the layouts and we've been doing them in programs. It's very exciting to be able to contribute and have the animal respond to you. We've also started learning how to do those DDAs 'deep', which means that we are swimming while we do them. It's definitely different doing a behavior with an animal when you're deep, because you are fully in their environment, and it's harder to see them because you're on a lower visual level.

I'm sure you all remember my buddy Challenger. He's still hanging out, and we are feeding him and doing talks fairly often on the microphone to the guests. It's not as scary anymore, but I still feel like I talk too fast. I just like feeding him. His gaspy breaths still freak me out a little. The other day he took a breath and some lettuce shot out of his throat at me. That was... nice. (Not.)

But work has been keeping me really busy, and I'm trying really hard to progress and take initiative. It's a bit more difficult for me than the other girls I think, and I think it's because I'm shy. Takes me a little while to break out of my shell. Oh well, I'll get there. This is something that I want so badly, and I am not going to let my shyness get in the way.

Sunset off the ferry.

As far as Bermuda adventures go, I'll start with the most recent. My fellow intern Chelsea and I (yeah, I know, Chelsea Kelsey. Everyone says it.) went to the beach this Fourth of July. We got coolers and had some drinks and snacks with us, and it was a lot of fun. The beaches are BEAUTIFUL here. I don't like leaving them to go home. The only thing I will say, is I wish all of them had showers so you could rinse off the sand. I'm still finding sand in places it shouldn't be haha! But we spent the entire day at the beach and then wandered around a little outdoor night market here in Dockyard. Sadly, there were no fireworks. It's a shame, because it's my favorite holiday, but it's super expensive to import them here and pay for the show.

Panorama of the beach.

Fourth of July. :) Rough life.

We also adventured to the town of St. George a few weeks ago, and just traveled around. We put ourselves in the town stocks, which was an experience. I can definitely say I'm glad I didn't live in the medieval times, because I would have HATED being stuck in those things for a day or two. Eep!

Chelsea and I in the stocks.

The interns did a tour of the Casemates as well. Casemates used to be a soldier's barracks way back in the day- when the fort was functioning. It was also used as a prison for awhile, and is now abandoned. The museum is trying to raise money to renovate it and open it as an exhibit. The maintenance man- Andrew- took the interns and a bunch of DQ people and the archeology students that lived here on a tour of it. It was a fun time had by all. Definitely interesting, and beautiful views.

All the DQ interns at our Casemates tour! Back three from left: Annie, Chelsea, Kayla. Middle three: Liz, Lindsey, Melissa. And then me! :)

Aside from those big adventures, we've gone to Harbor Nights (which is a street festival in Hamilton) on Wednesdays, and toured around Hamilton a little bit. I will say I miss places like Target, as American as that sounds. It's nice to have one store where you can go and get everything that you need. I have found a place that sells postcards and stamps, so if you want a postcard, message me your address! :)

So I will try my hardest to update this thing more frequently. I feel like I always get so caught up in living life here that I forget to sit down and write it out. I miss all of you back home. While I am living quite the adventure here, I do miss my homeland. :) If you see my dogs, hug them. If you go to the zoo, thank God that it's still open, tell the dolphins and otters I say what's up, and that I miss them.

I hope you're all well and kicking! I hope to see many of you when I'm home for 6 days before shipping off to Vancouver to do this all over again! Love love.

Hot hot hot.

Alright, I guess I'm excessively overdue for a post.

I'm trying to think of where to start. We've been getting more and more involved with learning about training. We practiced our deep water ABs the other day, which was very exciting. Basically that means transferring an animal from one trainer to another, while one is swimming in the pool. There's something really cool about sharing the water with a 400lb animal.

Challenger is still doing well. We do turtle talk with him daily. I've done it about 3 times now (I think). It's gotten so much easier. Once you know the information it's basically just like telling someone what you know about him.

Sometimes, when we gate the animals out of the pool, the trainers and interns will jump in to cool off. We played this game called jump or dive. Basically you run towards the pool and right as you're about to jump in, someone will yell jump or dive, and you have to jump or dive. It's really hard because you're already in motion and it's rare that someone will get it right. Super fun game though.

The trainers have also started getting us involved in the programs little by little by having us share little bits of information with the guests. So we'll talk about the dolphins' stomachs or their tails- little things like that.

Aside from getting into a routine with work, I've just been hanging out and exploring Bermuda on my days off. I went to Tom Moore's Jungle yesterday with two other interns, and that was really fun. We went rock jumping. It's actually the former home of the dolphins, prior to them being moved because it got a lot of damage from a hurricane awhile back.

Life at the hostel is decent. I don't like living with so many people. Plus, our A/C just broke, so that's lovely. It's SO hot. Anyways, I hope you're all good and well. I'll try to elaborate on other things later, but right now it's just too hot.

Kels

I will try to update soon! Things have been really busy around here- but I promise I'll find time!! Just lettin' you all know I'm still kickin' over here! :)

Kels