My Life in Training

Here are a few of my favorite pictures so far! These were taken in the fort that we live in and as tourists of Dolphin Quest (which is also in the fort).

On Friday we went into Hamilton on the ferry – as did the other interns. We split off from the group to explore and found some lovely parks and awesome historic buildings. We met up with the other girls for an American lunch at KFC – the only fast food chain on the island. So delicious. Then we split off again and walked along Front Street looking at all the shops and made are way up a crazy hill to Fort Hamilton, another of the three forts on the island (remember, we live in one). The fort was absolutely gorgeous with lots of flowers and a great view over Hamilton. Also, a cat. A friendly cat. Catie pet it first while I was sitting on a bench… then it looked at me and started walking really fast over and I thought it was going to attack me, but she just jumped up on my lap and made herself comfortable. She followed us from bench to bench, it was very cute. We named her Tigerlily.

After we walked back down the hill and found an ice cream shop and each got a cone… best ice cream cone ever. Then we walked back to the ferry and headed home. Sunday night we also all went to the Snorkel Park summer opening party, very fun, but didn’t stay too late!

Work the last few days has been fun and interesting as always. Yesterday and today we have been experiencing a tropical storm! We were all supposed to go into work today for a big project, but half of us were sent home because it is too windy and rainy! It’s crazy. So Catie and I get the day to relax, but we have to work tomorrow (which was supposed to be a day off). So we’ll probably spend most of the day laying around the hostel, hopefully doing some studying and preparing to move into the apartment this weekend.

Again, I still cannot say much about my DQ experience on the public blog for confidentiality reasons, but feel free to let me know if you want some more details!!

You can go to heaven if you want. I’d rather stay in Bermuda. – Mark Twain

We’ve worked the last 3 days at Dolphin Quest (DQ), but all I can really tell you is that it is awesome so far. I am waiting to hear from one of the managers about whether or not I will have to get what I put on this blog approved before I post it for confidentiality, so I may just choose to not keep up the public blog, and send out e-mail updates! We’ll see…

I did tickle a dolphin though in our meet & greet. It was adorable.

Other than DQ stuff, we’ve been hanging out at the hostel. Monday we went out to pizza with all the interns. I got “sloppy joe pizza”, which is as awesome as it sounds. Tuesday we had an early shift, so we came back after and relaxed and watched Glee. Last night, we went to a private party for DQ people/cruise ship staff/others at Snorkel Park. The guy who is the manager there owns an apartment where some DQ staff and interns are staying, so he gets us in. It was a fun night out!

We have today and tomorrow off, so we’re going to be tourists. Today, we’re going to explore around the museum that we are living in, around Dockyards, and possibly go lay on the beach at Snorkel Park. Tomorrow we may try to go over to Hamilton on the ferry. Should be fun!

So I am staying in a hostel in the Bermuda Maritime Museum which is in a fort – and it is so cool. Dolphin Quest is also a part of the museum, so we walk down a hill to get to work. It’s just Catie and I of the 8 interns who will be staying here, but it will fill up with archeology interns in a few weeks (the “diggers”). But besides being a beautiful location, this fort has sheep. And one of my goals for the summer is to be friends with these sheep. This morning, we walked outside to find all the sheep standing there. One must have been dared by its friends to come up to me, because it ran up, let me put out my hand for her to sniff and then they all ran away. That sheep will be my friend. And its baby… most of the sheep are preggers. But apparently after the babies are born, the fate of the babies/mothers maybe not so pleasant. Oh well. Also, this afternoon, we finally heard their “baa”. It’s like a belch mixed with a baa. It’s awesome.

Also today we went and watched the dolphins. I’m so excited to get started tomorrow! The three baby dolphins which were born in the last month are so cute! There are 12 dolphins total and all seem to have great personalities. I’m sure this week will just be orientation stuff, but hopefully we’ll get to interact with the dolphins! … and then I will also have dolphin friends…

We also got creeped on by a guy while walking around… not a friend.

We did some exploring, got some groceries, found out some prices, and so forth today. There are a lot of things that sound fun – diving, parasailing, jet skiing… I’m going to have to budget my money! But now we’re about to make some dinner and then we’ll probably just stay in and watch a movie tonight!

I don’t think it has hit me yet that I’ll be here for 3 months – still seems like an awesome vacation!

Miss everyone already – but not AZ weather… it’s lovely here. 🙂

I will give more details later, but I made it! Getting settled in the hostel with my already awesome intern friend Catie (who will probably stalk my blog…). We’ve seen the dolphins from afar, but Monday we’ll start work! It’s so awesome here! We’re going out now.

More later.

We will rule over this land and we will call it…. this land.

Hello to all! I have decided to start a blog so I can easily keep everyone updated, at least those who want to be, as I journey on an awesome adventure this summer. As most of you probably already know, I have the privilege of taking part in a summer-long internship with Dolphin Quest Bermuda! I will be gone a total of 3 months in beautiful Bermuda learning all I can about training dolphins. This is seriously a dream come true for me, and it is hard for me to say much else besides that. Who would’ve thought that making the decision to raise guide dog puppies in Jr. high would lead me to an unbelievably exciting animal training future! Being “that one girl, with the dog” for so many years is really paying off!

Well, I leave Friday night, flying through Philadelphia, and arrive in Bermuda on Saturday! Until then, I will be juggling appointments, packing, graduations, and fitting in some last minute time with some friends. I’ll start updating when I get there! 🙂

I’m a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar.