I’ve been attempting to write this particular blog post for a while now, but trying to fit in weeks of experiences is a near impossible task. How do you portray everything you want concisely and in a readable order? How do you mention the ups and downs in the right way, so the readers know that the downs overall, although at the time may seem tough and important, upon reflection after your experience is over are not really downs but just part of the experience that make it all so worth it? This post comes a good month or so after the end of my first long term volunteer experience as an intern with Sea Watch Foundation. Even now I miss the place and people like mad, and heck it was not without its stresses or arguments; there have been so many experiences and learning curves that I thought now would be the perfect time to get them out. No doubt I will end up doing more posts like this in the future though as I’m sure even though I try it will be impossible to answer all the questions you guys have!
I actually began writing this post while I was five weeks into the intern process. That’s five whole weeks of living with eight other people, sharing rooms, bathrooms, stories, secrets, laughs, cries, and making memories both good and bad together. I actually think a stress moment was what caused me to write it in the first place…
The journey with Sea Watch has been, although cheesy to say so, like the ocean itself, no moment the same, and full of ebbs and flows, ups and downs similar to the changing tides. The scariest part was definitely the first leg of the journey- the arrival. The journey took five hours by train from Nottingham to Birmingham, Birmingham to Aberystwyth, and then a bus from Aberystwyth to New Quay which in itself took up an hour. I arrived full of excitement and nervous anticipation, made worse because I knew pretty much everyone had already arrived and chosen their rooms.
For me choosing my room and room-mate consisted of picking the one closest to the front door, on account of my giant suitcase which I had just lugged both down and then back up the hill (thanks to the help of a lovely local who sent me the wrong way- my first up and down of interning-true face palm moment) and I simply could not carry up any more inclines! After that the learning curve began and weeks of laughter, tears and exploration followed suit. Overall the internship has taught me a great deal, not just about cetacean surveys, but about myself, others, and our capabilities. Here’s just a few of the ups and downs and lessons learnt along the way listed below.
Emotional roller-coasters
Ups- So many LAUGHS: Honestly, this has to be one of my favourite things about my intern experience. For a long time before it I was stressed, tired, worn down and generally think I had forgotten how to just LIVE. Interning has brought so much more laughter in to my life, INCLUDING belly laughs, laughing at each other, laughing at nothing, and more importantly laughing at myself. I can definitely say my light-hearted spirit has come back, and yep, that could be a little bit due to being near the ocean-my favourite place- but I definitely owe a lot to the guys I have shared a house with for the past two months, and every day that I have been home I have thought about them, the care free days we had even though we were doing work (although it didn’t feel like it) and of course the beautiful scenery.
Downs– Tiring, emotionally exhaustive: Hand in Hand with the laughter of course, must come the emotional exhaustion. This is from being constantly in a social situation ALL the time. It doesn’t affect everyone, and I probably felt it more due to my mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, but each of us in the house definitely has a moment where we just needed a quiet moment to ourselves to hit reset and have a little re-cooperation. For a lot of us this ended up being our beautiful roll-top bath (super lucky!) and our LUSH bath bombs from our big bulk order. Which brings me on to my next point…
Living as a group of nine people
Ups– You have to depend on others: Definitely an interesting one but has many positives to it! Depending on others has taught me that I DON’T just have to do everything myself and- although yes, I have been told that many times before- I can say I did start to believe it a little bit more. For my experience with interning at Sea Watch, depending on others took on many roles, from trusting that someone would send you money they owed after a bulk shop to the house, to relying on another intern to handover their work correctly when it came time to switch roles each week. It also meant depending on each other in times of need. We did have two guys and seven girls in our house together in New Quay, and from all of us there was often emotional times in which we would pick each other up!
Downs-You have to depend on others: So yes, I know I have the up and down as the same thing, but despite all of the ups, I’d be lying if I said it was easy and it is something that if you are considering interning you should be prepared for. The downs on depending on others ranged on small things such as someone bringing you a tea when it is cold out on the pier wall doing land surveys (most of the time in April it was freezing), to things like depending on support and help from higher members of staff, which as they are very busy may not always happen. However, this is where sharing a house with so many people comes in handy, because even if one forgets something, there’s always seven more who have got your back again.
Ups-Being around people with similar interests and learning a lot of specific knowledge: Sort of following on from the last post, being around people with similar interests and knowledge is awesome as you can get connected to some pretty cool individuals, make friends and share experiences. This for me was a highlight because not only did I end up with so many people willing to help me out with my masters dissertation ideas, but we also had dive buddies, run buddies, and shared ideas of where each of us could next go for more experience. The learning in general was good as we got to learn how to identify a range of species, photo ID them, conduct line transects as part of boat surveys and in some respects, identify seashore species and seabirds. During the internship we also got to go to the AGM, meaning we got to meet many of the people that Sea Watch work with such as BIAZA coordinators, Regional coordinators, Trustees and Dr Peter Evans, who has published many papers on marine conservation and science.
Downs– Being away from family or friends: I’d be lying if I said we didn’t all miss friends and family throughout the course of internships. I was only gone for two months, but some of the group were staying on for further periods or even, as our Research Assistant had to do, stayed on for the full six months. Obviously we kept contact with our loved ones but when you are super busy it can be difficult, even when you are in the same country. However, this led to us forming our own ‘mini family’ which again provided us with a large amount of laughs, with me as the ‘pops’ figure, (partly because I apparently dress like a ‘dad’ and also I ended up buying a dad mug and therefore it just stuck), a ‘mum’ figure and also each of us taking it in turn to look after each other like we were ‘kids’. Probably sounds super odd but we even had big family roast dinners, made pots of tea for each other and looked after each other when down.
The internship itself
Ups- Physically seeing the species you are studying up close (AND if you are lucky, having great scenery and places to explore!): This probably fits any internship in any field if i’m honest, but change the word species for results. Seeing the results physically and up close of what you are working on is amazing. Seeing a Dolphin, Seal, Porpoise or any animal species up close is also amazing, and something that can not be fully appreciated until it happens. True you don’t have to intern to have these experience but being able to study the animals at the same time is extremely rewarding, and if you are lucky you can get some great images! We were also super lucky to be staying in such a lovely part of Wales, New Quay, just a short while from the town of Aberyswyth. It was quiet and scenic but still with many things to do and some great coastal paths to explore and although yes, we did get bored as all people do, we also had some brilliant adventures and I saw some amazing sights both by myself and with the group.
Downs- Waiting all hours in all weathers to see them: Now I must confess, this is definitely not a down for me in terms of having to be outside in all weathers, because I have always wanted to do this. You will likely if you are following in this line of work, or even something else, end up doing it in all sorts of conditions. Being in the UK, the weather varies from scorching hot (to us that’s about 28 degrees Celsius) to freezing cold, rainy and windy. There were many times where we were soaked and cold, but we got to see more because of our perseverance like in my earlier posts about my first and very foggy land-watch
Overall, Interning anywhere will definitely be an experience you will not forget quickly, and hopefully, like me, despite any downs you may have during it, like the ocean you will ride it out and have a blast. I definitely was happy to go home but shed a few tears on the morning I left as life without this big bunch of crazy people that became family, and without being outdoors and doing what I love most every day was going to be tough.
Trying to saving a jellyfish- it had already died 
Massive love and shout out to everyone I met while down there and the friendships that have lasted even after leaving and hopefully will continue to do so. Fingers crossed our paths will cross again
Chan- xo
Chan Tells... 