-OR How I came to be blogging about marine conservation
Let’s rewind a few years to 1998. I’m on a family vacation in Tampa at Busch Gardens and am very excited for none other than…the dolphin show. Now my older brothers and I wanted to sit in the splash zone, who wouldn’t? Well, our parents of course. So alone we sit waiting for the show to start when along comes someone very official looking and he asks,”How old are you?” My brothers and I look at each other as I timidly tell the man that I am 9. We all silently think to ourselves that this was a mistake, and he was surely going to kick me out of the splash zone because I was too young to be there without a parent.
I held my breath for his response, “Do you want to be in the show?” My jaw dropped and my brothers looked jealously on as I immediately said yes and ran backstage. In front of a crowd of over FOUR THOUSAND people (Ok, I have no idea how many, but I was 9 and it looked like a lot) I got to pet a dolphin, feed it a fish, and shake its flipper. For the rest of the day as we explored the amusement park, people recognized me as “the girl from the dolphin show.” I was famous, a natural born marine biologist. It was a glorious day to be 9.
Fast forward to 2006. It’s my senior year of high school and the secret slacker in me has decided to take Marine Biology instead of AP Bio. I hadn’t really thought much of marine biology since that fateful day in Tampa, but what little girl doesn’t dream of being a dolphin trainer at one point in her life? But before I knew it, the lost lamb that I was, applying to college with absolutely no direction (a lawyer today, an engineer tomorrow), was back on track to being a marine biologist. Whether it was a trip to a grimy beach on the Long Island Sound to catch fish and clams for our class aquarium, or learning about artificial reefs growing on old ship wrecks, I was hooked. I was born allergic to fish, but that only made me more curious. Studying marine biology would give me more ammo in my fight to save the oceans besides, “I don’t eat fish, you shouldn’t either.”
Fall 2007 I arrive at Cornell, sights set high. Biology and Society, aspiring to be a marine veterinarian. But like many a Cornellian, by second semester I had had enough of the pre-med/pre-vet nonsense and confidently decided I could save the ocean without spending 4 years trying to get into Vet school and 4 more years slaving away to become a vet. That was the beginning of my fall off the wagon so to speak.
So sophomore year I signed up for Biology of Fishes, my first relevant class on my track to becoming a marine biologist, and what would become my favorite class at Cornell (also the source of much of the information I’ll eventually be sharing on this blog). So that summer I applied to be an intern at the Maritime Aquarium in Connecticut. I was well on my way to my childhood dream.
The first day of my internship was incredible. The work was grueling, but I was surrounded by everything I loved. Before heading home for the day I prepared an afternoon snack for the penguins, herring, their favorite. Out of no where my arms swelled up with welts and hives. This could not be happening. When they asked my on my interview if I had an allergies, I had asserted that my fish allergy would not be a problem as long as they didn’t try to make me eat anything. But what did I know, I had never actually touched fish before. Why would I if I couldn’t eat it?
Let the mocking begin. My mom sent me in the next day with giant purple rubber gloves. Embarassing as it was, I was not going to give up. Who cared if I had to wear gloves. But the aquarists, could not get enough of it. They might as well have rolled on the floor laughing. You are allergic to fish and you want to be a marine biologist? For some reason this was hilarious. But when the rubber gloves did not prevent my next allergic reaction I began to see my dreams slipping away. Have you ever tried training a river otter with purple gloves on (see photo above)? They don’t like it very much; it’s quite distracting.
So two years later, I sit with graduation a mere 3 months away, and a job lined up that is environmentally, but not at all marine, related. I still love marine biology, but that dream is temporarily on hold. So here I am, sharing it all with you: the cool, the scary, the tragic, the things that you didn’t know affect your daily life. Humor me. Dive in and come along for the ride (or swim.)