In standard fashion, a week after finishing this internship, it is really starting to hit me how lucky I was to have been surrounded by such incredible people this summer. From prepping for the final presentations to the last minute literature review on community engagement evaluation, the last two weeks of the internship were a whirlwind with no down time. Since that time there just hasn’t seemed a time to collect my thoughts and finish off this final blog (sorry Sea Grant!) Two flights and a U-Haul trip later (more on this in a hot minute), I was right back in the swing of things. Four hours after my getting picked up from the airport I was sitting in a lecture hall in New Britain Connecticut getting briefed on the syllabus for the upcoming semester. I know I’ve got plenty more to experience, but I’d like to think I’ve done a fair share of traveling for my age. Yet of all my experiences, coming home always feels the weirdest. Feeling like your experiences have given you new perspectives on life and helped shape you more into who you really are. Then coming home to find that, while you were out there exploring and growing, life at home had just kept on going without you. Home hadn’t changed a bit. Which to be honest can be pretty nice, but at the same time makes you just want to scream. I’ve got so many stories to share, but no audience to listen to them.

This summer has been different to all the traveling that I’ve done in the past. I wasn’t backpacking my way through Europe while I should have been in class, hitch hiking through Nepal or diving in the South Pacific in the name of science. Newport Oregon was the closest to home that I’ve spent an entire summer in 3-4 years. That feels pretty odd when I write it out. But what’s even weirder, is that it I felt more out of my comfort zone this summer in my own country than I did in any of my trips in recent memory. For the longest time I couldn’t figure out why that was. The people I was surrounded by were incredibly friendly and I was in a state that I had dreamed about visiting for years, why would I be out of my comfort zone?

Until this point I had only met individual peers whose commitment and motivation just caused you to respect them. This summer I found myself living with 18 of those people all at once. Every single one of them joked around like a normal person, but get them on the topic of their field or their passion and they would blow you away. It was humbling and inspiring. Being surrounded by so many incredibly intelligent and motivated people properly intimidated me at first. What was I doing there? I was older than they were and still procrastinated so hard that my final blog post was a week late (my bad). Did I have what it would take to make it in this field? Oddly enough, at the same time that I was nervous, I was hopeful that there were so many amazing young people who hadn’t decided to chase the money. Instead they chose a career to make a difference in the world. I had found a group of people who cared more about helping the planet more than the nice things money could buy. Intimidation gave way to motivation and I wanted to do as much as I could for the environment that I loved so much. Maybe I couldn’t make it in the hard sciences, but I feel like I knew that all along. I’m a people person who loves the environment and I reckon the best way of doing my part is to work with the people.

Alright introspective monologue over. Onto more important things:

 

The Objective Top 3 list of the Summer at Hatfield Marine Science Center

Forward: Top 3 was a joke that originated in Angelina making fun of me for saying it constantly. It turned into a way to exclaim something that is properly epic. Saying something in the top 3 does not rank first, second or third, but rather a collective top 3. These are some of the things that stood out this summer and get the nostalgia running pretty hard.

 

Top 3 Modes of transportation:

1. Hatfield marine science center foldable bikes
2. Begging the Californian interns to drive us around
3. U-Haul Truck: Zach and I had our flights home out of Seattle. We had originally figured we’d be able to hitch a ride with someone, but the Wednesday before the internship ended we realized that was not the case. As a semi joke a friend of ours suggested renting a U-Haul since we had to be 25 to rent a car. After having a good laugh we took a look into it. Not only was it cheaper than renting a car or taking a bus/shuttle combo, we only had to be 16 and could drop it off in any of the U-Haul drop off points in Seattle! So without further hesitation we rented a full size (the only size available) and drove this bad boy 6 hours north. Was it the most extra mode of transportation? Possibly. Was it genius? Well.. we would like to think so. Did we have a blast doing it? You betcha.

Top 3 Cinnamon Rolls (No brainer on this one):

1. Fishtail Café
2. Fishtail Café
3. Fishtail Café

 

Top 3 Waitresses at Fishtail Café

1. The sweet middle-aged lady that calls Zach and I baby
2. The sweeter older lady that refers to Zach and I as her boys
3. The 20 something lady that assumed we were there to flirt with her (We just wanted cinnamon buns)

 

Top 3 “Songs” of the Summer

1. Norf Norf by Vince Staples
2. The entire Moana Soundtrack
3. The entirety of Funk Wave Bounce Vol. 1 by Calvin Harris

The last two albums were basically extended songs as that is all we listened to this summer.

 

Top 3 Movies of the summer

1. Moana – watched it 3 times and listened to the soundtrack ~a million times
2. Shrek – ability to quote this movie is amazing
3. The Dark Knight – So many people hadn’t seen this movie??

 

Top 3 worst Lil Yachty lyrics – Lil Yachty is a terrible rapper, but his terrible lyrics are one of the things that really brings people together.

1. “You need to stay up out them streets if you can’t take the heat. Cause it get cold like Minnesota, cold like Minnesota.” – Because he’s been to Minnesota and its “really cold there”
2. “Almost had a lifetime sentence, but I beat it, shout out to Pat! Pat, that’s my lawyer, he got me off them charges. 8 stacks for that boy, he took care of the boy” – Hits a soft spot because we, regardless of gender, are part of the “boyssssss”
3. “Remember that time I put those pepperoni on your face. Made you a creature. Now I think about you, every single time I eat pizza.” – Top 3 most heartfelt love lyrics of all time, FOR SURE.

 

Top 3 Activities to Participate in on the Hatfield Dorm Porches

1. Cold Ones and Ice Cream Porch Nights – A time for people to come together and talk about science, our feelings, Lil Yachty, race relations in the U.S., travel stories, and anything that comes to mind. A proper judgment free zone.
2. Beer Can Hockey w/ broom sticks– self explanatory
3. Impromptu dancing while waiting for any of the Californian’s to drive us places.

 

Top 3 Exclamations

1. YA BOYYYY – A true classic way to welcome someone into your home or welcome yourself into someone else’s home
2. TOP 3 “insert object being pointed at”, TOP 3 “insert another object” – just a great way to display affection of whatever you’re looking at.
3. I AM SHOOK, I TELL YOU, SHOOK. – Usually exclaimed after Game of Thrones.

 

Top 3 Things to get stressed about

1. Lack of proper signage at the Marine Reserves
2. Lateness of blog posts
3. Game of Thrones

 

Top 3 things spotted while snorkeling in Newport Harbor

1. Some kelp
2. Rocks
3. TWO crabs

 

This could go on forever, but this is already super late. So I will finish it here. Thank you everyone for a wicked summer. Especially Sea Grant staff for organizing everything and constantly being supportive of us.