My brain feels as though it may just shut down from information overload, but I have been totally having a blast!  I’ve taken tons of notes and pictures and written a couple of posts on my personal blog where you can see some of said pictures: BioGeoNerd.blogspot.com.

I have really enjoyed the hands on training we’ve had this week.  The other 3 visitor center interns and I spent Tuesday morning gleaning knowledge from estuary experts.  We got to tromp around on the mud flats, where we dug up ghost shrimp and mud shrimp, explored many crab species, and even found a nice sized polychaete.  We got to take a first hand look at the isopod parasites that are plaguing the mud shrimp.  Dr. Chapman was an excellent guide to discuss these important invasive species issues with us.  As far as the estuary, we learned from a great power point presentation and also had the opportunity to go on the tour given by 3 different presenters so we can witness a variety of styles.  We are going two more times over the weekend and this time the public will go along.  We are encouraged to create our own style and realize that every estuary tour is different!  I’m really excited to begin presenting these tours.  I won’t have the responsibility to run these tours on a regular basis like the other 3 interns will, but I hope to be able to do it as frequently as anyone will let me!

Some of the other great hands-on trainings we’ve had were going to the tide pools at Yaquina Head where we found many creatures of interest, particularly (for me) a sunflower sea star and gumboot chiton (the largest chiton in the world), and doing many tours by various experts who graciously gave of their time.  Tim took us on a salt water tour to see where the water is pumped in from the bay at high tide, filtered and sent around the center, and later filtered again and treated before going back to the bay.  I learned about the water treatment methods last year in Environmental Management so it was awesome to see sand filters, settling tanks, and my personal favorite- the pig, first-hand.  Kaety educated us on fisheries.  The aquarists gave us a wealth of information by showing us all the animals on display in the visitor center, and showing us things in the back including how they sedate a fish to work on them (they were removing leaches from a rock fish), and the highlight of the week for me was seeing the Giant Pacific Octopus and getting to let her grab on to my fingers.

Another program I will get to help with in the visitor center is the Ocean Quest presentation.  This showcases Dr. Hanshumaker’s work with the Axial Seamount.  This is an undersea volcano at the Pacific/ Juan de Fuca plate boundary where the ocean floor is thin and spreading.  This presentation educates the public on plate tectonics, volcanism on land and under the sea, and various equipment used to measure seismic indicators such as gas emissions and ground deformation.  As with the estuary walk, I’m excited to give this presentation and hope to be able to do so as often as possible.

The most challenging thing this week was processing all the information I received.  I usually “digest” info by going through my notes and blogging about it to reduce the amount of info into a cohesive unit.  I haven’t completed half of what I’d like to with the notes I collected this week.  I hope to get caught up in the next few days.

Next week I will hopefully be able to lead the estuary walk and continue preparing for the Ocean Quest presentation, and will go through some training on wave energy.  I will also be spending a great deal of time in the library doing research on my project, which is to create the plans for a climate change exhibit for the visitor center.

So far I completely love it here at Hatfield and I am super excited for my internship.  This week has been a wicked kickoff with some experiences I will never forget!