Play Time

I started my third week at the aquarium already! Today, most of the other interns started in the PI department. The PI stands for Pribilof Islands which is the exibits that deal with sea lions, seals and penguins. It works closely with the AC department, the Arctic Coast exhibit with the whales, which is what I am in. I am the only intern with the AC department which is kind of nice because I get more one-on-one time with each of the trainers. The PI department will have 4 interns total which is quite a lot especially for the winter session! Anyways, today I was introduced to toy play with the whales during their feeding sessions. This makes for a much more fun and interactive feeding session for both us and the whales. So I had lots of fun today playing with different toys and I think the whales enjoyed it too! They, especially Naku, were very vocal and responded well to the different toys! The only tough part is trying to think of different creative ideas and ways to use the toys and not be repetitive. I think the whales are starting to know who I am and getting more comfortable with my presence. Today as I was taking down some window decals that were put up as some visual enrichment, Inuk came over to check things out and wanted my to give him some tongue rubs! It was too cute!

My 'weekend' -- consisting of Sundays and Mondays -- was spent traveling around. On Sunday, I went with the family I'm staying with to Trader Joes. We had to go all the way to Warwick, Rhode Island to get there too (which is about 45 minutes away). I've only been to the one in Chicago once or twice. So this one was a lot quieter and I could actually look around a bit and not get pushed around by crowds of people like in Chicago. They have alot of organic type food which is something I usually don't buy, but all their other stuff is nice and cheap! I picked up some soups to bring to lunch and some snack foods. I should have picked up some 2 buck chuck...oh well I can always go back later to get some!

Yesterday I visited the town of Groton which is the town across the river from New London. Its known as the submarine capital of the world and made the worlds first nuclear powered submarine in the 50's. I managed to find the Wal-Mart where I got some pictures developed. I also found one of the beaches. And of course the day I decide to see a beach, its super windy and cold. But it was still pretty and there are alot of rocky islands off the shore.

Well I think that is enough for one post! Enjoy some pictures!

Lighthouse in the middle of the river with New London in the background

Rocky island off the shore

The Ocean