Epic fail at the updating. Over the past couple weeks a lot has happened! My family came and visited me last week! I was so glad to see them and it seemed like forever since I had seen them, even though its been like 2 months! We all had a great time and I'm pretty sure they enjoyed touring around and visting my work too! Last Monday (3/1) I was able to get them into a behind the scenes tour of where I work and even have them do a whales up close program. They got to see how much I have learned already because I was actually placed in charge of their program! And of course Naku (the tank) was a rock star and did very well for the program. They were able to give her tongue rubs, feed her ice cubes, and touch her melon. It was a lot of fun and I hope they had an amazing experience! 'Cause I know for sure I enjoyed showing them how much fun it is working with these whales!
Last Tuesday (3/2) my mom, Jordan, and myself went to visit the Big Apple for the day. We drove down the New Haven (which is like 45 minutes from New London where I live) and took the commuter train into NYC. We had planned on taking an early train in but when arrived we found the train station but no parking lot. We drove around turning down one-way after one-way streets and finally found a sketchy parking lot. We parked and walked 10 minutes to the train station to find a huge 6-story parking lot right next to the train station. Fail. So we went and bought our train tickets for the next train because we missed our first train. Double Fail. After getting our tickets, we sped-walked to the car and moved it to the parking garage. We got back and boarded the train and were en route to New Yoorrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkk (concrete jungles where dreams are made of). About halfway there, the train starts to slow down. And since we sat near the front of the train, we heard a buzzer going off. The train would start to speed up again only to hear the buzzer go off again. Appearantly they were having communication problems and could only travel at the slowest speed possible for safety reasons. Super. So here we are going what seemed like 10 mph down the track. We finally arrived to Grand Central Station a little bit behind schedule. Grand Central Station is huuuggee! There were like a hundred different tracks that leave the station and go every different direction. The inside is just amazing -- pretty architecture and lights. We walked out into the city and were immediately surrounded by big buildings and people everywhere. First stop on our tourist list was Times Square. I have never seen so many buildboard and animations! One thing that makes New York so unique is it feels 'bright' when compared to like Chicago. And I can't imagine Times Square during New Years Eve -- but it would be fun to see! We went into M&M world with walls full of ridiculously priced M&M's (12 bucks per pound) and checked out Hersheys. M&M world is by far the cooler of the 2. Next stop: Rockefeller Plaza. We saw Radio City Music Hall, NBC studios and the ice rink. I wanted to go take a couple laps on the ice but it was a little pricey -- a common trend in NYC. We continued on our journey and stopped at St. Patricks Cathedral. Its so pretty inside with all the stained glass and tall ceilings. On our way to Central Park, we stopped in at FAO Schwartz the toy store with the giant floor keyboard. So of course I had to try it out! I was able to play the beginning of Fur Elise but it was a little bit harder since I had to literally jump to the keys! Right across the street from FAO stood Central Park. Its a lot bigger than what I had anticipated! And I never realized there was a small zoo inside the park as well! We found the ice rink that is of course sponsored by none other than Trump and I couldn't help but think of Home Alone 2 when the 'sticky bandits' were skating there. Our day was coming to an end sadly and we had to hoof it back to the train station. There is so much we didn't get a chance to see like ground zero and the statue of liberty. It's hard to take in the whole city in one day. But I'd say we did a decent job of getting a taste of the city! And to top it off no train issues on the way back home!
Wednesday (3/3) my dad wanted to check out one of the casinos nearby called Mohegan Sun. And poor Jordan was the only one to young to gamble! But we all tried our luck at the slot machines. My mom and I walked away losers but my dad managed to win some cash money. Those slots seem alot tighter than those in Michigan! I was hoping to win some money to buy a new coach purse :) But no coach for me this time around :( I had to settle for some Ben and Jerrys instead!
Currently, I am about halfway done with my internship! I can't believe it! It has all gone by so fast but I am looking forward to what lies ahead! I finished up my data collection for my project. So now the paper writing and statistics can come into full swing! I am continuing to learn more behaviors and next week sometime I take my whistle exam! Pretty soon I will have an awesome new whistle and feel like an official trainer! Juno, our newest addition, is making significant progress. He has come a long way since getting here in January but the young whale still has a ways to go! Junos arrival kind of got put on the back burner since the whole Inuk issue came about. Hes a 7 year old male that came from Sea World. He is so stinkin cute and has kind of a cleft lip! I can't wait til I get to work with him sometime in the future! Hes going to be a lot of fun!
The other day I got asked thee weirdest question. I was walking back with Margaret (another intern) and Brittany (a volunteer) from lunch and this lady with a death grip on her childs hand asked, 'wheres the bubblah?' I looked at her as if she had 15 heads! What the heck is a 'bubblah'?! I was thinking to myself "Is that a fish?" Thank goodness Brittany was there to help her out. I guess a bubblah (actually called a bubbler) is like a water fountain. And people make fun of me for saying pop...
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