12 Jul A month into my internship : My general thoughts

As of now, it has been over a month since my first day at the park. And WOW, there are a lot of things that are on my mind. 

First things first, I have been absolutely enjoying every single moment here in Lassen. It’s great to go out in the field and explore the park, going through the various trails and seeing every sight that the park has to offer. I never was excited to look forward to work before, but the thought of exploring a part of the park I haven’t seen makes me so eager to get my boots and seeing its sights made me excited for the next day. I am so grateful to spend most of my work days out in the park and I am so sorry for my fellow interns that can’t be at their own respective parks. I hope everything is well with you guys! 

The projects that I am working with supervisor have also been a lot of fun, since they’re the reason I am able to get to the park so much over these weeks. And I am learning too with these projects, as they have allowed me to look at wilderness in a different way than before. Before, I thought wilderness was a “pure” place of nature where it’s untouched by humans. But now, I know that there isn’t a thing just as “pure wilderness” as wilderness itself can have people who used to live there in the past. Another thing is that wilderness is ever changing, it’s dynamics between its ecosystems always changing and shouldn’t be stagnant. But still, it should still be protected and if it’s degrading. We should do something to stop or at least minimize the degradation. All of these lessons have been important to me as I grow and continue on my path in the Wildlife/Wilderness/Natural Resources field. 

The people here have been amazing. Every coworker i’ve met so far has been nothing but kind and happy to work with me. They have become less of co-workers and more of a group of people I can trust and depend on. It’s now common for us to talk with each other soon as we’re done with work, talking on what we’ve done last week. I never knew how much I would connect with these people and form such strong bonds. Even now, i’ve developed a circle of friends were we would watch movies together and play games every week. At this point, I would consider this as a second home, with everyone being so close together and getting along so well. 

It’s crazy to think that still, this is just the start of my internship here. I still have about over a month left until I return to Minnesota where i’ll finish up school. This internship has made me feel so happy and so proud of what I am doing this summer. I cannot thank LHIP enough of what they have done so far to put me here on this park. Thank you so much. 

In regards on what i’ll still be doing, i’m still working on the various wilderness projects that both me and my supervisor are working through. I am also helping out in other areas as well, helping out on various wildlife surveys and other things that would interest me here. But for now, with everything in mind, I feel so happy with this internship happening so far. Again, big thank to LHIP and Dalia for making this summer be one of the best summers I have had so far. Thank you!!