14 Jun ¡Pues Al Cabo Que Ni Quería!

It has been 10 days since I have arrived at Craters of the Moon. Every morning I sheepishly wake up at 6:00am sharp from my bed and think “is this real?” From the blaring streets of Pacoima to the calm and rugged landscape of Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve, it’s a big change. How did this all start? Well to keep it short there’s a couple of things you need to know about me first:

• I love adventures and learning new skills
• I am sometimes spontaneous
• I thought I knew how to cook

I was forwarded an email about an opportunity to work as an Interpretive Intern at a National Park Service under a program called the Latino Heritage Internship Program (LHIP). As I stared at my bright computer screen under my SpongeBob covers at midnight I read all about the Latino Heritage Internship Program. The program wants to close the gap of the lack of Latinos being represented in the National Park Service (NPS) and hopes create a more diverse workforce within NPS. After a day or two, I applied and enthusiastically clicked the ‘submit’ button. It took about a two weeks to hear from them if I received an interview and each day I increasingly started to overthink and worry. Why haven’t they called? Is it because I don’t have a 4.8 GPA?? Oh my galaxy, I think I spelled Latino wrong! I talked too much about myself! On the same day that  I had already mentally beaten myself up and was feeling super unconfident about my application skills, I got a call to set up an interview. It’s as if I was expecting a text from that cute guy that I had met at a social gathering and not getting one. In this case, I was expecting an email and felt like the people who viewed my application were not impressed by my answers in the application. I slugged my way back home from CSUN feeling a little down and hoping to feel better after eating some delicious enchiladas my Mother made.  After some self-talk on a partly full stomach I convinced myself that I didn’t even want to get the position. So far away from home! Pssh. LHIP , whatever. I can find something else. When I got home I opened up my laptop to watch some episodes of The Office and saw an email to schedule an interview with LHIP! I was SO HAPPY. I went from feeling blue to clear skies everywhere. After a couple more interviews I was selected as one of 20 interns who chosen out of all the hundreds of applications across the U.S to take part in this program. It has since been 10 days that I have officially settled into housing here at Idaho. To be completely honest I was expecting to have some of the locals not like me because I was not from around town. To my surprise everyone here in Idaho is super friendly! Some of the locals even know me and greet me whenever I am around. My housemates are super cool; they both know a lot about geology and are teaching me so many new things. All of my co-workers are willing to chat, and I’m always greeted in the morning with “Good morning Edith, how are ya!” Next week is my official day starting as a CRMO Interpretive Park Ranger, and I am super excited to be giving my first tour to visitors into the Indian Tunnel! I get to talk, answer questions, and be a guide as I give visitors information about life on the lava.