Here she goes again!

Wow. In about 12.5 hours I'll be hitting the road for my first internship! Lemme tell you, I am NERVOUS.

So, first of all, let me tell you where I'm interning. My location is going to be in Huron, Ohio (right on Lake Erie again!) at Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve and State Nature Preserve. There's a long name to put on a resume, eh? I'm going to get to work with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, the National Estaurine Research Reserve System (NERRS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This is a pretty special place as it's currently the US's only NERRS station on a fresh water lake.

What I'll be doing there falls under "Environmental Education." Pretty convienient since my major is Environmental Ed and Communication and all. Right now, I know that I'll be helping with visitor stuff, educational classes, and field work. I know that I have to put together an independent project of some sort. I'll give you more dirt on that when I find out more specifics. Right now, I'm just totally pumped to be back on Lake Erie. This time, I get to be here ALL SUMMER!

So like I said, I'm totally nervous. It's still sinking in that this is actually happening. I really am so lucky to have gotten this internship in so many ways. Let's just say that I'm second string on this and I'll explain why.

Internship can be defined as any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession: an internship for management trainees. (Thanks Dictionary.com) It is suggested that a student who is looking for a summer internship start looking during winter quarter. Once you get to spring quarter, pickings get a little slim. As you get to mid-spring quarter, you're scraping the bottom of the intership barrel.

This particular internship was posted during winter quarter (if I recall correctly) and I passed on it. I had so many reasons why I just couldn't leave Columbus for an internship this summer. Most of it was finacial excuses since I'm a "non-traditional student" and have a bit more debt than the average 20-22 yr old. Well, I say most of it, but that's not even true. I didn't think I could do it. There you go. I said it. I didn't think I knew enough to even attempt this position. That's why I didn't apply the first time.

I spent most of winter quarter and most of spring quarter churning my brain about what I should do this summer. Try to find something in town, or in Delaware, OH which is a short drive, or just work at my current job? The whole time I was telling myself that I didn't have enough classwork or skills to do any of this stuff. I also had some misconceptions about what internships were. I thought most of them weren't paid at all and, if they were, not very well. (See above financial concerns.) Thanks to some Q&A with Trish and Renee in the career office and that got cleared up.

One day, about mid spring quarter, I saw the Old Woman Creek post again. It seems that they still needed someone. My heart skipped for about a week as I went through the same "do I know enough" concerns and finally, thank God, I forced myself to apply. And, obviously, the rest is history in the making! I'm even getting a pretty good paycheck with it!

Why did I tell you about this drama? Well, I'm sure I'm not the only student that goes into internships with a lot of trepedation. Maybe I can be worse than others but it's OK to be nervous. It's alright to think you may not know enough. That's part of the reason internships are there. These guys know we are beginners and they're willing to work with us and help us learn more and realize what we do and do not want to do with our careers. Maybe you go into an Entemology internship and you find that you HATE insects. You thought you liked them but now you realize that you don't. However, in the process, you find that you really dig on the birds that eat the insects. That is part what internships help you find out.

Yeah, I'm still nervous. I'm still hoping I can do these guys proud. I'm very much looking forward to this experience because I know I'll get to work with a lot of professionals and I'll learn a lot too. I can't wait to get up there and start taking pictures. (Let's hope this camera doesn't get eaten by Lake Erie.) I'll post more about what happens as time goes on so check back and I'll do my best to have something cool to read about.