Although this is my first blog I have been in Santa Barbara for about 10 days. I flew in on the 26th and started my first day (also the only day I’ve worked so far) at the REEF (Research Experience and Education Foundation) on the 28th. On the 27 I met up with my grandparents and spent the day in Ojai. I later went on a boat tour of the Channel Islands, which are located 26 miles off the coast of California.
On my first day we ran programs in which we teach younger children about Marine Biology. During one of these programs a large group of Girl Scouts came to campus. We split them up into groups of about 20 and taught them about scuba gear and hard fast. Because it was my first and only day so far I couldn’t really help with the lesson but I picked up some basics about both the scuba gear and the hard fast. Hard fast is basically the roots of the kelp, but it doesn’t need to collect nutrients or water for the kelp because it’s under water unlike plants. During the dissection, the Girl Scouts found small critters like kelp crabs, clams, brittle stars and others, while they learned what hard fast is.
The next day I wasn’t scheduled for work so I spent the whole day on the beach and then met the people I’d go on the channel island tour with. The first full day with this crew was spent learning how to identify fish and invertebrates and touring campus. A way to identify animals is by their phylum, and we learned about 7 different phylums, which would be useful when on boat. The instructors on the boat would scuba dive to collect invertebrates that we would later identify and dissect on the boat. Along with the dissections we did on the invertebrates, we were lucky enough to have a flying fish fly into our boat, and we dissected her the next morning. On our last day on the boat we went whale watching as we returned to Santa Barbara. We saw a hump back and a couple dolphins. 
Because I haven’t been scheduled to work since I returned from my boat trip I have spent my last couple of days swimming in the ocean and playing soccer with Jonah Jodlowski. I’m excited to start my first full week with the REEF so I can learn more about the fish we have in the aquarium.
Bryce this is the coolest thing anyone has ever done on any pinternship and I’m so unbelievably jealous of you. Also, you are just so smart like I don’t know how you can write like this. It makes me so happy and I’m honestly so proud of you and all of your hard work. Good job!
Agreed… Agreed