Summer in a nutshell

Well, it is quite obvious that I have been MIA. I am sorry, but it has been due to the busy work not due to a lack of interest!
Since I leave for Three Seas in less than a month (!) I thought it would be a good idea to wrap up the summer.

So, this summer produced some high and low points. The lowest was when my beloved octopus, Athena, passed away. She was 2.5 years old (they only live to about 3), was 10 ft across and weighted 22 lbs. The day I heard this I was at the scuba shop and started to cry. I want to thank my family and friends for all of their support through this time. I won't forget the first day I came in, about 3 days after she passed, and saw her beak on my bosses desk and her tank disassembled.  Naturally I was heart broken but I feel blessed to have had such a connection with her. I ended up switching galleries and spent the rest of the summer working in the tropical gallery.
This is the gallery I have wanted to work in from the beginning. The fish are all indo-pacific and we have some of the most beautiful coral I have seen (as well as nautilus)! The work has been surreal and it is such a beautiful swirl of color everytime I am in the gallery. I did cut myself badly on some coral which has led to a scar on my lower leg, but I like my battle wounds.

I have also, big shock, decided that I want to pursue veterinary school. After the episode with the horseshoe crab in Fortesque (see previous post), I have felt a real calling for marine veterinary care. As anyone who has looked into vet school knows, however, it is highly competitive. So, I have been working on raising my GPA (luckily its not in a bad place to start) and have been looking for veterinary possibilities.
Seeign as I am going away soon, I did not get a job with a vet but I was able to shadow the head vet at the aquarium for a day. During the shadowing, I watched as they preformed a stingray nuetering surgery. Yep, I didn't know it was a real thing either.
And apparently its not, well it hadn't been done before. So here I was, watching something brand new to the world. I won't get into the details of the surgery for the sake of the weak stomached but lets just say it was a difficult one. However, it was absolutely inspiring and furthered my decision.
I will keep everyone updated on the vet school procedure, even though it'll be quite a few years before I apply.

Well, that sums up the summer in a nut shell. I was taking classes once I finished in the lab so I have not had much water time. My only time scuba diving was getting my rescue certification 2 weekends ago (I passed). But I am not too upset because I realize that I will get more than enough diving in the Three Seas program.

Well I actually have to run to class but enjoy the rest of summer and I will try to write soon!