Some Life Updates

Hellooo everyone! It’s been a while, and a lot has happened in that time haha.

Lets start with a little life update since my last post… first lets begin by saying my last semester started off fantastic being back home from Chile and seeing all my friends and family again. But you all know what comes next haha, I was in Fort Lauderdale for Spring Break when we found out that we wouldn’t be going back to school and this new virus (COVID) was spreading like crazy. So we all came back and all our classes went online after that until the end of the semester. This was really really hard for me because I am mostly a kinesthetic learner with a little bit of visual in there as well. Along with that aspect and everyone either going back home or quarantining it was extremely hard to not be depressed and lonely. Around this same time my African Fat Tailed Gecko named Wallie died so I decided to keep me company during this time in Raleigh I would get another one. Her name is Eva and she is a Madagascar Ground Gecko.

I was supposed to be walking with my friends across the stage in May, but of course that didn’t happen so I had a small make shift graduation party back home to celebrate. My lease in Raleigh ended in June, so I moved back home to be with my family. The only thing from holding me back from graduating was (stupid) physics 2 which was a 5 week course ending 2 days before my birthday on August 1st. I guess you can say that was a very nice early birthday present because I passed and now have my degree! YAY!

Around this same time I was applying to jobs/internships in NC to try and stay closer to home and save money. Sadly the jobs in Zoology are already hard to come by and stack COVID on top of that no one is leaving their job because they all need the hours. So the next thought I had was to apply all over the country, like what harm can that do haha. I got an immediate reply from the Racine Zoo in Wisconsin (right on lake Michigan) and a week later had a second interview and by that night was informed that I got the internship. Now I’m a pretty laid back guy who can usually find the positive in about everything but when they told me I had to move 900+ miles in a matter of 12 days when my start date was already in place that made me just a liiiiittle anxious haha.

Fast forward 2 weeks (to todays time) I am all settled in a cute house right next to downtown AND the lake with 3 other interns that are also working with me at the Zoo. There is only 8 of us, and the Zoo is very small already so it’s going to be fun to be able to connect with everyone and learn new things and experiences. What I will be doing is working through AmeriCorps (a federal program which goes all over the states to help out in anyway they can…basically like the domestic Peace Corps) which is stationed through the Racine Zoo to help deliver quality conservation and animal husbandry/welfare education to the local community! A lot – I know haha. But a very cool position since I have always wanted to get involved in teaching a bit more. It is only a paid internship, but it is a great start to get my foot in the AZA world (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) which is super hard and picky about their employees/members. Our first week of orientation is finished and we are all ready to get things started this upcoming week and begin to learn all about the Zoology world!

It’s good to be back and writing, and I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy… but also making sure you still are doing things you love and seeing the people that mean the most!

As always – keep adventuring no matter where life takes you!

Luke