It started with a dream....

No one seems to agree on when I wanted to become a marine biologist. My dad says it was when I was three and I saw a scuba diver feeding sharks and fish at an aquarium in Disney World. My mom might say it was when I was seven and made a diorama of a clown fish. I remember when I was eleven and read A Ring of Endless Light by Madeline L'Engle which is about a marine biologist and decided I wanted to work with dolphins. Or maybe I read it because I wanted to work with dolphins. Who knows.

All I know is that for longer than I can remember, I wanted to be a marine biologist. Sure, I thought about becoming a doctor, and yes I considered going into teaching, but through it all, marine biology has won out.

When you are a kid, "marine biology" meant playing with dolphins. When you are in middle school, it meant training dolphins. In high school, it means researching dolphins while scuba diving.

University dashes all those into pieces.

Now it means field work you can't afford, followed by hours and hours or sitting in front of a computer begging for money and crunching numbers, being rejected over and over for publishing and when you are finally accepted, you are torn apart limb from limb and scrutinized. Then you are published. Then repeat.

I still want it. So badly.

But nobody told me what I needed to do in order to be a marine biologist. So I wasted my high school away with extra circular activities and fun. And now, I am just trying to make my dream come true the hard way.

Join me in my adventures!