An internship in Metsähallitus's Marine team

Terve! My name is Rahmona. I come from France. I’m 36 years old and I still believe in Santa Claus!  By the way, I met him here in Finland!

If you read this you might be looking for an internship. I wish you to join the Metsähallitus Bothnian Bay marine team because here I have lived more than just a traineeship! Before coming, I was of course exited by the idea of coming here, diving, being in a boat very often but I have also read that the Finland’s weather is cold and there is many mosquitoes. Actually, I wasn’t disappointed in any case! Because for me, it’s true, it’s a bit cold for a summer but Santa Claus doesn’t like warm weather and the reindeer neither ! And there are also some places where there is plenty of mosquitoes, like the island Ulkokrunni. But, in that island I have done so many fun things and I have spent such a good time that when I left, I was a bit sad.

Almost each day I have done something that I have never done before.

For example, here you can see me after having prepared the sauna for the first time. I have also eaten each day a really delicious food prepared by Essi. Every evening was a sort of new travel with recipes from all over the world.

I have also learned to identify species in the field and with a microscope. And often plants on microscope are so beautiful, aren’t they?

Batrachospermum sp.

I also like to do wading points. You walk into the water, feel the water without getting wet, you are outside in a beautiful landscape.

And you look into the waterbinocular and try to determine the substrate and the species. If you are not sure you can take a sample. The most difficult thing is to not be so absorbed by the plants moving and be hypnotized by them, because your colleague is waiting for your count!

Then I also learned to drive Maia, the boat. It was very pleasant to feel the wind on my face and in my hair.

I also have looked for rocks at the front of Maia. It was like a merry-go-round with the waves! One more thing I have learned is to do underwater movies. For that we use a boat and we need to be at least two people. One drives the boat with the point marked into a map, then the other drops the camera into the water and the driver moves the boat slowly. We mark the coordinates of the beginning of the video on the GPS. A third person watches on the computer screen where the video is recording and after the video is finished, we take the camera into the boat, stop the recording, mark the coordinates of the end of the movie and write onto a form the GPS points, the waypoint number, the depth at the beginning and at the end, the date and the place. It’s pleasant because its’ a real team work. Moreover, you are outside, often the weather is beautiful because if it’s windy we can’t make videos due to the waves.

Lastly, we work in a very good atmosphere. Essi is a very friendly and interesting person. She has travelled a lot and done so many existing and different things. She creates the conditions for you to spend good time: She gives me food, a roof, warm clothes, she borrows me a bike, diving gear, helps me to meet people, invite me at a picnic with her friends, show me good places and she also chooses her team very well. So you will meet friendly people who are always in a good mood and you will laugh often, even if you don’t speak Finnish at all!

So you understood that I am very happy to do this internship. For me, doing all that funny activities is not working, it’s enjoying life! But that’s not the thing you should tell to yours teachers or to your supervisor! It would be awesome if I could do that kind of work to earn my life.  

Rahmona Belgaïd