Three months of experience as an Erasmus + student, in a marine biodiversity foundation on a small island in Croatia, goes a long way and at the same time it seems that it feels short, even though I have started to learn the language, I definitely don’t think I would get even the basic level … 🙂
On September 13, 2020 I arrived on the island of Silba, after an interesting trip from Spain in the time of Coronavirus, a flight from Vienna to Zadar had been canceled so I had to take several buses, trains, trams and walk until I arrived to my final destination, thanks to which I had time to see a little of Zagreb, of Zadar and get a taste of this country. In addition, the weather was perfect, late summer heat, not too many people and a great desire to start this new adventure.
When I arrived I met a diverse group of biologists, anthropologists and divers who talked about seagrass and asked me if I had also come there in search of it….:).
Living in a community is always a challenge and a team work, in this case the marine base where we lived was also our workplace and our main source of relationships. An international community with volunteers and workers from various European countries with whom to collaborate and communicate in English. It fascinates me to think how the same goal makes us unite to achieve it.
I feel that, in these three months, I have immersed myself in the marine world upside down, learning to differentiate species, to dive and to monitor organisms in danger of extinction. Immerse myself in this wide world to discover how important it is for our survival and how much we have to take care of it.
Every time I came to the surface of a dive, in which we had dedicated ourselves to cleaning the seabed of plastics and metals (marine litter), I felt like a very lucky person to be able to participate in this project and, at the same time, I was filled with sadness to think about how we are capable to damage the sea in this way with our habits.
Participating in this project, has given me the opportunity to travel by boat to various islands in the Zadar County archipelago, get closer to the culture and way of life of each one of them and learn about many other interesting projects from NGOs, that are dedicated to the conservation of the environment.
We have built insects hotels and artificial reefs as small home for marine organisms to live in, seeking sustainable ways of relating to nature.
Thanks to the entire team of 20000 Leagues Marine Explorers Society for making me participate in your projects, opening your house to me with love and caring for the sea with so much affection …. :).
Best wishes to all of you…….Lena Saiz Campomar.
Lena Saiz Campomar participated in activities of Marine Explorers Society – 20000 leagues through a Traineeship programme under ERASMUS +
Want to learn more, go to:
https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/opportunities/traineeships-students_en
Marine Explorers Society 20.000 leagues gathers ambitious, comprehensive and creative researchers whose primary interest is marine biology. Members of the Society have wide and professional experience in organizing and carrying out various projects.
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