Welcome to CCF! Since I'll be here for three months, I'll take the posts by tasks/subject instead of day by day since each day has been filled with countless activities and adventures.

Today's topic: the people.

I am one of about 10ish interns. There are also working guests and young junior staff members that all hang out and live together. Most of the group are around my age, but I was surprised to find I am actually one of the older of the bunch, going into senior year of college. Most are sophomores, but some are even newly graduated from high school! A lot of Americans and at least 3 or 4 other California kids, but no one else is associated with Oregon. There are some folks from Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, a few people from the UK, some from Australia, and even one from France. Everyone is nice and generally like minded with a passion for conservation and the beautiful cats we work with. Many of the interns are only on 6 week programs rather than 10, and some have been here for a while and will be leaving soon. CCF is constantly cycling through interns, so new people will be arriving in a few weeks, but I am excited to be here for the long haul. Everyone says it is better to be a long term intern to maximize opportunities, and it makes it easier for the staff to assign you in depth projects.

I am living with Elizabeth, a young staff member, and Meredith, a junior in fish and wildlife at UC Davis. We share a small room with an attached bathroom about a 5 minute walk from the main office of the center. One of our walls connects to the common area so we often hear the gang listening to soccer through the wall. Everyone here is very excited about the world cup and are quite enthusiastic about each and every game, especially with all the different backgrounds they come from.

Some of the other staff and interns are Izzy and Aisha, both doing masters program projects and from the UK, Linus and Nathan, vet students from Namibia and France respectively, Lyle and Wilson, younger Americans who have had way too many cool experiences for how young they are, and so many more.

The food is served at the "HotSpot" from 7AM-8AM, 12PM-1PM, and 6:30PM-7:30PM. The meals vary and are western foods such as pasta and salad, and there is always another vegetarian option which is nice. I do miss the foods I'm used to and my kitchen at home, but it is nice never having to cook.

The staff are amazing and passionate people as well, including Becky, a cheetah specialist, Eli, and ecologist and cheetah caretaker, Paige and Stella, the dog caretakers, and more. They all express similar interests, passions, and morals as I do, and while I appreciate diversity, it is nice to be among like minded people with so much experience to soak in. I'll also be starting my first project with Carolina, an ecologist from Columbia soon, using teeth to ID and age cheetah kills in order to determine their dietary preferences.

It is clear to me CCF has a strong foundation of teamwork and acceptance and it is a group of people I am proud to be a part of and excited to get to know better. Stay tuned to upcoming posts to hear about cheetah husbandry, livestock guardian dogs, the goat farm, and more!