Reflection

The main goal for me during this professional practice was to experience what it is like to be a marine biologist. That is also why I chose an internship that contained both field and laboratory work as I wanted to experience both those sides of marine biology. I chose for an internship in the domain of macroalgae as it is a topic that interests me and a topic about which I did not know much yet, so I thought I would learn very much. And indeed, I learnt so much during this internship! I think I gained many valuable skillsets which will certainly improve my employment prospects, specifically in the domain of macroalgae but also in general terms. I learnt how to work more independently, to communicate well with others and most importantly I also learnt that as a marine biologist you need a flexible mindset. Not everything will go as expected and you thus need to be able to adapt to the situation accordingly. A final statement I want to make is that this professional practice was a very valuable and fun experience as I really enjoyed my time sampling and identifying the algae of La Riviera del Conero. The fact that this was such a nice experience was due to the interestingness of the topic as well as to the fact that my supervisor was very kind and supporting. I would like to thank Fabio for guiding me through this internship in such a nice manner!