Tuesday, February 26th I sat in my room, just arriving home from a long, hard, day at school and ready to put all work related matters behind me.I remember sighing with relief as I slumped into an armchair, guzzling down an ice cold glass of lemonade to calm my nerves.While deciding whether I wanted to start my homework, which would surely help me in the long run and benefit me academically, or, maybe, relax for five more minutes and hope I felt more in the mood to do it later, I noticed my phone buzzing.It’s not like I didn’t know that I had my work placement at The Royal Gazette tomorrow.I was fully aware of that fact and it was not a rare occasion that my mentor would text me details on the activities we’d be participating in for our sessions, but still I wasn’t prepared for the text message looming in my inbox.“Please bring a swimming costume and towel with you tomorrow. What time will you be at The Royal Gazette? We are doing an article at dolphin quest”, it read, and I stopped and stared for a moment in bewilderment.Over the past couple of weeks I had been on many different journalistic adventures.From documenting what occurs in Youth Parliament to reporting the scores of middle schoolchildren participating in the beep test I had seen quite a lot in my short time of working at The Royal Gazette, but something like this was even a surprise to me.“Can you swim? Notebook, Swimming costume, and pencil, and towel is all that is needed. You’re going swimming with the dolphins,” my mentor continued, as if swimming with dolphins was the most mundane, ordinary task that anyone could ever think of. This is why it didn’t really register at first.I sort of laughed to myself, sat there for a few moments slightly startled, slightly enthused, because my interest in dolphins was high and I never expected to have this sort of opportunity.I love animals. I will honestly play with any one of them that presents itself.Big, small, furry — it doesn’t matter in my eyes. My mother and I both share an interest in our aquatic friends, but being that the activity is expensive, and my mother’s fear of the water, I haven’t actually had the opportunity.When I arrived at Dolphin Quest the next day I stood and watched the dolphins in a sort of trance. They ‘splashed’ and ‘splashed’ around in their pool while trainers fed, communicated and played with them.I had been to Dolphin Quest before, numerous times actually, but the fact that I would be able to swim with these wonderful creatures today was not only exhilarating, but daunting.I was equipped with a wetsuit, life jacket and swim shoes. A trainer, a cheery blonde girl who I could tell loved her job, smiled at me and led me out to the dolphins and to meet the woman who would be my instructor.I tried my best to smile at her, my nerves of what I was about to do getting to me, while she led me into the water. My aquatic adventure began.Dolphins don’t feel the way I imagined them to.While there skin may look soft and spongelike it’s actually slippery and tough, covered with slight notches from maybe brushing against something hard or a run in with a predator.The first dolphin I met, a baby who hardly looked like a baby at all, named Cooper was called over by my instructor.My instructor showed me a scratch on one of his fins that was created during a discipline with his mother, Caliban who I met next.There is a huge difference between animals on a TV screen and them being right in front of your face. This was reinforced with the second dolphin that I met; being that she was nine feet long! She was way bigger than I anticipated any dolphin to be.I had the pleasure to meet a range of different dolphins during my visit to Dolphin quest, each with their own personalities, quirks, and appearances.The skilled trainers slowly and reassuringly guided me through things like feeding, care and up keep and, when I was ready, actually swimming with them. It was a joy to see how well cared for they were.Each dolphin had their own lunch boxes, adequately filled with enough fish to keep them well fed and happy.Just by looking at how happy, sociable, and friendly they were, you could see that each dolphin was given enough attention and living a happy life. My instructor even told me that dolphins are living better under human care than out in the wild.I only heard the trainers ask the dolphins to do things; not once did any of the trainers force or command one of the animals to do a trick and each time they completed a task they were rewarded with delicious fish.I loved the experience (assignment) and would recommend it to anyone of all ages.