Why a Sabbatical? – You may be asking yourself?! What is my motivation to leave the safe place of Home in Switzerland and venture abroad? I have been thinking about getting back to the field for a while now. Shuffling through my old field notes and sketch books from ETH Geosciences, I thought I would be enjoying being a bit more outdoor again.
Also, my employer permits sabbaticals to be taken after 5 years of employment, which I have reached now. Having worked quite long hours and having had to abandon a few things I always wanted to do, this now feels the right opportunity to leave for an extended period of time. Six months sounds like a reasonable period – hopefully your friends won’t forget you in the meantime, and while it is not as long as to lose all your roots back home, it is still such a long period that one should be able to immerse oneself in another culture, language and place.
Why the National Park Service? Don’t you think it will be fun to wear the NPS hat and guide interested people around during their holidays, their best period? Everyone will have fun and be cheerful, and there’s always plenty to offer at the NPS! Also, while traveling in the US I had been frequenting the services and the facilities of the NPS in their various National Parks constantly, and I felt like joining their Volunteers in Park program would be giving back something. Besides, I guess I haven’t been to a US National Park yet that didn’t impress, awe or inspire me in one way or the other, so you can’t really go wrong!
Why Hawai’i? Honestly, I need to say that I did not pick Hawai’i as the place to volunteer, but Hawai’i has picked me. There is quite a long list of criteria you have to fulfill to become a volunteer in a sensible position, such as the Program of Interpretation (giving talks and guiding tours around the park’s sights). There was no space in my primary choice, Yellowstone National Park, which I haven’t visited yet, and initially I wanted to go to a place that matches by scientific background (Earthquake, Volcanoes, Hot Springs, active Geology etc.). So Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park did have an opening, and currently it seems like I have fulfilled all requirements and done all the paperwork – it should be starting soon now if all goes well! Fingers crossed!