I had always thought that Oceanography was a very unidirectional and monotonous science but thanks to SOCIB I have changed my perspective.  My name is Laia Cavaller Roca and I am a student at the French Lycée in Palma and I completed my internship at SOCIB.  This internship is compulsory in the last year of ESO and it consists of a class project where you choose a company with which to spend a week observing how it runs and learning about different jobs.  I chose SOCIB since I love science and when I found out it is the only ICTS (Singular Scientific Technical Infrastructures) in the Balearics I didn´t hesitate to make my decision and I was lucky enough to be accepted.

From the start I received a very warm welcome, I was even provided with my own Yammer and Gmail accounts to make me feel more integrated.  I was told about the internal procedures and the projects they run.  I learnt about the different departments and all their facilities.  What took me by surprise initially was the sheer size of SOCIB and all of its systems, equipment and facilities it has available, a true multi-platform.

I enjoyed the experience immensely, it was very comprehensive and interesting.  I met all sorts of people who were very kind and answered all my questions.  It was a pleasure to discover from the inside about some really interesting projects the SOCIB is currently running.

Furthermore, this week put an end to two of my preconceptions: that oceanography is only about marine biology and that there are very few women in the scientific world.  The majority of people and researchers I was able to talk and get to know were women.  This has encouraged me to follow my dream of working in science.

So I would like to thank all the team at SOCIB who welcomed me during this week, especially Àngels Garau who was my tutor and who organized everything so I could fully enjoy my time here.  I would also like to thank the director of SOCIB, Joaquín Tintoré for taking me on and the whole SOCIB team in general for the wonderful experience.