A Trip into the Future

By Justin

It was a sight into the future. It was my trip into the Marine Biology Center of U.C. Berkeley. All of my life I’ve wanted to be a marine biologist ever since I was four and this was my first time seeing a center of marine biology.

On the road to our destination we set our eyes on a famous tourist site, the schoolhouse from the old, badly made horror movie, The Birds. It was showing definite signs of age like the paint was peeling of shingles were missing and the metal stuff on it was badly rusted. It was amazing how something that old was in a movie that seems older. As we drifted down the road we came to a seemingly endless forest. The seeming endless forest and the musty smell put me into a deep, non resistable sleep.

I woke up almost an hour later and we were at the hotel room. My best friend, Max, was already there. We rented a two hotel rooms, one for me and my friend and one for our moms with a door inbetween the two rooms.

Later that day we were playing in the pool, we would go to the marine center tomorrow. We just had gotten out of the pool and my mom put these heavy, fregrent smelling robes on us. As we were walking back we both slid in the pool on a puddle that we had made on our last dive the water crashed around us with an ear shaking splash. I sank like boulders while an acidy, potent taste of chlorine raged in my mouth as I tried to scream. When my feet hit the bottom I sprang with all my strength and just barely got my head above the water. As I was hopping to the stairs I thought, "The irony of it. I want to become a marine biologist and I almost drown." As I jumped a second time I saw that Max was doing the same. We jumped to the stairs gasping for air.

When we got out my mom said, "It’s good you didn’t fall in the deep end!"

Physically it was a short drive to the center, but mentally it

felt like I grew 20 years older. As we turned the corner the center slowly became visible I realized that this wasn’t just a laboratory it was an arcitecual masterpiece. It had arches of stone and huge glass panels that allowed you to see through the entrance to the ocean, which at this time had two to three foot swells. As I stepped in I saw 4 100+ gallon aquariums with such a wide variety of fish I might as well have been in a coral reef. Some of the more common fish were parrotfish, various types of angelfish, trigger fish, and butterfly fish. Also there was a moray eel, rectangular triggerfish, and a juvenile as well as a mature empire angel fish. As we started the tour we saw the places where the experiments were conducted and the classrooms.

As we approached the end of the tour we came to the place were the animals were stored. I was looking around amazed when I noticed a large group of people near an open toped aquarium. I went over to see what was in the aquarium and I wondered why these people were here because I saw that absolutely nothing was in the aquarium. Puzzled I looked at the people and a few people were holding urchins and starfish some with disgusted looks on their faces others with looks that could only be described as pure joy. As they were passed down I got to hold each of them. The starfish stuck to your hand and looked up at you with his five eyes. The urchin felt like pointy sticks walking on your hand. Although both may sound unpleasant they were so joyful for me.

As I left the center I got a strange feeling that I’d be back there though not as a tourist but as a student.