Seasonal Work can be an amazing experience that lets you travel while basically living for free (the rent comes out of your check, but still). When I first heard about seasonal work my life was changed. I was working at 7brew at the time and this girl comes through the line to get a coffee in her Subaru. Her car was PACKED full with stuff, she was probably the coolest person I have ever met to this day. She told me she was on her way to her next seasonal job. She explained to me that she went season to season bouncing from point A to point B. She really talked up the idea, you go somewhere that you’ve always wanted to, you work for them and you get to live in a National Park, or on a ranch, etc. She talked about all the friends she made all over the world. I was inspired, and by inspired I mean as soon as she left I told every single one of my coworkers that I had a girl crush and that I was obsessed with the girl that I just met.
The idea of getting to live somewhere for free, while traveling is so intriguing. I’m here to talk about the reality of seasonal work because its not just sunshine and rainbows, although it is a lot of that too. I’m here to talk about the less appealing side of it, that no one else talks about. Before I start, I just want to say I think this is an experience everyone and their mom should experience once in their life. I learned more about myself on my 2 month seasonal job in Yellowstone National Park than I have in my entire life (and I read a lot of self help books, guys.) Before I get yelled at, I would also like to say that this was just my experience and everyone else’s is different.
1. Seasonal Work can get lonely- especially, if you are an introvert
The reality of the job is that you are alone. Most people starting this job like the idea. You get to truly be yourself around people who have no prior experience with you. However, this can be truly daunting whenever you are going through it. You don’t know a single person and you constantly have to introduce yourself. Don’t get me wrong, every person there is eager to make friends, just like you, but friendships may feel forced. My first hour there, I got stopped by about 10 people asking me if I was new around there. Expect to make friends but also realize that those people don’t know you like anyone else would. If you love deep conversations, a seasonal job at a national park is the place to be. However, you have to understand that everyone comes from different walks of life. So an idea that you may present back home to your friends could be interpreted in a million other ways to someone else.
People who work seasonal jobs come from all different walks of life. There was not a single person that I met who had a bland story. I think I probably had the blandest story of them all, and I swear I have lived 12 lives.
2. Its a great self-discovery journey.
Travel in general is such a great self-discovery journey. You get to explore, pretend you live somewhere else, interact with people who have different cultures and opinions, and perhaps even pretend to be someone else. While traveling, you do all of this while pretending your job, and whatever else stressors, don’t exist. Seasonal work brings in a whole new and improved way to self-discovery. With seasonal work, you still have responsibilities while having fun as well. Because everything is new and you get all aspects of traveling mixed with daily life, it helps you to truly understand yourself, others, and improve your life moving forward. Learning that you can explore and have fun while having responsibilities is such a crucial tool to have. This helps me in my daily life to learn to love the small moments and not focus only on the stressors of life.
Other seasonal workers in Yellowstone come from literally all over the world. If you expect not to be challenged by your stubborn ways and opinions, you are dead wrong. This helps you to discover who you are and what you believe. Also, literally no one there knows your backstory unless you tell them. It’s such a good way to reset and rediscover yourself without the fear of your peers or your past following you.
3. You may be working 50-hour weeks.
You absolutely may end up working over 40 hours a week. I was not expecting this at all for a job in Yellowstone National Park. I thought it was going to be you wake up smell the sunshine, get your Dora backpack on, maybe pop into work for a little bit and then leave to go back into the forest with the bears. THIS IS FALSE. It really does depend on where you work at, what you do and what company you work for. In general, seasonal work is so overlooked and so understaffed. I was a cook at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We weren’t even the most understaffed, and there were weeks I was working around 50 hours. The housekeepers would end up having 12-hour workdays, 5 days a week, because of how understaffed they were. This isn’t going to be everywhere or every company, just make sure that you know you will have to work, and it may not be how/what you were expecting.
4. Everyone is down to do EVERYTHING
The company I worked for gave everyone two days in a row off. I was sitting at lunch one day, and I decided that I wanted to leave after my shift to go to Glacier National park (which was 8 hours away from where I was) for an 11 Mile hike to a Glacier. I asked the people around me if anyone would want to go. A boy that I had met one time before, and a boy I had never met said they would go with me. We booked the Airbnb (a shed in someone’s backyard), and that afternoon when we all got off work, we left. This is only one story out of lots to explain that everyone is down for anything, you just have to be willing to ask. Put yourself in an environment to be talked to, and you will be invited to everything. I cant count on my fingers how many times I would be sitting outside and a group walks past me asking if I want to go on a hike, or go look at the stars, etc.
5. You may experience culture shock.
This may be a no-brainer but there are people from all over the world. There is going to be a difference in cultures and accents. Mostly, people spoke a little bit of English. The only people I came across who didn’t know very much English was a group from Japan that all came together. Although most of them understand English and can speak good English, there are going to be times that there is a big disconnect. It is important to remember this and be patient, understanding, and accepting. What is considered right and good where you come from, may be different than your roommates’ compass.
It is so rewarding to see others experience certain things that may not be common where they are from. One day I was sitting at lunch and someone came running inside the cafeteria yelling “ITS SNOWING!!!!! ITS SNOWING!!!!!” More than half of the people got up and ran outside to see the marvelous snow. I’m from Missouri, where the winters are brutal, and I was in awe, kind of chuckling to myself, ‘Have these people really never seen snow before?’ I turned to the people beside me and said “Have you guys seen snow before?” They responded only once when they were about 8 years old. It’s so fun to see that the things you take for granted every day are new and exciting to someone else.
6. The romance I was NOT expecting.
Everyone there was trying to get with someone. The first two weeks is everyone pairing up, making their friends and finding their romance. Think of college experimenting on a heightened level. If you need a good ego boost, work a seasonal job and have 8 people trying to get with you. You are in a secluded village, with little cell reception, and far away from home. Most people there are lonely and looking for love. While most of these romances were just a summer fling, some of them are still together today. The very first week I was there, a guy in my dorm got with a girl. They are still together today going on different excursions every week. One week I will see they went skydiving, and the next they are tracking through Egypt.
7. Your fate falls on your bunkmate.
Your roommates’ friends are your friends. There would be times when I would get home and one of my roommates’ friends would just be chilling in my dorm. If my roommate and I didn’t get along and I didn’t like her friends, this would be terrible. If your roommate has been there longer than you, they will have friends coming in and out, and they will know about things/events that you might not know about. They give the rundown on everything and everyone, introduce you to people, take you to poker nights, etc. Especially in the first few weeks, if you have a good roommate, they will invite you to go do stuff and meet people. If you and your roommate get there together, then you have each other to hang out with and start making friends with people. If you have a terrible roommate, their friends will be in and out of your dorm, you’ll have to share a tiny room with this person, and all of the horror stories you read on Reddit could happen to you. Further than this, if you and your roommate have totally different lifestyles and schedules, that can be hard as well. I worked at 5am most times, whereas my roommate would get home around 11pm from work and then come home at 3am drunk. I loved my roommate and she was so sweet, but this could be a problem if she was loud and obnoxious.
8. The Stealing…….
Almost everyone I came in contact with would proudly tell you that they stole from stores. Where I come from stealing is pretty uncommon but here it was a cultural norm. I was never very worried about it because they pretty much all agreed it was unethical to steal from people, but somehow not from stores. Until I was in one of my friends room, and I saw my jeans that had went missing, inside of his dresser. I asked him about it and he said that he saw them in my dorm room, and thought they were cute so he took them. I still don’t know how or when he stole them, but I was appalled.
9. You are hundreds of miles away from everyone you love.
The realness of being hundred of miles away from people that you love hit me on my fist day. After I met my roommate, she took me to the famous site of our village. The cell reception is very spotty and as we pull up, I got a notification of 7 missed calls. I called them back and heard terrible news. No one was hurt but I still had the sinking feeling in my gut that wouldn’t leave. I didn’t get to be there to help my family in a terrible time. If something happens while you are away, it is happening and there is nothing that you can do about it. I hung up the phone and after knowing my roommate for about 15 minutes, she asked if everything was okay and I awkwardly broke down and started crying in front of a bunch of tourists. The feeling of not being able to help weighed on me, until the day I left.
10. You may feel behind in life. (If you have any other obligations, don’t go)
If you are an overachiever, this job may not be for you. After the initial excitement wears off, you are basically just working and living there. However, you are not strengthening things like family life, school, job wise, etc. Although you are learning so much culturally and about yourself, if you are a person who wants to get ahead, this job may make you feel behind in life.
My biggest mistake was that I went to Yellowstone when I was taking 21 credit hours online. Although it can be done, because I did pass my classes. I would not advise it. I was not able to give anything 100%. I was always choosing between living in the now (which is what you are there for) and living for my future. Trying to balance 21 credit hours, 50 hour workweeks, exploring, partying, and living was not my favorite moment. I would not take this experience back but I would take a semester off school if I were to do it again. Looking back I wish I would have spent more time in the present and never let the excitement wear down. If you are thinking about a seasonal job, I suggest that you focus solely on that. Most people there either just graduated college, were taking a gap year, just retired, were homeless, or were freelancers that worked mostly in the winter. It is important to realize that no ones story is the same. And although you can do both, you will benefit from taking a break from everything else you are doing and working on.
11. A lot of people there were homeless
I actually had a project for my sociology class that was supposed to be about any social issue and you had to interview people. I picked homelessness, partly because I had done a capstone project of homelessness in high school, so I knew what I was talking about but also partly because a lot of my peers homelessness is what drove them to Yellowstone. There were a few people that I knew that had lost their jobs or didn’t have anywhere to sleep so they looked up jobs with housing. About 25% of the people I met there were there because they needed housing and food.
12. If you drove a car there, prepare to be popular/used
Most of the people that live there flew into the nearest airport and were picked up by the company. However, on your days off if you are wanting to go visit a town or drive around Yellowstone or literally do anything at all, you need a car. It was very common for me to get a few texts throughout the day of someone asking me to bring them to a dispensary, to a store, etc. There was not one weekend that I stayed in my village.
You will be popular because of your car. For example, there was a camping trip that was trying to be planned, but there were too many people and not enough cars, so the people who were planning it included a few more people who had cars.
If at all possible, I would take your car. That was my only space that I could go that was mine. Often, I would go sit in my car and decompress for a while or take a small drive. It is also very useful to be able to carry more stuff. I was able to bring everything that I needed, and keep things in my car so that my dorm didn’t feel cluttered.
13. It may feel like high school sometimes
Although everyone was friends, there is still gossip and rumors. I grew up in a small town and I thought word traveled fast there but if that was fast then the way word traveled here was literally faster than lightning. To put it into perspective for you, the dorms are about 50 feet from the pub. There was a party in one of the dorms. I left the party and started walking to the pub. I stopped for less than a minute to talk to someone outside and then headed for the pub, literally right before I got into the pub I heard the music stop. I walked into the pub and the pub tender (bartender) asked me if I came from the party that just got shut down. I replied that no party got shut down, 5 minutes later a bunch of people come into the pub saying that the party just got shut down.
14. The food was TRASH
Literally, I don’t even know what to say more about this. I was a cook for a restaurant in Yellowstone National Park, and I will even tell you that the food was trash. I barely ate and was hiking every day and still somehow managed to gain about 5-10 pounds.
15. If you aren’t comfortable with wildlife, it may be best to stay home
This may not be true for all seasonal work, but I was in Yellowstone National Park. I came in contact with wildlife daily. We actually had a bison that stuck around our village so often that we named him “Carl.” He was mostly friendly if you didn’t try to touch him, but there of course have been incidents when people came too close or were not respecting his space. In Yellowstone I came in contact with all kinds of animals from bison to Moose to chipmunks, etc. In Glacier National Park, I even came in contact with a mama bear and her two cubs. Although most of these animals are accustomed to people watching them, it is important to remember that they are wild and dangerous animals and they don’t want to be disturbed.
16. It is absolutely beautiful and a blessing to get the opportunity to do seasonal work
If you have the opportunity to do seasonal work, you should because most people cant. It may be a different change but change isn’t a bad thing. You get paid to live in a beautiful place that most people pay thousands to visit. Make the most of your time and see everything. If you go somewhere secluded (especially Yellowstone), don’t forget to check out the stars. There are no other lights on in the night so the whole sky is lit up.
