Starting Over - field biologist

Hello, dear Permies!

I've made a post here about two years ago about how to start as a broke student. Well , back then I had a partner, and together we traveled, looked at different lands, and we even had a "try" year on my grandfather's old farm (to see what we like, where my knowledge isn't as good as I hoped, and so on) . I also had the honor of getting to know some pretty crazy hippies living the permaculture way, and I loved it!
But after all of this, I am once again starting over . After working in mountain huts in the summer to save up money to buy, we broke up, and my dream land - a village abandoned after WW1 that at this point turned into a forest next to a river in the middle of nowhere-well , that dream was lost . Some clearcutting (ya know they come cut everything and go)men bought it, and it's over...I was extremely sad, not only over the loss of someone I thought could help me make the world a better place - someone I loved and someone that would live this life with me - devastated that the land is gone... That someone can just come and do this, laws or no laws, nobody is standing in the way of these folks!

But now I have a chance to start over ; the tower has fallen, and yes, that is not ideal, but it gives me a chance to start something new. So my quest now is not to work like crazy anymore or to frantically search for land or someone to do it with. My new goal is going back to school, finishing my diploma, and starting work in what I feel is my calling. I would love to be a biologist on terrain. I think there is so much evidence or ways we could live that would be hand in hand with nature, and I believe I have the strength to work such a job mainly for two things: 1.  dream job, and 2. The evidence that would come out of this can influence not only everyday people but laws about how we go about our food safety.

Now I'm from Slovenia, so here it's like if you know someone, you'll get the job. If not, it's gonna be the boss's niece or something, ya know...  So anyone from this field in Europe , I would love to have a chat! Where to start, how to get experiences ... I'm all ears!!!

Anyway, all love for you crazy people!!!
Have a good 2026 <3

Hey Anchy Hinka.
I've just stumbled upon your post here, I'm not even sure how I found this site... I guess I was looking for cheap rural properties. Anyway, I felt compelled to share some of my experience, if you'd take it.
I'm a biologist and have worked mainly with conservation for around 10 years or so in Brazil, where in from. I've worked in an NGO where we aimed at restoring degraded land by means of reforestation, specially along rivers and waterways; I've worked in a small company that specialized in providing all the necessary requirements/documents (like classifying land use, carrying out species survey, amongst others) for obtaining licences and construction permits, and I've also specialised in a field of ecology that studies the effects of linear human made structures (mostly roads) on the fauna and flora, called road ecology.

I share your enthusiasm for the field biology, and I appreciate you know it's a challenging field to work in - from knowing the right people that can give you the job (it's a world phenomenon, trust me, happens not only in Slovenia), to managing potentially low wages, to perhaps spending periods of time in rough conditions, and ultimately dealing with the fact that you are somehow contributing to the disappearance of the very forest/piece of nature you're studying (if you ever carry out field surveys, that's their main goal anyway, to allow them to be legally cleared out ).
So, with this brief and perhaps gloomy introduction, I ask you, how do you imagine the work of a field biology is? What do you understand as field biology? I ask because I used to have a very naive vision of it and I feel many others do, and so they may feel frustrated when reality hits and the jobs you'd expect to get are either non existing or not quite in line with your expectations.
I don't want by any means to discourage you, if your are still considering studying biology. I've done it, and, even though I'm no longer working with biology, I'd love to go all over university again to retake (almost) every course. I think it's such a wonderful field and so underrated, and I feel it has enormously.contributed to create who I am today. The world would truly be a better place if more people dedicated themselves to study life itself, to learn and see how every organism is connected by a long line of evolution, instead of studying finances or whatever.
But here we are.
So, if you'd like, ask away and I'll try to help to the best of my experience.