So I had my first meeting with my new boss and my professor in charge of my internship. The course will involve two large writing assignments, and neither are my strong suit. One is a case study of the museum work placement, and the other is a critical analysis. Both are meant to be almost entirely analysis based on theory. So far my lowest grade was in a similar assignment for my previous internship. So, I've got to really focus on studying theories of practice in different areas (like project management, collections management and documentation). At work, I'll be focused mostly on expanding the documentation of the musical instruments in the collection. My boss said in this meeting that my expertise in ethnomusicology would improve the collection's documentation [and I'm sitting there thinking "expertise?!" He thinks I have "expertise"!? I don't have expertise, I'm just a kid!). My professor explained that I need to be able to show experience and improvement in a wider variety of skills, like "leadership" and "project management" etc etc. My boss explained that everybody basically chips in with everything, but that I'd be able to do any workshop offered to TWAM (Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums), which include ones on archives databases, documentation, public engagement, etc. I'll be doing a workshop on Ke Emu, the archive database I'll be working with at the museum. I'll also get to work with other teams in the museum, like the learning team or exhibition team. I'm not sure what all my internship will involve. The meeting was a lot of ideas, but all were maybes or something-likes. It does look pretty certain that I'll be doing at least one display in the student centre with another intern currently at the museum, and later another of my own.

It's a lot less impressive looking to work mostly on the documentation. I can't show it off to people. But it is what I think I might like to do with my career. Collections management is really interesting for me- it's doing a lot of research and summarizing it into a structured database, for the most part. And you get to do a little conservation work, which I'd like to get much more involved in (but that takes yet another degree!). Also, you work with objects most of your days, and so far objects haven't stopped being interesting. I imagine that when you've cleaned and labelled your 20th roman coin for the day it probably palls a bit, but it's still like THESE ARE ROMAN COINS. I AM LITERALLY TOUCHING THINGS ROMANS TOUCHED. ACTUAL ROMANS. YEAH! And that sounds totally insane, I know, but that is exactly the kind of thing that goes through my mind with objects. It's still pretty surreal sometimes. And then there's objects that are modern history collections, sometimes as new as ipods. Those are the things that can sometimes not seem as interesting because they're so familiar, but it can be pretty interesting to take a step back and look at them as if they were historical objects and treat them in that way. It makes me think a lot about how we'll be remembered through our massive middens,  architectural ruins, and material culture. Actually, I think it could be a really neat children's exhibit to compare historical objects with our own equivalents, like hygiene implements and entertainment materials, and let the kids upload their own ideas of what people in another hundred years will think of the objects they'll find from us. (They have software for museums that will block anyone from posting rude words, which is the very first thing most little boys try to do.) Hah, sorry, that was a long tangent, but anyway-
Collections management- not very exciting to other people, but this will show me if it's really what I want to focus on long-term.

I'm still technically on vacation until Oct 6th, but I'm starting on some research on the instruments of the regions I know they have large collections from. Mostly Oceania, but I know their ethnography collection also includes Asian and African artifacts. I'm sure it contains a lot more, really, but I haven't seen that yet. I don't remember a lot from Oceania in my World Music classes, so I'm giving myself a refresher course. Fortunately, I do remember a lot about classifications of instruments and materials, etc. And each object will need to be individually researched for its history, specific relevance, etc.

Until work starts, I'll be doing that reading my free time, and working on catching up on all those other things I've been meaning to do for ages. I've got a list pages long, most of which probably won't get done, but I'm just chugging along ticking them off as I do whatever I can. The visa is a particular pain in my side because everything is urgent, but because of the time it takes to request different documents (and how long they stay valid) means everything is contingent on other things and it's a lot of hurry up and wait situations. My CV is another big pain. I have so much to add, but I'm terrible at writing in the right business-y style, and I'm never sure what to really say. But I really should get it updated before I start my next internship or it'll all pile up too high.

Still, it's been amazing getting good sleep, having the time and energy to take better care of myself. I've even been sleeping in, which feel wonderfully decadent. I can't remember when I last could sleep in guilt-free. Speaking of sleep, I've been writing for ages! It's past midnight! This post must be crazy-long.

I'm crashing at my desk right now, I'm going to get to sleep. Love you all <3