Last Monday, I woke up at 7 and got ready for my internship. I had just come home from college on Friday, and I spent the weekend with my parents and one of my best friends in French Lick. So needless to say, I was pretty tired, simply because I did not get a chance to rest.

So Monday morning, bright and early, I pulled into the Indiana State Museum. After being acquainted with where I would be working, I actually got put to work and given a couple tasks. It’s not that I mind; I like being busy. One of the tasks I was assigned was pretty arduous (more on that in a bit though), while the other one was relatively menial. I worked until I was at a stopping point closest to the time my supervisor and I had agreed that I would be done.

For anyone who has not been there or never even realized it, there are two parts to the museum. One side is where all the exhibits are, and the other side is pretty much entirely offices. There is a bridge connecting the two, but it is only on the third floor. Therefore, I come in through the garage on the first floor and take the elevator to the third. Then I get my badge and sign in. After that, I walk across the bridge to the administrative side and go down the stairs to the second level where the education department is. The area I am in sits right on the canal that runs through the city, and man, do I have a great view. It is so beautiful (see picture)!

My supervisor(? boss? I’m not really sure what to call her…) and I agreed that I would pretty much work every day, maybe taking the occasional day off. That being the case, I found out that I’m pretty much the main intern. There are two others in the same position as me, a girl and a guy. The other girl does not start until June. The boy works Mondays and Thursdays from like 9-noon. However, he was on vacation when I started (and still is I think, so I haven’t met him yet). It’s mainly just me there most of the time. That being said, I’m not lonely. I do so much that the only “down time” I have during the time I’m there is when I give myself some time to eat lunch.

One of my main tasks is filing paperwork, but it is not quite what it sounds like. I’m helping out the summer camps put on by the education department, so the “paperwork” I file is actually camper’s registration and invoices for campers. Occasionally, I’ve also had to file cancellations, which makes me sad. Then, besides having a paper copy of the information (or two copies to be more accurate, one for the museum side, and one for the administration side), I also transfer all the information to a few online documents.

The whole paperwork process usually takes about fifteen to thirty minutes. I’ve found that starting my day with paperwork frees up my day and it’s one less thing I have to worry about. This first week, one of my other main tasks was to sort through fabric for upcoming fashion camp. That was a long task, and it took me until Friday to complete it. Also, at some point in the week, I was given another task: cutting cardboard. I have three dimensions I can use (6×6, 7×7, and 9×6) and need quite a few of them as well. I’m actually still working on that one, but I’m getting there. One of the good things about these tasks though is that I’m in the workroom. This means that I can play music without my headphones, even if people walk in occasionally (which they do). I’ve been on an 80s kick recently, and I actually got a compliment on my taste in music.

There is one not-so-good thing about my internship, and that simply is getting up early. Hear me out, I’m not meaning to sound spoiled. I can be a morning person; in fact, I often have a hard time sleeping in. However, my body does not respond well to being awakened by an alarm. It wears me out quickly. So quickly, in fact, that Wednesdays are hard for me to even hear my alarms. Again, I’m not trying to sound spoiled or like a college student that is used to sleeping in. My body just gets worn out when I wake up by something external.

All in all, I really like my internship. I do a lot of stuff I know how to do, and more stuff that will help me as a future teacher. It was not what I fully expected, but I really do enjoy it. I like the hours I work (except for the early part) because I still have time to do things outside of the museum. As I said earlier, since I’m the main intern, I will probably be working a lot more behind the scenes, but that gives me a little bit more freedom with my day. I’m excited to see what all happens this summer!