Of Parting Gifts and Perks: My Last Month as a ROM Intern

Sometimes when I finish my work early, my supervisor recommends that I look around the museum galleries. For a while, I thought that aside from the pleasure of handling artifacts every week, those visits would be the only perks I'd get.

Then he suggested that I visit the CHIHULY exhibition. It was an exhibit you pay extra to see because it's on display for a limited time. But for ROM interns? It was free! When I arrived, a world of glass sculptures greeted me.

Yeah, the exhibit made me stop and take in the view, but that's it. When I could think of anything other than, 'Oooh, pretty!' I resumed my work. With all of the collections I still had to update, I assumed that would be the only time I'd ever see an exhibition for free.

The year went by and the number of collections I had to complete dropped so low that my supervisor joked that he'd run out of work for me to do before my internship ended. That's when it hit me.

At the end of the month, my internship will end.

The point of the internship was to confirm whether museum work was for me. Turns out that I'd come to love it so much that I forgot that I'd have to stop. At least until I find a job opening. But what kind of job? Unless I learned to like children, my future career probably wouldn't be museum teacher. That left me with my original career goal – tour guide. Problem solved, right?

Then Out of the Depths: The Blue Whale Story happened.

Located on Flickr

Once again, with my supervisor's blessing, I visited the exhibition. But not without attending a presentation first. Because it was a sneak preview before opening to the public, museum employees were invited to a presentation that celebrated the exhibition contributors' accomplishments.

It was at that presentation that I realized how much work went into exhibitions and galleries. It took three years, biologists, conservationists, curators, model sculptors, translators, writers, and so many more to put the exhibition together. Seeing the exhibit afterwards – the massive whale skeleton models, interactive video games, the electric scale that calculated how many of you would equal the weight of a blue whale – I could see why it took so much effort.

And it got me thinking – how much time and effort did it take to create the European gallery I always visit? Who put all of this together?

I love talking to people about history, telling them funny anecdotes about historical figures, the facts that you wouldn't learn in school unless you had a history teacher that was married to their subject. But I have other loves too – writing and drawing.

And there are museum careers out there that can combine my passions – of everything the ROM internship gave me, learning that was an unforgettable parting gift.