By Andrew Walker
Less than an hour ago, my supervisor at the Royal Ontario Museum left for the day (not to worry, I'm writing this on break), and reminded me that he would definitely not be at the Museum next Monday, and probably wouldn't be here the Monday after that, which covers the entirety of my remaining time here. And yet, this is not going to influence those next two weeks very much at all. Every once in a while, I'd arrive at the office only to watch the minutes tick by and realize that my supervisor had probably taken the day off. Usually I'd realize this mid-blog entry, and ultimately know that outside direction was never a significant aspect of this internship.
Maybe I'll write about this thing next. Maybe I won't. Who knows?!
When you begin the process of searching for an internship, you're given the option of indicating that you work well under minimal supervision. I ticked that box myself, and since then I've come in, each week, remembering what my overall aim was, and working in service of that. At this point, there is at least one blog post ready for every gallery in the museum under the World Cultures department (except for the Middle East, I've been putting that one off for months), and the specific topics and order has been entirely up to me. That also means that every time I come here, I find myself spending time wandering the halls of the Museum, dodging children and hunting for stories. I've probably seen every child in Toronto at this point (the first day of March Break is an especially hectic time), but I've barely scratched the surface on the hunt for stories.
All of this means that I have been very much in my own element here. One thing I've always been good at is understanding my own ability; I instinctively know whether or not I can do a particular task in a certain amount of time. The freedom to work at my own pace has therefore been very, very welcome. Writing about what I find interesting, rather than being told what to write is also a very welcome change from what I'm used to in professional writing and communication.
All byyyy myyyyself...
I have friends who would be driven crazy by all of this. The truth is that at the time of writing, none of my blog posts have even been looked over for feedback, at least not as far as I know. The end result of all of this is a hazy blur in the distant horizon, and for some, that would be a maddening realization. For me, it has been the freedom to embrace the histories told here at the Royal Ontario Museum in exactly the kind of way that works best for me, which makes me very happy to have taken on this internship in my final year at UTM.