First Day at the Museum!

So how do I even describe this day....IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I love my job.

I arrived at the museum about an hour early because I was nervous about my trains being late. Since I had extra time, I sat in a Starbucks on Great Ruseel Street and had a berry scone with coffee.

My favorite feature of the museum is the entrance. The British Museum used to have an open courtyard, but some time ago, an artist was comissioned to build a roof over it. The roof is made entirely of glass and swirled around in a diamond pattern. When the sky is clear, the blue soaks through the ceiling and it looks so beautiful in contrast to the white stone floors. It is the first thing you see when you walk through the doors. SOmething else interesting....there are no metal detectors or bag checkers like in Washington D.C.

I am working in a very small department called Learning and Audiences. While there are only 8 people, they have the coolest job in the museum (in my own opinion). They experiment with different texts, gallery designs, smells, and media to figure out how visitors react to the objects around them. BBC radio (sort of like our NPR) is partnering with the museum to produce a program about 100 Objects from the museum that are particularly popular. Part of my research will help them determine which objects will be highlighted on the show. My first object is an Egyptian cat statue called the Gayes-Anderson Cat. I have to observe people who look at it and find out what kinds of information they are looking for when they see it.

My supervisor is very nice. We got along straight away. I went with her and this other person in the department to lunch and to watch the first episode of a new series being featured on BBC 2 about the museum.

Tomorrow my duties include taking tours (that I get to do for free since I work here...Norris scam), looking at my assigned object, and exploring. I'll have a lot to say about that tomorrow!

More to come.