I Gotta Feeling

 

… that this internship’s gonna be a good one (I got the Black Eyed Peas song in your head, didn’t I?). Ok, that was really really cheesy so from here on out I promise to not say stupid things like that again, maybe. Ok, no promises here, but just a slight disclaimer that I can’t write the best. Seriously, it’s kinda bad. So please don’t send me an email with a list of grammatical errors I made or else…

But really. I have to spoil the end of this blog post by saying right off the bat that I am MORE than optimistic and excited for this two month long internship. Wait. Back up Hannah…

Hello! For those that do not really know me, my name’s Hannah. For those that do know me, wassup. I’m a senior at the University of Kansas studying art history, psychology, and leadership studies. I’m involved with KU Hillel, my sorority, art history club, and extraneous campus events. I’m currently an adult public programs intern at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR. This just happens to be my blog for that internship!

Maybe you’ve heard of Crystal Bridges, but it had only opened in November 2011, so maybe you have not heard of it. Maybe you’ve heard of the Walton family? You know, Walmart? Yep. Brief background. Alice Walton, the daughter of Helen Walton and Walmart founder Sam Walton, founded Crystal Bridges. She wanted the richness of cultural and educational opportunities to flourish in the area where she grew up, Northwest Arkansas.

Ok, cool? Cool.

Skipping over the whole shpiel of finding, applying, and getting an internship…

Today was my first day of work. More like half day. We started at 1pm. And nervous, definitely nervous but nervous for a multitude of reasons.

I waited by the front coffee bar for Moira, who is on the full-time adult public programs team. She is super nice and her bubbly personality was contagious enough that it warded off my nervousness.

Tyler is the other adult public programs intern, my buddy through this summer, and also a really nice guy. He is a recent graduate of art history from Oklahoma State. He came right on time and we were whisked off to tour the entire facility and meet everyone in administration we could.

After our tour and stop at HR for our *official* badge and access card we landed at home base, the education office.

Other typical orientation day things that happened was setting up our work emails, understanding how to use the phones, and checking out laptops, etc. Technology hated both Tyler and I and we had to restart our laptops once while trying to manage emails and calendar additions.

The only thing that I felt stupid about was me trying to setup my CB email on my phone under Outlook. Then I remembered that the server was different than what I thought it was and I gave up unsure if I could put my CB email on my phone email app. Whatever!

We had about 30 minutes to kill so Moira, Tyler, and I went up to the inside portion of the brand new Chihuly exhibition. It’s only open to members right now and later to the public this Saturday.

Had I not been to Seattle to look at the museum there last summer, I would have had the same reaction there that I had today while staring at the glass. Chihuly is one of my absolute most favorite contemporary artists. It’s funny how I first heard of him during my ceramics class in eighth grade. The only film we watched during that class was about Dale Chihuly. I can’t remember what the occasion was or why we watched a glassblower in a ceramics class… but I thought he was super cool how he (his team) could seamlessly produce such beautiful pieces of glass. I kinda knew I was different (in a good way) because I was the only one – I think – that was not making fun of his eyepatch, and rather focused on the art and craftsmanship of his work.

Anyways. I would 11/10 recommend seeing this exhibition if it is anywhere near you, or 110% believe that you should see Chihuly glass before you die. It’s absolutely superb.

After what seemed like a run through the exhibition, Tyler and I sat in on an hour long interview for the open position of the director for the artinfusion program. Never had I sat on the other side of the table, listening to the applicant’s ideas, strengths, and enthusiasm for the position. Keep in mind that this is only my first day and I was completely caught off guard when asked if we wanted to sit in and listen. Luckily this was the last leg of the interview process for the applicant so the conversations were not nearly as tense as a typical first interview, which made it easier for me to feel comfortable to be in the room.

We were supposed to work until 5, but we got done at 4:40 and left then and there. My biggest takeaway from today was to just be confident in myself and know that I am worth it.

My plan for this blog is to post about my week on Mondays or Tuesdays (hopefully!) because I’m definitely off on those days. Thanks for reading this far amongst my blabbering, but feel free to email subscribe to my blog. I’M SO EXCITED, Y’ALL DON’T UNDERSTAND!!!!!!