This summer I will be in Washington, D.C. doing an internship at the National Air and Space Museum. Come with me on my big adventure!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Don't put your hands in art exhibits, bastards.

I made it through my first week as an intern! I've quickly learned that my favorite thing to do there is work at the welcome desk, not because I love telling people where the nearest bathroom or metro stop is, but because I love working alongside really smart old dudes. Most of the volunteers that work at the desk are retired men who know incredible amounts of information about airplanes, either from being in the airforce, working as a pilot, or just loving planes. The other day a southern bell of a man came up to the desk and proceeded to tell us about his business plan for space tourism. The guy was a giant idiot with a stain on his shirt and a mouth full of garbage, but my favorite volunteer just sat there and politely nodded until the guy finally left and the volunteer proceeded to tell me exactly why that man was a moron. I am going to learn a lot of life lessons this summer, and hopefully snag me one of those old volunteers to be my husband. I love my fellow medieval-loving intern, I love learning more about aviation history (just bought myself a book about Amelia!) and I love being involved with an institution that is all about helping broaden people's knowledge.

I don't like hanging out with all the Utah interns. I've learned how to navigate my way through the city, make myself action plans, and be more independent. It's a lot easier to see and do all the things I want to do when I am by myself. For instance, this morning I went to the Eastern Market/flea market. I think I'll go back one weekend when I have more money and when I'm hungry. I then walked over to the Shakespear Museum but it didn't look like it was open yet so I took some pictures of the outside and hopefully I can go back for a tour in the near future. I also found another museum that i want to check out, that is the home of the National Women's Party and Susan B. Anthony's desk! (Thanks Kelly, for making me buy that DC book! It has all kinds of cool information!) I took a tour of the Library of Congress, walked through the moist botanical gardens, bought my fellow intern a birthday bag of gummy spaceships from the museum shop (which she had mentioned wanting a couple of times during the week), and then went to the Hirshhorn Museum which turned out to be absolutely incredible! There was a fantastic Yves Klein exhibit there, and even though some dumb museum visitor had somehow fallen in the installation piece full of paint pigment and tracked blue all over the floor, making me hate humanity, it was one of the best art exhibits I've ever been to. You should read all about how he used fire to make art, used human bodies as his paint brushes, and had people send him gold to buy "immaterial pictorial sensitivity zones," or pretty much...nothing that you can see or touch. Genius! I found him quite fascinating, and his wife/studio assistant/muse/model is coming to the museum for an artist talk on Wednesday night, which I hope to attend.

I then suffered through a Real Salt Lake vs. DC soccer game with the molly mormon Utah intern crew, for the sake of claiming that I'm being social, only to realize that sometimes I would rather do things alone, and that I hate soccer. Wish me luck in Chinatown tomorrow!

2 comments:

  1. Madelyn.

    I just found your blog.

    And thought to myself: my hell, I miss that gal.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kellie! I'm so happy to hear from you! I can't believe you are married, and I feel awful for missing your wedding! We should hang out when I get back!

    ReplyDelete