I'm very greateful for the expeirence I've at the Las Vegas Nevada Natural HIstory mueseum. I took on a role of being a collections intern. I go to process materials from a site into a data base. During my time at the internship I identified animal bones and put them into a spread sheet. After spending the semster processing animal bones, I've realized this is not something I would want to do for a living, however I'm still grateful for the experience because know I know that working in the museum is not for me. I know that I will need a more hands on job, because sitting behind a computer processing data is not something I particularly enjoy. I know this might be the speed for some people but it is definitely not for me. I have gained more skills with bones which I am grateful for because that will help me as i get into fieldwork in archeology. I certainly would rather be the person finding and digging up artifacts rather than be the one who is processing the materials.
One of the best part of this internship was when someone else pulled a bone from their collection and they didn't know what it was and they handed it to me and I instantly was like oh, this is an ulna. It felt very validating that someone can hand me a bone with no context and I am able to identify what type of bone it is.
A piece of advice I have for future interns is make sure you're going through all your opions before selecting a place you would like to intern. A lot of the times an internship will show you what you don't want to do versus what you want to do. I mean ideally you want an internship that aligns with your values and it feels like a place where you can find growth in your career field.
