2015.

With my first post in 2015 I am inviting you to share in my inevitable ‘life evaluation moment’ where I take a moment to reflect on 2014 and how I have spent the past 365 days. Usually, I find this rather tiresome and perhaps a little depressing. But this year I think it will be time well spent. I’ll be as honest as I can be.

2014 was a year of great change for me, complete with all its associated ups and downs. Firstly I got to spend the majority of it in the US, initially at Brown and then undertaking an internship in Colorado. The American part of my year taught me a few things. Firstly, that I am not destined to live in Scotland for the rest of my life. There was very little I missed about home (except from my family and my dearest friends); I know I want to explore elsewhere. Secondly, that I am capable of reaching a higher level of learning than I thought possible, but also conversely, that there are some things beyond my reach. I learned to be ok with that. And lastly I learned that I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. I am approaching thirty and I don’t quite feel like I have the same direction that others have. Again I learned to be ok with that.

I couldn’t bear to leave here (Leadville, CO).

The low of 2014 came when I returned to Scotland. I felt like I was back to the ‘same old’. Things hadn’t really changed when I had been away, and whilst it was nice to catch up with all of my friends and family, I felt a like I belonged a little less. Luckily this was all tempered by a new job and the distraction it provided. This job has been a challenge. There have been moments when I have felt completely and totally under-qualified.   As a necessity I have learned to trust my gut feelings and just to Go Ahead and Do Stuff. Fortunately my intuition seems to be quite consistently correct. And because of this I have grown in confidence as a manager.

And more than work, one group of friends in particular have brought me out of this funk and reminded me what meaningful existence is.

Well there you go, written down like this, it appears I have had a pretty good year. Now to figure out where to go next.

But finishing the year here (Dunoon, Scotland) wasn’t so bad.

Listening to:  Sparrow by Woodpecker Woolliams.

Leaving is the hardest part.

With alarming speed the end of my time in Leadville has arrived, and with it, the end of my year sojourning in the US.  Mixed feelings abound; I happy that I will be reunited with friends and family, but I certainly do not want to leave this place.  And by ‘this place’ I mean Colorado, and the Rocky Mountains.  Life here has been simple and wonderful.  Work that I enjoy, spending time with new friends, jaw dropping scenery, and spending more time outdoors than I have ever had the opportunity to do before has made me very happy indeed.

Interning at The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum has given me a breadth of experience it would be hard to gain elsewhere.  The wonderfully supportive and knowledgable staff have given us interns small(ish) discrete projects that have really allowed us to take ownership of our own learning, and undertake a range of curatorial duties.  I cannot thank the museum enough for giving me this opportunity, and taking a chance on an international student, which many are not wont to do.  As often is the case one opportunity leads to more.  For me this means that I have been lucky enough to secure a job (after a 4am Skype interview!) that I will begin upon my return to Scotland.

Aside from work, in Colorado I have been able to try a lot of new things, including climbing a mountain (the 14th highest in the US), white water rafting through Brown’s Canyon, and a tonne of hiking!  I think I have learned to strike a greater life/work/exercise balance here; hopefully this will stand me in good stead for the future.

Hagerman’s Pass covered in wild flowers

Mt Elbert, 14, 433ft

Leadville scenery

Currently listening to:  Aerosmith – Sweet Emotion.

Education and Progress.

Last week’s post was rather self-indulgent and sort of blow-your-own-trumpet-y.  This means that I am not entirely comfortable with it, but nevertheless I am going to leave it there because I suspect at some point in the distant future I will be happy that I wrote it.

Given this retrospective uncomfortableness I am getting things back to normal this week and blogging about museums (and Leadville).  My time at the museum is ticking away at an alarming speed and I still have three projects to finish; accessioning the Anaconda Collection of minerals, finishing entering the Colorado Digitization Project historic photographs into PastPerfect, and creating my education kit.

Initially I had planned to create three separate education kits but as I have already mentioned (maybe only a couple of times) time is diminishing at the same rate my book collection is growing.  For now I am focusing on only one subject – mineralogy.  My intention is to create a resource that can be used by Grades 4 and 5 (ages 9 – 11) to teach them of this fascinating subset of geology.  This is particularly important in Leadville, and of course the state of Colorado, as so much of its history revolves around this industry.  I think it is vital that the kit I design establishes this connection for the children who will learn from it; they should be able to draw parallels to their own lives and thus understand the social history of their locality.  Growing up in a city like Leadville, I imagine it is impossible for them to escape the impact that mining has had directly upon them from the employment of family members to the long lasting, and sometimes devastating, environmental impact of mineral extraction.

But let us not start off with that depressing subject.  No there shall be a hands-on activity to draw them in.  In fact they will be given a mission by the museum; identification of some random minerals we found in the collections room (of course we know exactly what they are, what kind of museums wouldn’t).  They will conduct three tests: lustre, streak and hardness, to ascertain exactly which each specimen is.  I’m hoping this will draw them in, and that they will learn without even realising it (I know I would have enjoyed something like this at that age, but I wasn’t an entirely normal child).  After this will come the evaluation part with some thought provoking questions and so on.

For now I can be found in the Collections Room sanding down old boxes and painting them in (what I hope is) an appealing design, or compiling worksheets in the office.  One thing I know for sure is that I am learning a lot making these kits so by corollary so should the kids, right?

Refurbishing old university geology display boxes. There was a coat of primer and everything.

Trying some ‘colour pop’ – I am not sure I used that term correctly.

Lest you are bored with pictures of boxes – another Leadville sunset.

Currently listening to:  The National – Runaway.

The countdown begins (the wrong way).

7th July 2014 (July 7, 2014 if you are American) is my 39th last day in this fine country.  In 33 days I will finish my curatorial internship at the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum.  In 34 days I will travel to Denver where I will explore an American city for the last time before boarding a plane and heading back to the motherland.  I know this is an oft (and over) used statement, but really, where has the time gone?  Particularly here in Leadville, the little Two Mile High City I have been proud to call home, even if it is only for 10 weeks.

To make myself feel better about uprooting a nice stable Edinburgh life and spending a year across the Atlantic, in an entirely selfish manner, I thought I would list some of the things I have experienced, and achieved this year.

1. I suppose graduating with a degree from Brown University should go at the top.

2. If I am listing number 1 then I should probably also count being a Fulbrighter.

3. Now the boring ones are out of the way I can start on more exciting things such as TRAVEL.  This year I saw Providence, Boston, NYC, Cape Cod, Washington D. C., Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Nashville, Leadville.  And all of the little towns in between like Mystic (CT), Amherst (MA), Aspen (CO), Vail (Co), Breckenridge (CO)…the list goes on.  But there is still more to explore.

4. I got to pick pumpkins at a pumpkin patch like a real American.

5. I went to a baseball game, Phillies vs. Diamondbacks.

6. I went to a magical place called a Cider Mill.

7. I created a scale model of the Stones of Stenness on the Main Green of Brown University as part of my one archaeology class, aptly named Building Big!

8. I helped to start and promote a careers resource website, The Inventing Heron Project.

9. Discovered the joys of Trader Joes.  I don’t want to say goodbye to these joys.

10. Attended an Ivy League Ice hockey game, Brown vs. Yale.  Violent and fun.

11.  Almost managed to watch the full Super Bowl. (That is a bit of a lie, I gave up after the first two quarters.)

12. Ate an In-N-Out burger, my first fast food in a decade.  It was good.

13. Made friends in Houston and had a wonderful weekend where I reverted to my youth.  There was cider.

14. Participated in my first Easter egg hunt involving plastic eggs.  There are still two missing.

15. Attended an academic protest, a summit on North Korea, and presented at a conference.

16. Introduced some Americans to the unparalleled joy of Eurovision.

17. Heard some good live music, especially at Boston Calling festival.

18. Found out that Safeway still exists – it is alive and well in Leadville, Colorado.

19. Explored a ghost town, abandoned mines, and found a tonne of archaeology in the hills of Leadville.

20. Discovered that I can run 5k at an altitude of 10,152ft.  It might not sound impressive, but trust me with the lack of oxygen up there it is.

21. Witnessed true America at the Colorado 101st Army Band concert, and Leadville’s 4th of July parade.

22. Missed my friends and family, but acquired many, many more.

And I still have 5 weeks to go…

Budweiser has Clydesdale horses apparently.

Leadville’s 4th of July parade – the library float, a tractor.

Leadville’s 4th of July fireworks.

Smashing up a fluorite with a hammer for my education kit – more on this to come.

Currently listening to:  Mr Ms – Hurricane.

Arsenic, Asbestos, and Radioactive (sneaky) Minerals.

I am harbouring secret desires of turning into some sort of superhero this week…not because I am going slowly mad but because at work this week I handled all sorts of interesting and potentially dangerous stuffs.

I mentioned in my last post that I am currently accessioning and cataloguing the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum’s Anaconda Collection of minerals.  So caught up was I in the pretty opals, amethysts and malachites that I didn’t realise some (very mild) dangers lay ahead.  The first, a radioactive mineral, Uraninite, sneaked up on me, following a totally innocuous chrysocolla.  I know, I know, I really should have guessed given the name of the mineral.  Well after my extremely mild and completely negligible run in with radioactivity I was on high alert (because let’s face it when working with rocks/minerals all day events like this provide definite entertainment).

That was just as well, because next up was asbestos.  From my scant knowledge of the problems the UK has faced with asbestos laden buildings I know that this one can be dangerous.  It is a fibrous mineral and when these fibres are inhaled they are carcinogenic.  Obviously you have to inhale a lot of these fibres over an extended period of time for any damage to be done, nevertheless I was was careful when handling this one.  But it is kind of pretty…

Blue asbestos

The last vaguely dangerous specimen contained realgar and orpiment which are both classified as arsenic sulfides.  Unfortunately the orpiment on this was very unstable and even when stationery crystals were just falling off.  There was orange orpiment everywhere…

Realgar and Orpiment

Honestly I was not obsessively washing my hands after this one… In reality there was absolutely no risk involved in touching any of these specimens, it just made my day a little more noteworthy!

Well that is a tour of my (un) dangerous journey through the world of minerals.  Here are some scenic views to ease your minds:

Sunset over the Rockies, Leadville, CO

Clouds over Cloud City, Leadville, CO

Turquoise Lake, Leadville, CO

Currently listening to:  Nick Mulvey – Fever to the Form