Progress

I have learned something very important as I am preparing for this project: never be afraid to ask; the worse that someone can say is "no".

Back in March when I was finalizing the proposal for this project I contacted all of the museums I wanted to visit to make sure that this research could be possible and if I could meet with the curators of the Egyptian collections. Many people were skeptical and said that I wouldn't receive any answers.

Out of the fifteen-some museums that I contacted, ten have replied. Not only did they reply, they replied with surprisingly enthusiastic positive responses. (What I've learned is that so few people even dare to ask, that when someone does ask, they are so surprised and happy to know that someone is interested, they can't say no!).

At first I thought that only the smaller museums would have time for me and would respond, but once I received a response from both the British Museum and the Louvre saying that I could meet with their curatorial staff...I knew things were looking up!

In the past few weeks I have received some even more exciting responses from museums that I thought had just been too busy to reply to my message.

The Egyptian curator at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, Netherlands replied to me and said that I could have a mini-internship for a few days at the museum, working with the collection and visiting archives and storage. I was shocked! This changed some of my plans and so I dropped off one of the places I had planned on visiting so that I could stay in the Netherlands longer (I will now be there for 7 days).

A museum in Bristol, UK, that I had not heard a response from either, just a few days ago responded very nicely saying that I could meet with the curators and get a tour of the museum.

Some even more exciting news arrived yesterday from the Egyptian Museum in Munich with a specific time and date for me to meet with the DIRECTOR of the museum, a tour, and an invitation to their off-site educational program for a few days. AWESOME.

So all in all, things are really starting to wrap up nicely and I'm so excited that I just can't sleep right now. I can't believe I'll be leaving in 16 days! There is still sooooo much preparing to do...