Renee the Invigilator

Well, I have survived a weekend full of Lego bricks and endless visitors. On Friday, I worked as the greeter in Robert Owen's School, passing out tickets and informing visitors on how to get about in the school. Ultimately, I found that this was my favorite position to work in the exhibition. I had a script that I could recite to the visitor and I could keep small talk to a minimum. Anyway who knows me knows that I'm not good at making small talk with people.

On Saturday, I spent the entire day working as the greeter, once again. Throughout the day, I got to know Paige, a worker here in New Lanark, a lot better. We each shared stories of what life is like in our respective home countries and discussed what each of us wanted to do in life. Altogether, it was a great day and we had a great deal of visitors come through the exhibit.

On Sunday, I ended up working as an invigilator upstairs in one of the exhibition spaces. Luckily, I wasn't in the room with the large Lego sculpture, but this room was a bit mind-numbing. Due to the lack of space caused by the quantity of families, I sat on a step in order to avoid bothering anyone. Luckily, all of the sculptures were in cases, but there was still that fear that a wee one would bump a case and knock it over.

By the end of the day, I was ready to do some kind of work, so I ended up wiping all of the cases down. I honestly thought it was quite fun, but that could be due to the lack of movement most of the day. It was amazing to see how many fingerprints and smudges there were! (By now, though, those marks are probably back, though.)

Anyway, my last weekend in New Lanark was a lot more fun than I had imagined it being. I got to know a number of New Lanark tour guides and workers, which was a lot of fun. We talked about Scotland and the United States and I learned that a lot of them had similar interests to me. It's kind of sad, though, because I know that I will probably not get to have any more time with them before I leave. I know that they are working towards starting their own careers elsewhere, so I hope that they find what they are looking for out there! Perhaps we will cross paths again, someday.

There are only 3 more days of work and then I get to go home. I am both happy and sad. But, I honestly can't wait to see my family and friends when I get back. Hopefully I will be able to bring my fiance here in the future. I would love to show him around New Lanark and Scotland!