Planning a Study Trip for School Kids in Summer (I)

I was invited by a foundation to organize a study trip for a group of 40 kids to go to UK for museum visits. So far I've been working on this project for almost a month, and I think it's right time to think back a little bit.

It's rather difficult for me to think from the point of view of a school teacher or parents about what they want to give to their students/kids. For me, it's a process of continuous thinking, discussion and reflection and it's quite useful talking to people. I keep asking myself what is "fun" and what is boring. After all, I don't want them to experience a "boring" museum visit and really hope that they can get something out of it. I'm pretty happy to be involved in the planning of this project because it happened to match the original idea when I decided to enter this profession, to bring people into the museums and make them fall in love with them.

Luckily, I can almost have everything done via internet and e-mails. If it was ten years ago, it would be problematic to organize such a trip. I've just sent out text and images for DM production yesterday and now I'm preparing for the presentation which will come up in early March. I guess I'll have to present it as a fun and educational experience so that parents would pay for their kids to go for such "summer camp".

Fingers crossed!

Night At The Museum

I went to see this movie last Sunday afternoon and it's quite a good pastime. Though my brother was amused when I mentioned that I'd like to go see this film, we both enjoyed the film and had a good laugh. Personally I'm not a big fan of Ben Stiller movies and I was actually attracted by the idea that everything in the museum comes to life, though I didn't know how and when before actually seeing the movie. It kinds of makes fun of the idea of "living history" and interpretation, but it does remind me some of the funny thoughts in childhood during museum visits, no matter in the zoo or in the diorama rooms. It's not the sort of film that makes me fall into certain deep thoughts, but for the setting it does makes me reflect certain things related to work. I guess it's for what I'm doing that makes this movie more than merely a good laugh.

Why Museum Studies?

很多人在聽到我唸「博物館學」的時候，常常會滿腦子疑問地問我：「為什麼唸這個？」

真要追根究底，大概得扯到十幾年前，位於台中的國立自然科學博物館剛開館沒多久，爸媽就興沖沖地帶著我們，大老遠跑下去看博物館，還記得那時對自然科學非常感興趣的我，在第一次看到那些生動活潑的展示，有多麼地驚奇！岩漿怎麼流動、小雞孵化的過程、測量聲音大小的儀器等各種操作互動的展示，都讓我覺得，如果課本能夠跟博物館一樣有趣，那麼學習的過程一定會更愉快。我之所以喜歡上博物館，這的確是很主要的一個起因。

接下來，第一次出國遊學，到了英國這個博物館三步一大間、五步一小間的國度。還記得當時十五歲的我，每次翹課到倫敦玩耍的時候，最喜歡到大英博物館閒逛，短短一個月不到的時間，我就去了七次。為什麼？歷史是我國中時期最喜歡的一門學科，記得課本上提到埃及、亞述帝國等各種古文明，到博物館內看到巨大文物時，真的是一種震驚的感受，雖然那麼的英文程度並不足以瞭解解說文字上到底寫了什麼，不過光是在館內走來走去，心中就有一種很大的滿足感。然而，也是從這個時候我漸漸發現，好像不是每一個人都喜歡到博物館去參觀，而這也成為我後來再三思考的問題之一。

大學時期，在同學的慫恿之下，到他系修了博物館學。一開始只是好玩，因為那時並沒有想要以此為志，單純想要做個觀眾而已，不過既然有伴一起修課，自己又喜歡博物館，對相關議題多所瞭解又何妨。一個學期的時間並不常，教授也只能大略地讓我們對博物館學討論的議題有所認知，不過我也是從那個時候才知道博物館學的存在，並且對博物館學有了初步的認識。

大學畢業以後過了一段渾渾噩噩的日子，第一份工作並不如想像中的好玩，做了幾個月以後就辭職賦閒在家，過著偶爾接接翻譯，大部分時間都在睡覺的日子。知道爸媽心裡不高興，不過這也是我大學畢業以後，第一次能夠靜下心來思考未來的時期。在好吃懶做了幾個月以後的某一天，心中突然有一個聲音，如當頭棒喝一樣地把我打醒，「該是做點事的時候了！」”它”這樣子告訴我。認真地思考了自己所喜歡的所有事物，想想自己的出國大夢，到國外唸博物館學的想法逐漸顯現，基於一個好東西要跟好朋友分享的心態，「既然我自己這麼喜歡博物館，為啥不把它介紹給大家，把大家都帶到博物館裡來？」這，就是我唸博物館學的原始動機。