Volunteering at the Hermitage!

As I mentioned before, I've been volunteering at the Hermitage, which is the main museum here. Whereas last time I greeted people at the entrance, which means I definitely have “hello” and “please take your coat to the cloak room. It is required” down. Although that was fun, and I got a lot of language practice, this past Tuesday was even better because they let us go to the Archaeology department. Even getting there is an amazing experience. You enter the museum feeling special with your volunteer access badge, which lets you (among other things) cut in line, enter where no one else can, and give off the impression that you know what you are doing.  They take you through some exhibits, past these tapestries through a door that says in big scary Russian letters DO NOT ENTER. You then go up a small sketchy spiral staircase with pipes randomly about, through a door that requires an access key (someone had to let us in…we weren’t THAT special).

We then were introduced to the staff and got situated at our work bench. They then put a bunch of pottery fragments in front of us, gave us some instructions, and left us on our own. We couldn’t believe that they were giving student volunteers such liberties with such important archaeological specimens. We felt so professional and quite special to be able to work with pieces from the HERMITAGE! We stayed almost an hour after our shift had ended, and we enjoyed every second of it. They kept asking us if we wanted to go home, and we kept refusing. I would like to brag that Esther and I are beasts and got through so many specimens and they at least acted impressed! When we finally did rip ourselves away (it is finals week), we went to find the lady who worked there to tell her we were leaving. She was in a room full of tools made from stone, bone, and wood. We spent about half an hour drilling her with questions about all the tools, where they were found, how old they are (REALLY old!), what they were used for, etc. She was very nice and answered all our questions. She also let us hold/touch/inspect anything we wanted, which was amazing! I was so happy and felt so fortunate to have the opportunity to gain the kind of archaeological experience that some students dream of by just signing a piece of paper and bringing a copy of my passport. I mean, how cool is it to say that you handled/catalogued specimens from the HERMITAGE museum?! We are going back as soon as we can. I wish I had started earlier!