Us Abu Dhabi Tour Guides have of course been bringing guests to the Louvre Abu Dhabi ever since it opened November 2017, but have not been allowed to do any guiding inside the museum. The LAD have their own mediators, curators and guides who take visitors around inside.
In January they opened up a course for External Guides, and we were eight that got accepted, did the course and eventually passed our exams to become licensed guides of the LAD. Really exciting!
This spring I have built up a rather impressive library of different art, architecture and history books, all in preparation for my tours at the LAD. The studying never really ends, I keep reading and learning, and extending my knowledge - and I love every minute of it!
I'm very much a "just-get-on-with-it" kind of person, and learning by doing certainly is my thing. So with a month's lead time, I booked my first tour! Then it was time to intensify my preparations: I spent endless hours at the museum walking through the galleries talking to myself, I prepared little flashcards with supporting notes just in case, and I practised on friends. My very first tour was going to be in Swedish, which in itself was a bit of a challenge since I'm learning all the lingo in English.
Thursday morning I was really, really nervous, but jumping in the deep end is really the only way to go for me, so off we went - and I think it actually went really well!
I stopped in every chapter of the museum chosing some lovely pieces to present. I stuck to the narrative and transmit the message of the museum without needing to use my flashcards; and I only went over the planned time with a few minutes!
I got really lovely feedback, and even though I felt completely deflated afterward (huge emotional release after all that nervous tension), I was also on such a high the whole afternoon after!
Now I want to do it again and again and again, preferably every day..! I loved it!
No comments:
Post a Comment