// Intro
Hellooooo internet welcome to another very exciting and entertaining episode of what's been going on in my life. This is a sequel to the College & Life Update post from Februrary 2026. It has important context so I recommend reading that one before this one.
// How summer's been going
Last summer was probably one of the worst summer I've ever had. Not that anything bad happened, it's just that I didn't really do shit 😠I did Art Fight, went to Anime Expo, did a solo trip to San Diego, and met up with a friend from high school. Sounds like a lot but that was over the span of three months. I genuinely have no idea what the hell else I was doing the rest of the time. Anyways, the reason why I bring upw last summer is because this summer's been the complete opposite! I've actually been doing things can you believe that?! I love being productive and feeling productive!!
For starters, I've been taking summer classes. I already finished economics and I'm currently taking archaeology. Both are online, introductory courses, so the workload's been fairly manageable. As you can see from the number of #travel posts since July, I've been going to places! Sometimes I go by myself, others time I'm with friends. I love having individual agency and going to places because I'm an adult now and can just Do Things. Some of my trips didn't receive a blog post because 1) I took a lot of photos and I feel like I don't have enough interesting things to say about them, and 2) it's oddly specific locations and I'm not about to dox myself. (Well, if you're familiar with the SoCal region you can probably guess where I'm from based on all of my past blog posts LOL.)
As usual, July was Art Fight month! Unlike two years ago, I didn't dedicate the entire month to it and give myself burnout. This year I interspersed Art Fighting with going outside. I didn't draw as much as I'd like, but that's ok.
I took care of some adult responsibilities (yay) so I feel quite accomplished at that. First I found out that my Medi-Cal was discontinued. I think what happened was, the renewal form was sent out the same time I moved, so I never received it. My parents were the ones managing this stuff, which was probably a bad idea since I'm an adult now. Anyways, I got all that taken care of — hopefully my renewal form gets reviewed soon — and now I'm in charge of all of my important documents. My current California ID card has been outdated for a long time; it has an old address and I look chopped AF in the photo. IDK why I've been holding off on getting a REAL ID so I finally got off my ass and did it. It should be coming in the mail soon!
// Archive career update
The big mid-life crisis I had which I detailed in the last College & Life Update was that I don't want to be an engineer anymore and I wanna pivot towards a career working in archives. What I haven't been telling you is that I've been volunteering at a museum/archive since March! I've also been applying to archival internships in the fall :D I held off on talking about this until now because I didn't wanna jinx anything haha.
Museum Volunteering
What I did was, I looked around my local area for ANY and ALL museums I could get to within a reasonable distance for volunteering opportunities. One weekend, I settled on visiting two museums, and it just so happened that the first one I visited was the one I ended up volunteering at! I didn't even visit the second one because I just stayed at the first one the entire day. The staffs were really welcoming and honestly everyone there has just been so nice. If you're in SoCal and has visited a small local museum on a Saturday in the last couple of months, you might've met yours truly m(_ _)m It's been so fulfilling going there every weekend. I've learned a lot about archival work and I can't see myself doing anything else. Maybe I've found my true calling. What's equally as importantly is that I've made a lot of meaningful connection with the place and the people there. I'll definitely try my best to continue going there for at least the next two years and hopefully more.
The three other places I visited have straight up ghosted me 😠Turns out the museum I currently volunteer at is the exception to the rule. As much as these organizations claim they would love to have more volunteers, they never seem to get back to you :/ Trust me, I've tried. Maybe I could've tried harder but TBH I like my current place enough that I don't wanna spread myself too thin. The two historical societies I hit up never got back to me. I suspect it's because my contact information never made it to the right person. I went in person, talked with staff and left my number, then sent a follow-up email. Heck, I even went back to one of the museum a second time and talked to a different staff, who promised that they will pass along the information and get back to me! And nothing ever came of it... The third organization, I went in-person and talked with a volunteer, who told me to fill out their interest form online (which I did) and that they'll probably do another round of orientation later in the summer. Never heard back and I doubt I ever will. Kinda sad about that one in particular because they work with VHS digitization. If anyone reading this is interested in this line of work, I hope this doesn't discourage you too much. I'm just being real about my experience. Maybe I did something wrong? Maybe I needed a different approach? I feel like getting your foot in volunteering shouldn't be THIS hard especially when small archives are always short-staffed. Just comes down to luck I suppose.
Internships
Towards the end of my second year I locked the fuck in and wrote a resume and cover letter tailored to museum/archive work. I was going to my university's writing center every other day to revise my resume and cover letter while juggling finals week it was kind of insane. Shout out to the writing center tutors they are life savers for real.
I researched almost every museum near me for volunteering and internship opportunities. When I say every museum I mean it. I was going on Google Maps typing "museums" and going through city government's pages on museums it was rough. The biggest factor that limited my search was that I need to be able to get to the museum with public transportation either from my university or from my hometown. In the end, I settled on applying to four places for internships in the fall — not a lot, I know, but it was the best I could come up with.
The first place I applied to was a pretty prestigious museum. They had multiple exhibits with artifacts on loan from international museums. The application was sent to their HR department, and I received a short reply indicating that my application has been received and forwarded. That was the last I ever heard from that LOL. No hard feelings though. I did go visit it in-person after I applied and it's super impressive. Maybe I'll reapply in the future.
The second place I applied to, I actually heard back from and got an interview! It was my first ever professional interview, actually, if you don't count the one time I interviewed for an engineering project team. (In case you're wondering, no I didn't get the position. In hindsight, it was probably for the best.) For my first ever interview, honestly I did the best I could. Didn't get the job though so clearly it wasn't good enough :P I think a big part of why they didn't want me was because I could only come in once per week due to scheduling conflicts. There were definitely lots of applicants equally or more qualified than me who are able to work both days instead only one.
The third place I applied to, I got an interview as well! It went well. Like, really well.
The fourth place I applied to, I haven't heard back yet and I doubt I will. Technically it wasn't even an application — it was an interest form. Didn't even ask for a resume or cover letter. That place is really cool though I'm definitely gonna keep an eye on it.
// I'M GONNA BE EMPLOYED
HOLY SHIT I GOT THE JOB I'M GONNA BE #EMPLOYED IN THE FALL. AHHHHHHHHHHH I'M SO EXCITED AND NERVOUS AND SCARED. PAID INTERNSHIP I WON SO HARD.
That third place I applied to? It was my favorite out of the four. It was the only one that pays and the only one close to my hometown. Plus, they were willing to work the internship around my class schedule. By sheer luck I somehow managed to land the position. Thank fuck. I haven't received the final offer letter yet, but I've been in contact with my interviewer and I assume future manager confirming schedules and stuff, so I'm fairly confident that I have it in the bag at this point.
Now that I got the position, I know for a fact that I did well in the interview LOL. Honestly, it was more of an informal vibe check than a formal interview. My interviewer said there were more than a hundred applicants, so even making it to the interview stage is already a big deal, and that my resume and cover letter had impressed them. I still think it's by sheer luck that I landed this position. I'm sure there were plenty of people more qualified than me, but lucky for me my interviewers liked me I guess? My cover letter must've been a banger though because holy fuck. Two openings and more than a hundred applicants is insane. I'm not built for this bruh. Archives and GLAM in general is not for the weak.
Funny thing is, I talked about spacecraft gijinka during the interview and showed my SLS/Starship itabag which I brought with me. I wonder if that's what left a great impression LOL. It was a whole story about why I'm majoring in aerospace engineering, how that connects to my interest in archives, exemplified by my passion project of archiving/cataloging spacecraft gijinka art. (See Spacecraft Gijinka Shrine for more details.) Now I can say not only did spacecraft gijinka get me into college, it got me my first job as well.
I'll be starting training soon in September! Then after that, I'll be working twice a week, while taking college classes three days per week. I'll continue to volunteer at the museum I currently work at as well. It'll be a lot, but I'm optimistic I'll manage somehow.
Getting your foot in archival work is really difficult. I'm so happy that I managed to figure something out. "If you put your mind to it you can do anything" type shit. I made more progress towards my potential archival career in half a year than I ever did for engineering in two years. That's how you know my heart wasn't really in engineering to begin with XD I need to start researching opportunities in the Winter and Spring soon, and probably look into grad school for MLIS. For now though, I can celebrate a little bit.
// How college is looking next school year
So, third year of college eh? I have three engineering upper-div courses. One good professor, one decent one, and one with a 2.1 on rate my professor God help me. I have three 8 ams so basically I'm fucked. I don't even wanna think about that right now. On a positive note, it just so works out that I'll be spending more days in my hometown than I will be on campus. I'm NGL I'm kinda tired of my college town at this point. Don't get me wrong, I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to attend this university. But after two years, I just feel like I need to get out of the city, at least for a while.
That's a later me problem. For now, I wanna enjoy the rest of my summer. I still have so many places I want to visit!