This is something that has always interested me, so I love that I got to see a video where this was done! Something I plan to do on my channel once it launches is to recreate different parts of daily life for ancient people, so it'll range from anything from the beginning of civilization to the fall of the Roman Empire. This is one of the areas I would like to start exploring more, but because my hair is short, I have to find some ̶v̶i̶c̶t̶i̶m̶s̶ willing participants first!
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Field School: The Journey Home (Las Vegas)
The flight from Atlanta wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. During our boarding, we were told that if we had rolling carry-ons, they would have to be checked and put in the hold, but I had prepared for that and removed the bag I had from Bulgaria - I had put all the souvenirs into my Balkan Heritage Field School tote bag and then put that inside my I <3 Bulgaria drawstring bag that I had used as my dig bag for the past week (I realized on the flight later I had forgotten to take my passport out of my roller carry-on and was frantically praying to Hermes to at least let me get that bag back if nothing else because how did I forget to remove my passport). The seats were a bit roomier than the ones on the Paris flight because there were significantly fewer people on this flight, so the seats were slightly bigger. The flight was supposed to be four hours and sixteen minutes long.
I met someone named Dawn Rose on the way into the flight because she and I had seats near each other, but her traveling companion had a seat higher up in the plane. Both a person behind her and I told her they were willing to switch with him if she wanted; the other woman ended up switching, so I kept my aisle seat, which was next to Dawn Rose's aisle seat, so we talked for a bit because I told her I was on a dig in Bulgaria, so we talked about archaeology for a while, and she told me where she traveled, before we both went to do our own things.
The flight had a snack, so I had a weird "cookie" that tasted like doughy cake and some Coke. When they had come back, I asked what they had for hot drinks, and I got tea and asked for their cookies, which complemented the black tea well. The flight had been blasting cold air at us (the downside to the aisle seat and being short is that I can't reach anything above me like the controls for that) the whole flight, and before we took off, they made an announcement that there were no blankets on board because Atlanta had a shortage, so they didn't take any. I was so cold that I made more trips to the bathroom than usual (as soon as I felt the slightest need to go) just so that I could warm up a little bit. At one point during the first bathroom trip, someone pushed on the door with a lot of force, so I yelled "Whoa," because, dude, I am doing my business in here, please wait for a second, the door says occupied.
Despite the fact that the airline was selling headsets for $2 a piece, I just did what I had done on my first flight out of Vegas, and watched movies with subtitles and no earpieces. I put on Love, Simon again, so if I nodded off for a bit, it wasn't that big of a deal. The final stretch of the time, I put on Thor: Ragnarok, and nodded off during that a few times as well. I kept checking my watch because I was so anxious to get home.
Once we landed, I gathered all of my things and began to message Folklore Fiancé. They were already at the airport, and once I was let out, I was at gate D34. Folklore Fiancé said they had been at a different gate first, but then went to information. I asked them to call me, and they had told me where they were waiting. We decided to head to the carousel for my luggage and meet there. They asked me if I wanted them to grab my bags if they saw them. I said yes, if they could, but to be careful with the large luggage. Right after they said that, they saw the small one already, and while we were on the phone, told me they grabbed the big one too. We stayed on the phone until I found them waiting by the number 14 carousel. We hugged and my knee popped, so I had to sit for a minute.
Folklore Fiancé led the way to their aunt's car where she was waiting for us in the parking garage. My luggage was a little worse for wear and it didn't have my lock on it anymore, even though I had a TSA-approved lock, which really irritated me. I didn't see it inside my luggage, either, and I am still angry about it because it was a brand new lock I had bought before I went. We loaded up the car and headed home. We talked about the dig, and I shared some snacks I had bought in Bulgaria with them, and we finally got home around 11 p.m.
I gave everyone their presents that I had for them: I got Nana a pepper shaker and a magnet that was a mini mortar and pestle; I got three souvenir spoons (one silver, two ceramic) for my aunt-in-law, my sibling-in-law got a Bulgarian wooden flute, and Folklore Fiancé was given socks with traditional Bulgarian designs on it, a miniature notebook that was the very kitschy souvenir design but I knew they would like, a pegasus necklace, and then a necklace with a large charm with Bulgarian embroidery on it. They said they had never seen embroidery on a necklace before and seemed super excited about it, so I was glad I made the right decision on buying it.
Folklore Fiancé heated up some kielbasa for me before I went to take my shower and soak my feet (because they are very swollen), and we went to bed late. This is my last blog post about my field school trip for the Pistiros excavation of 2018 through the Balkan Heritage Field School!
That is, of course, until I go again next season 😉
I met someone named Dawn Rose on the way into the flight because she and I had seats near each other, but her traveling companion had a seat higher up in the plane. Both a person behind her and I told her they were willing to switch with him if she wanted; the other woman ended up switching, so I kept my aisle seat, which was next to Dawn Rose's aisle seat, so we talked for a bit because I told her I was on a dig in Bulgaria, so we talked about archaeology for a while, and she told me where she traveled, before we both went to do our own things.
The flight had a snack, so I had a weird "cookie" that tasted like doughy cake and some Coke. When they had come back, I asked what they had for hot drinks, and I got tea and asked for their cookies, which complemented the black tea well. The flight had been blasting cold air at us (the downside to the aisle seat and being short is that I can't reach anything above me like the controls for that) the whole flight, and before we took off, they made an announcement that there were no blankets on board because Atlanta had a shortage, so they didn't take any. I was so cold that I made more trips to the bathroom than usual (as soon as I felt the slightest need to go) just so that I could warm up a little bit. At one point during the first bathroom trip, someone pushed on the door with a lot of force, so I yelled "Whoa," because, dude, I am doing my business in here, please wait for a second, the door says occupied.
Despite the fact that the airline was selling headsets for $2 a piece, I just did what I had done on my first flight out of Vegas, and watched movies with subtitles and no earpieces. I put on Love, Simon again, so if I nodded off for a bit, it wasn't that big of a deal. The final stretch of the time, I put on Thor: Ragnarok, and nodded off during that a few times as well. I kept checking my watch because I was so anxious to get home.
Once we landed, I gathered all of my things and began to message Folklore Fiancé. They were already at the airport, and once I was let out, I was at gate D34. Folklore Fiancé said they had been at a different gate first, but then went to information. I asked them to call me, and they had told me where they were waiting. We decided to head to the carousel for my luggage and meet there. They asked me if I wanted them to grab my bags if they saw them. I said yes, if they could, but to be careful with the large luggage. Right after they said that, they saw the small one already, and while we were on the phone, told me they grabbed the big one too. We stayed on the phone until I found them waiting by the number 14 carousel. We hugged and my knee popped, so I had to sit for a minute.
Folklore Fiancé led the way to their aunt's car where she was waiting for us in the parking garage. My luggage was a little worse for wear and it didn't have my lock on it anymore, even though I had a TSA-approved lock, which really irritated me. I didn't see it inside my luggage, either, and I am still angry about it because it was a brand new lock I had bought before I went. We loaded up the car and headed home. We talked about the dig, and I shared some snacks I had bought in Bulgaria with them, and we finally got home around 11 p.m.
I gave everyone their presents that I had for them: I got Nana a pepper shaker and a magnet that was a mini mortar and pestle; I got three souvenir spoons (one silver, two ceramic) for my aunt-in-law, my sibling-in-law got a Bulgarian wooden flute, and Folklore Fiancé was given socks with traditional Bulgarian designs on it, a miniature notebook that was the very kitschy souvenir design but I knew they would like, a pegasus necklace, and then a necklace with a large charm with Bulgarian embroidery on it. They said they had never seen embroidery on a necklace before and seemed super excited about it, so I was glad I made the right decision on buying it.
Folklore Fiancé heated up some kielbasa for me before I went to take my shower and soak my feet (because they are very swollen), and we went to bed late. This is my last blog post about my field school trip for the Pistiros excavation of 2018 through the Balkan Heritage Field School!
That is, of course, until I go again next season 😉
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Field School: The Journey Home (Atlanta)
Boarding the plane and waiting for take-off from Paris took about an hour - which makes sense because there were a lot of people on that plane. The good: I had an aisle seat again, which makes it way easier if I needed to get up. The bad: as soon as my area was settled in, a baby screamed for the entire hour everyone else was boarding, and I was trying to continue to be patient. The really bad: everyone who knows me knows I don’t like it when people move my stuff without asking me (obviously not the flight attendants, that’s their job, I get it), but three different people tried to move my luggage and rearrange it and I had to tell them three separate times that it doesn’t fit that way.
That was the beginning of my irritation with everything. Due to the fact that I can’t sleep on planes, I had a lot of movie-watching ahead of me. As soon as we took off and I said a prayer to Hermes, I tried messing with the screen in front of me. It didn’t work for a while, but I finally got it to work shortly after taking off.
The first movie I watched was the remake of Overboard, which I forgot was a remake until halfway into it because Folklore Fiancé had talked about it with me before. The other movies I watched were 12 Years a Slave because I hadn’t seen it yet - it was really intense and a little confusing with the jumps in time, but overall a good film - and then I watched A Quiet Place, which was also really intense (although the baby at the front of my section screamed through half of it, so the effect wasn’t quite the same - yes, I had it up loud but airline headphones can only do so much). I could feel myself holding my breath during the movie. I didn’t find it to have a satisfactory ending, though.
Since I decided to watch pretty heavy movies (and didn’t end up watching Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring like I said I would (sorry, Kiwi)), the rest of the time was taken up by watching pretty mindless sitcoms, like The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls, and the first two episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine (I managed to finish the second episode all the way through as we were in taxi in the flight).
The food on the flight was okay, but the chocolate on the French flights are always 86% cacao or something ridiculous like that. The Bulgarian chocolate was bigger and milk chocolate, so I liked it much better.
The real problems began, however, when we landed. I got up right away, pulled down my luggage, and got ready to depart. However, things have changed since I last traveled internationally. We had to get off, go through passport control, and then go get our checked bags and re-check them for our next flight. I was extremely anxious that my bag had been lost because I didn’t see it for a while, so I moved to where the conveyor belt from the hold let out, so I could see it as it was coming down.
It took a while before I saw it, and I think I got over excited and intense, because I picked it up and then it hit the ground really hard. Then it went lopsided. Oh no, what did I do, fuck, was all that went through my mind. Because, sure enough, I leaned it back and the wheel popped off, so I picked it up and put it in my grocery bag with my snacks. There were three screws exposed on the bottom of the bag, and cracks in both the top on that side and the bottom near the wheel part. (When I re-checked my bag, the attendant told me to just make a claim when I got to Las Vegas, so yet another thing to do…)
We were directed where to go for connecting flights, dropped off the checked bags, and then had to go through security. This security was strange, though, because they told us to just put everything in our bags, leave our shoes on, and we could go through. I tossed all of my stuff in my carry-on or my laptop bag (we didn’t have to take out laptops, either). I guess perhaps it was because it was the connecting flights and they might have a different protocol. I got through it pretty quickly, which was surprising to me because of my random wheel I had in the grocery bag.
I checked the monitors to see where my gate would be and it said A11, and I was at the F gates. I followed the signs to get to the A gates and I rode another “Plane Train,” as they called it to get to my gate.
Just a few more hours until I’m home.
Field School: The Journey Home (Bonjour, Paris - Encore)
I knocked on Cyrene's door around 4:50 a.m., since we had decided that's when we were going to head down and catch the airport shuttle as we arranged the previous night. When we were checking out, I was prepared to pay the city tax like I did last time, but the fellow may have remembered me from when I checked in, and he didn't ask for it, which was cool. Cyrene and I stood outside to wait for the driver to come and get our luggage in the shuttle.
We got to the Sofia Airport around 5:12 a.m. because he had to drop off someone at the other terminal, and then unload all of our bags (two other people had taken then shuttle with us), and Cyrene and I parted ways so we could check our bags at our respective airlines. My bag was a little over 21.60 kilograms, but it was still under 23, and that's what mattered. Once I was checked in and headed to my gate, it was barely 5:45, so checking the bags and going through security didn't take long at all.
Cyrene messaged me and told me where her gate was, so I meandered over to her to say our goodbyes, and we went to grab some things from the place that had snacks and drinks. I bought two bottles of water and a Coke, and it cost me over ten leva, which is bonkers; that is way too much - the Coke was 5 leva on its own. Cyrene and I hugged and went back to our gates, and I ate my breakfast (mini croissants filled with chocolate), and drank one of the waters. The boarding started shortly after that, and it felt like we were waiting forever to board. Luckily, I had an aisle seat.
But I was next to a baby and their father.
I reassured myself that it wouldn't be bad because I was only on a two-and-a-half hour flight. The kid did sleep for most of the flight, and I read the guide to Plovdiv I had bought at the museum there. That took up most of the flight. The baby did kick me a lot, and the father kept moving and getting into my space, but I was trying my best to be patient because I know traveling with a kid that has to sit in your lap on an airplane can't be easy. He was very apologetic about things, though, so I had no problem with them. The baby wasn't screaming the whole time, and when they were awake, they were just saying "WOW" about what was out the window or babbling in French.
We arrived in Paris around 10 a.m. Sofia time, 9 a.m. Paris time, and had to go through security for the connecting flights. Apparently, I can't bring soda or water even though I had bought them in the other airport, so I chugged the Coke, threw away the water, and the little water that they had given me on the Bulgaria Air flight (which honestly I should have drunk as soon as I received it because it was small). The attendant also put my hand sanitizer in a bag because I had forgotten to put it in one because I carry it in my pocket. Other than that, I was able to get through security pretty easily.
The next challenge was my boarding pass for Atlanta saying "check screens" for my gate. So, I had to find one of the screens, but none of them listed Atlanta as a destination for the time it was leaving, just Vienna. I had seen a machine that lets you scan your boarding pass to tell you your gate, but since I was in line for security when I saw it, I couldn't get to it. Since the screens didn't say where I was supposed to go, I had to find another one to tell me where I was supposed to be. I needed to be in terminal 2E, so I found my way there and where we waited for the bus shuttle, there was another machine. It gave me my gate number, and I took the bus shuttle when it came and got off at the second stop.
There were a lot of shops on the way to my gate, so I popped into a few of them to check them out since I still have a little Euro left from my mistake at the beginning of this trip. Nothing caught my fancy, and I found my gate. None of the outlets were working, so I gave up on trying to charge my phone or my laptop since I won't really be able to use either of them on the flight over anyway. I ran to the restroom and then back to the gate. I finished the last two blogs and have been uploading my Bulgarian photos to my personal Facebook before I add them to my Ancient Geeko-Roman pages. Since I don't have my waters anymore, I might get some before we board. It's still about an hour before we're going to be getting on the plane, so I'll probably just walk around for a bit, and then come back before boarding time.
Atlanta, here I come!
We got to the Sofia Airport around 5:12 a.m. because he had to drop off someone at the other terminal, and then unload all of our bags (two other people had taken then shuttle with us), and Cyrene and I parted ways so we could check our bags at our respective airlines. My bag was a little over 21.60 kilograms, but it was still under 23, and that's what mattered. Once I was checked in and headed to my gate, it was barely 5:45, so checking the bags and going through security didn't take long at all.
Cyrene messaged me and told me where her gate was, so I meandered over to her to say our goodbyes, and we went to grab some things from the place that had snacks and drinks. I bought two bottles of water and a Coke, and it cost me over ten leva, which is bonkers; that is way too much - the Coke was 5 leva on its own. Cyrene and I hugged and went back to our gates, and I ate my breakfast (mini croissants filled with chocolate), and drank one of the waters. The boarding started shortly after that, and it felt like we were waiting forever to board. Luckily, I had an aisle seat.
But I was next to a baby and their father.
I reassured myself that it wouldn't be bad because I was only on a two-and-a-half hour flight. The kid did sleep for most of the flight, and I read the guide to Plovdiv I had bought at the museum there. That took up most of the flight. The baby did kick me a lot, and the father kept moving and getting into my space, but I was trying my best to be patient because I know traveling with a kid that has to sit in your lap on an airplane can't be easy. He was very apologetic about things, though, so I had no problem with them. The baby wasn't screaming the whole time, and when they were awake, they were just saying "WOW" about what was out the window or babbling in French.
We arrived in Paris around 10 a.m. Sofia time, 9 a.m. Paris time, and had to go through security for the connecting flights. Apparently, I can't bring soda or water even though I had bought them in the other airport, so I chugged the Coke, threw away the water, and the little water that they had given me on the Bulgaria Air flight (which honestly I should have drunk as soon as I received it because it was small). The attendant also put my hand sanitizer in a bag because I had forgotten to put it in one because I carry it in my pocket. Other than that, I was able to get through security pretty easily.
The next challenge was my boarding pass for Atlanta saying "check screens" for my gate. So, I had to find one of the screens, but none of them listed Atlanta as a destination for the time it was leaving, just Vienna. I had seen a machine that lets you scan your boarding pass to tell you your gate, but since I was in line for security when I saw it, I couldn't get to it. Since the screens didn't say where I was supposed to go, I had to find another one to tell me where I was supposed to be. I needed to be in terminal 2E, so I found my way there and where we waited for the bus shuttle, there was another machine. It gave me my gate number, and I took the bus shuttle when it came and got off at the second stop.
There were a lot of shops on the way to my gate, so I popped into a few of them to check them out since I still have a little Euro left from my mistake at the beginning of this trip. Nothing caught my fancy, and I found my gate. None of the outlets were working, so I gave up on trying to charge my phone or my laptop since I won't really be able to use either of them on the flight over anyway. I ran to the restroom and then back to the gate. I finished the last two blogs and have been uploading my Bulgarian photos to my personal Facebook before I add them to my Ancient Geeko-Roman pages. Since I don't have my waters anymore, I might get some before we board. It's still about an hour before we're going to be getting on the plane, so I'll probably just walk around for a bit, and then come back before boarding time.
Atlanta, here I come!
Field School: Farewell and Sofia
August 6, 2018
Last night, I stayed up late because I was trying to finish packing and fill out my evaluation form for the Balkan Heritage Field School. There was a lot I had to say, but I kept hearing people being loud, so I went to the landing where Siyu, Madeline, Ivan, and Mathilde were sitting and sat with them for a minute and then headed outside to see what the ruckus was, but they were busy playing a drinking game, so I came back inside and finished packing and went to bed. I woke up at 4 a.m., talked to Folklore Fiancé for a bit, especially because there was a dog barking for a solid hour and a half, and fell back asleep.
My alarm went off around 7 a.m. so that I could get up and get ready before grabbing some breakfast before I had to leave. I was about 99% packed, and Mathilde had offered to weigh my luggage for me with a little device she had. Once I had brushed my teeth and packed my toothbrush and toothpaste, Mathilde came back to weight my luggage for me (it was 21.60 kilograms, and the limit is 23, I believe). She offered to help me carry down my luggage to the restaurant where I was going to await the bus. She took the heaviest piece of luggage, and I got the rest.
Once I had my luggage settled and sat back down in my usual seat for breakfast, Mathilde sat back down with me where she usually sat, even though we were both done eating. Then Siyu sat next to me, and Ivan sat across from me, pointed to my suitcases and said, "it's real." We all talked for a bit about various things; tattoos because one of the people I follow on Instagram has a trowel tattoo on their wrist, and I talked about the tattoos I wanted to get and about Folklore Fiancé's tattoo.
Then, eventually, I told the story of my engagement with Folklore Fiancé and how we had planned it together and set it on a particular day, but we each had our own proposal to the other person so that part was still a surprise. Mathilde thought it was super cute, and I showed them all pictures of our engagement rings, and Mathilde was definitely swooning. Ivan said, "I think Mathilde wants to marry you now, too."
Ivan then told me he was bad with goodbyes, which is why he ghosts everyone when we're hanging out, so I told him I won't make any eye contact when I said goodbye, I would just show up at his hometown in New Zealand unannounced one day. When it was around the time for the bus to be there, I began to gather my things. Nico gave me a coin from Macedonian coin before I left and offered to help me with my luggage and took it outside for me. I said "Au revoir," and Mathilde said she didn't like that, it's not au revoir, so I told her "see you later" in Japanese instead because she and I both study it.
We got all the luggage outside, and the bus rounded the corner shortly after. Everyone came outside, and we all hugged. We were wished safe travels by everyone as well. When I got to Ivan, we both sort of avoided eye contact and did some weird punch-in-the-shoulder-fist-bump hybrid nonsense that felt super awkward, so I just said "okay, now give me a real hug," and he did. I said bye to Angela and hugged her and told her I would be back. She helped us with our luggage and we all loaded into the bus (I realized at nearly the last moment that I still had my room key in my pocket, so I hopped off the bus to give it back to Angela before returning onto the bus).
I waved out of the back of the bus window at everyone, and Shahruz saw me and waved, said something and everyone waved before I shut the curtain. When we started moving, everyone waved again out the side window, and Mathilde was waving with both arms until we couldn't see her anymore.
The bus driver left around 8:50 a.m., which was a little concerning because Jenny and Lina had a flight back to Sweden at 11:15 a.m. The bus driver stopped once for gas and another time for reasons unknown. However, they made it to their flight and safely home.
Cyrene and I left with Linda and Jenny, who were on their way straight to the airport, but Cyrene and I had another day left in Sofia before we had to leave Tuesday morning, so we planned a few things. We were able to check into the hotel early, which was nice - the receptionist who helped us even gave us rooms across from each other. Cyrene opened the door, and it hadn't been serviced yet, so she was given a new room, so we were a few rooms down from each other. We both got settled before heading out, and I decided to shower later.
We headed back down to the lobby to ask where we could find a taxi to take us to the National Archaeological Museum (also known as the National Archaeological Institute with Museum) in the city center. She said that she would call us a taxi and we could wait at the entrance outside. He showed up maybe less than five minutes later, and we got into the cab. He began to drive, and Cyrene and I talked, and when we got closer to the area we knew we had to be in, he pointed to either direction, and neither of us knew, but he went left, which seemed right when we looked at the map on Cyrene's phone. She showed it to him, and he pulled over and called someone. He handed me the phone and said "English," so I tried to talk to the person on the other line.
This was stressing me out because the meter was still running while we were sitting there and a cab that should have cost only ten leva became almost thirteen once we got there (stay tuned to find out why that's not the worst thing that can happen with a cab money-wise). We got out somewhere nearby and walked the rest of the way. There was an underpass and we ended up right in the Serdica Ruins, which was a place we were planning on seeing anyway. I believe it was the East Gate area of the place, so we stopped to take pictures before we continued. We saw some souvenir shops on the way and decided to hit them on the way back before the walking tour since they closed before the walking tour ended.
Finally, we found the Archaeological Museum. It wasn't as small as I would have imagined, and I bought the tickets since Cyrene paid for the cab. We were both stoked because as soon as you walk in, you see a ton of statuary, stele, two large sarcophagi (on the right, but they're hard to miss) and glass cases full of figurines and other assorted objects that I've never seen in a museum before. Cyrene and I walked around slowly, taking pictures, and I kept asking to get pictures with the statues - especially the one of Fortuna; that thing was enormous. It took us almost a whole hour to get through just the first floor.
The upper floor had a lot of Byzantine icons, which didn't interest either of us all that much (once things move to Late Antiquity, both of us tend to lose interest), and then we saw a sign about staying a certain amount of centimeters away from the icons or an alarm would sound. So, we avoided them for the most part but made sure we walked past it. At the end of the upper walkway, there were two more small galleries: one about Bulgarian history from the prehistoric times up until when the church became prominent, and the other one was about Sports in Ancient Thrace, which we were both excited to see. The color scheme (orange and black) seemed like it would be obnoxious but it worked pretty well for the setup they had in the room.
The next step was the Treasury Room, which we almost missed, but the security guards pointed out the door and that it was open (the other doors to the rooms were just a doorway, but the Treasury had heavy iron gates with a plexiglass-like top door over them that we had to pull open). The artifacts were amazing - there was a lot of armor, gold treasure, a bronze head that still had the eye inlays intact, and several other objects such as death masks and several small beads.
We eventually made our way to the prehistoric hall and meandered around there for a bit, wondering what certain things were, and imagining what it would be like to fully understand the use of something. Cyrene marveled at the fact that people once owned these things and used them; whenever I think about that, I wonder about the things we use every day and whether in one thousand years, people will be digging up our garbage and classifying it as artifacts.
Since we had gotten overexcited and started the museum, we hadn't eaten lunch, and it was still early in the afternoon, so we decided to hit the National Museum of Natural History, which was only five leva each. We got our tickets and went on our way - some of the things in the museum were interesting, but overall, it felt more like a cabinet of curiosities than a natural history museum. There was a lot of taxidermies, but also very corny things like badly done displays to simulate water. There was also plenty of specimens floating in vials or jars on every floor (there were four floors). I suggested we start on the fourth floor and then work our way down so that we would be done and on the bottom floor once we finished. The first floor was my favorite because that's where all the rocks and minerals were - the rest of it didn't feel quite like a museum.
Lunch (or early dinner) was the only things on our minds once we left, so we began to scout out a place for food. On our way towards what looked like a busier area with a few options for food options, we found another part of the Serdica Ruins, so we made a pitstop there. Many pictures were taken, and the hunt for food continued. As we ventured on our journey, we passed a Mosque, and it was the first time I had ever heard a call to prayer in person. I thought it was quite beautiful.
We finally settled on a place called Pizza Einstein, which had a good amount of traditional Bulgarian food options as well as pizza. I ordered a Margherita pizza because I'm simple and I missed just a plain food after having a lot of traditional Bulgarian food for the past two weeks. I did worry that my taste in Coca-Cola has changed though because it's all made with real sugar in Europe, so I'm going to go home thinking the soda tastes bad. It seems like I'm going to have to drink Mexican Coca-Cola to keep my taste buds satisfied.
When the food arrived, I devoured the entire 26-centimeter pizza in less than ten minutes. I told Cyrene to not rush herself, I was just a fast eater, and it was no worries if she wanted to take her time. She ended up finishing her pizza, too, and then we were stuck in restaurant limbo because we had decided to eat inside and everyone else seemed to be eating outside. Thus, we didn't see our waitress all that often. She brought us the bill, and Cyrene used her card, but the elusive waitress was nowhere to be seen once more. Eventually, she came but told us to wait a moment for her because we were using a card, so she brought a machine to the table.
Once we were free, we went to the Raffy stand and bought a couple of gelatos to eat while we walked on our way to the Free Sofia Tour, where guides take people on an English tour of the city and show twenty different monuments or places of interest on the way. The walking tour took two hours, and I was beginning to feel both the pizza and the gelato coming to seek vengeance, so once the tour was over, we headed over to the cafe so I could use the restroom. It cost me 0.50 leva to visit the porta-potty from Hell, but luckily I noticed there was no toilet paper when I sat down and asked for some before I had any issues. Thank the gods I had hand sanitizer in my bag.
Here is where we both made a mistake because we just wanted to get back to the hotel: we saw a cab sitting and waiting, so we went up and asked about the Ibis Hotel Sofia Airport, and he said yes, yes, get in, and of course the first issue we both had was we couldn't find the clips for the seatbelts, so neither of us ended up wearing one. About halfway through the ride, I leaned over to Cyrene and told her that the meter was already at something like 35 leva, which is ridiculous because it wasn't far from where we were dropped off in the morning, and our final bill was nearly 40 leva. For a ride that couldn't have been longer than ten minutes.
We got back to the hotel and thought about getting a beer, but Cyrene decided to pass, and I thought that was a better idea. I checked in to my flight, but it said I had to print out my boarding passes, and luckily there was a computer I was able to use in the lobby for it, and it didn't cost anything. I scheduled the airport shuttle for us at 5 a.m. and went back upstairs. I kept charging her tablet for her and then I brought it to her room since my phone and computer were dying (since I couldn't charge things when not in the room because the keycard has to be inserted for the electricity to work, which is annoying). We said goodnight around ten o'clock, and I definitely need to go to bed soon because it's half past midnight and we have to be up in about four hours to get ready and catch our flights.
I have a lot of long layovers, so hopefully I don't go mad with boredom.
If you want to know more about the Free Sofia Tour, here is a link to their website: https://freesofiatour.com/free-sofia-tour/
Last night, I stayed up late because I was trying to finish packing and fill out my evaluation form for the Balkan Heritage Field School. There was a lot I had to say, but I kept hearing people being loud, so I went to the landing where Siyu, Madeline, Ivan, and Mathilde were sitting and sat with them for a minute and then headed outside to see what the ruckus was, but they were busy playing a drinking game, so I came back inside and finished packing and went to bed. I woke up at 4 a.m., talked to Folklore Fiancé for a bit, especially because there was a dog barking for a solid hour and a half, and fell back asleep.
My alarm went off around 7 a.m. so that I could get up and get ready before grabbing some breakfast before I had to leave. I was about 99% packed, and Mathilde had offered to weigh my luggage for me with a little device she had. Once I had brushed my teeth and packed my toothbrush and toothpaste, Mathilde came back to weight my luggage for me (it was 21.60 kilograms, and the limit is 23, I believe). She offered to help me carry down my luggage to the restaurant where I was going to await the bus. She took the heaviest piece of luggage, and I got the rest.
Once I had my luggage settled and sat back down in my usual seat for breakfast, Mathilde sat back down with me where she usually sat, even though we were both done eating. Then Siyu sat next to me, and Ivan sat across from me, pointed to my suitcases and said, "it's real." We all talked for a bit about various things; tattoos because one of the people I follow on Instagram has a trowel tattoo on their wrist, and I talked about the tattoos I wanted to get and about Folklore Fiancé's tattoo.
Then, eventually, I told the story of my engagement with Folklore Fiancé and how we had planned it together and set it on a particular day, but we each had our own proposal to the other person so that part was still a surprise. Mathilde thought it was super cute, and I showed them all pictures of our engagement rings, and Mathilde was definitely swooning. Ivan said, "I think Mathilde wants to marry you now, too."
Ivan then told me he was bad with goodbyes, which is why he ghosts everyone when we're hanging out, so I told him I won't make any eye contact when I said goodbye, I would just show up at his hometown in New Zealand unannounced one day. When it was around the time for the bus to be there, I began to gather my things. Nico gave me a coin from Macedonian coin before I left and offered to help me with my luggage and took it outside for me. I said "Au revoir," and Mathilde said she didn't like that, it's not au revoir, so I told her "see you later" in Japanese instead because she and I both study it.
We got all the luggage outside, and the bus rounded the corner shortly after. Everyone came outside, and we all hugged. We were wished safe travels by everyone as well. When I got to Ivan, we both sort of avoided eye contact and did some weird punch-in-the-shoulder-fist-bump hybrid nonsense that felt super awkward, so I just said "okay, now give me a real hug," and he did. I said bye to Angela and hugged her and told her I would be back. She helped us with our luggage and we all loaded into the bus (I realized at nearly the last moment that I still had my room key in my pocket, so I hopped off the bus to give it back to Angela before returning onto the bus).
I waved out of the back of the bus window at everyone, and Shahruz saw me and waved, said something and everyone waved before I shut the curtain. When we started moving, everyone waved again out the side window, and Mathilde was waving with both arms until we couldn't see her anymore.
The bus driver left around 8:50 a.m., which was a little concerning because Jenny and Lina had a flight back to Sweden at 11:15 a.m. The bus driver stopped once for gas and another time for reasons unknown. However, they made it to their flight and safely home.
Cyrene and I left with Linda and Jenny, who were on their way straight to the airport, but Cyrene and I had another day left in Sofia before we had to leave Tuesday morning, so we planned a few things. We were able to check into the hotel early, which was nice - the receptionist who helped us even gave us rooms across from each other. Cyrene opened the door, and it hadn't been serviced yet, so she was given a new room, so we were a few rooms down from each other. We both got settled before heading out, and I decided to shower later.
We headed back down to the lobby to ask where we could find a taxi to take us to the National Archaeological Museum (also known as the National Archaeological Institute with Museum) in the city center. She said that she would call us a taxi and we could wait at the entrance outside. He showed up maybe less than five minutes later, and we got into the cab. He began to drive, and Cyrene and I talked, and when we got closer to the area we knew we had to be in, he pointed to either direction, and neither of us knew, but he went left, which seemed right when we looked at the map on Cyrene's phone. She showed it to him, and he pulled over and called someone. He handed me the phone and said "English," so I tried to talk to the person on the other line.
This was stressing me out because the meter was still running while we were sitting there and a cab that should have cost only ten leva became almost thirteen once we got there (stay tuned to find out why that's not the worst thing that can happen with a cab money-wise). We got out somewhere nearby and walked the rest of the way. There was an underpass and we ended up right in the Serdica Ruins, which was a place we were planning on seeing anyway. I believe it was the East Gate area of the place, so we stopped to take pictures before we continued. We saw some souvenir shops on the way and decided to hit them on the way back before the walking tour since they closed before the walking tour ended.
Finally, we found the Archaeological Museum. It wasn't as small as I would have imagined, and I bought the tickets since Cyrene paid for the cab. We were both stoked because as soon as you walk in, you see a ton of statuary, stele, two large sarcophagi (on the right, but they're hard to miss) and glass cases full of figurines and other assorted objects that I've never seen in a museum before. Cyrene and I walked around slowly, taking pictures, and I kept asking to get pictures with the statues - especially the one of Fortuna; that thing was enormous. It took us almost a whole hour to get through just the first floor.
The upper floor had a lot of Byzantine icons, which didn't interest either of us all that much (once things move to Late Antiquity, both of us tend to lose interest), and then we saw a sign about staying a certain amount of centimeters away from the icons or an alarm would sound. So, we avoided them for the most part but made sure we walked past it. At the end of the upper walkway, there were two more small galleries: one about Bulgarian history from the prehistoric times up until when the church became prominent, and the other one was about Sports in Ancient Thrace, which we were both excited to see. The color scheme (orange and black) seemed like it would be obnoxious but it worked pretty well for the setup they had in the room.
The next step was the Treasury Room, which we almost missed, but the security guards pointed out the door and that it was open (the other doors to the rooms were just a doorway, but the Treasury had heavy iron gates with a plexiglass-like top door over them that we had to pull open). The artifacts were amazing - there was a lot of armor, gold treasure, a bronze head that still had the eye inlays intact, and several other objects such as death masks and several small beads.
We eventually made our way to the prehistoric hall and meandered around there for a bit, wondering what certain things were, and imagining what it would be like to fully understand the use of something. Cyrene marveled at the fact that people once owned these things and used them; whenever I think about that, I wonder about the things we use every day and whether in one thousand years, people will be digging up our garbage and classifying it as artifacts.
Since we had gotten overexcited and started the museum, we hadn't eaten lunch, and it was still early in the afternoon, so we decided to hit the National Museum of Natural History, which was only five leva each. We got our tickets and went on our way - some of the things in the museum were interesting, but overall, it felt more like a cabinet of curiosities than a natural history museum. There was a lot of taxidermies, but also very corny things like badly done displays to simulate water. There was also plenty of specimens floating in vials or jars on every floor (there were four floors). I suggested we start on the fourth floor and then work our way down so that we would be done and on the bottom floor once we finished. The first floor was my favorite because that's where all the rocks and minerals were - the rest of it didn't feel quite like a museum.
Lunch (or early dinner) was the only things on our minds once we left, so we began to scout out a place for food. On our way towards what looked like a busier area with a few options for food options, we found another part of the Serdica Ruins, so we made a pitstop there. Many pictures were taken, and the hunt for food continued. As we ventured on our journey, we passed a Mosque, and it was the first time I had ever heard a call to prayer in person. I thought it was quite beautiful.
We finally settled on a place called Pizza Einstein, which had a good amount of traditional Bulgarian food options as well as pizza. I ordered a Margherita pizza because I'm simple and I missed just a plain food after having a lot of traditional Bulgarian food for the past two weeks. I did worry that my taste in Coca-Cola has changed though because it's all made with real sugar in Europe, so I'm going to go home thinking the soda tastes bad. It seems like I'm going to have to drink Mexican Coca-Cola to keep my taste buds satisfied.
When the food arrived, I devoured the entire 26-centimeter pizza in less than ten minutes. I told Cyrene to not rush herself, I was just a fast eater, and it was no worries if she wanted to take her time. She ended up finishing her pizza, too, and then we were stuck in restaurant limbo because we had decided to eat inside and everyone else seemed to be eating outside. Thus, we didn't see our waitress all that often. She brought us the bill, and Cyrene used her card, but the elusive waitress was nowhere to be seen once more. Eventually, she came but told us to wait a moment for her because we were using a card, so she brought a machine to the table.
Once we were free, we went to the Raffy stand and bought a couple of gelatos to eat while we walked on our way to the Free Sofia Tour, where guides take people on an English tour of the city and show twenty different monuments or places of interest on the way. The walking tour took two hours, and I was beginning to feel both the pizza and the gelato coming to seek vengeance, so once the tour was over, we headed over to the cafe so I could use the restroom. It cost me 0.50 leva to visit the porta-potty from Hell, but luckily I noticed there was no toilet paper when I sat down and asked for some before I had any issues. Thank the gods I had hand sanitizer in my bag.
Here is where we both made a mistake because we just wanted to get back to the hotel: we saw a cab sitting and waiting, so we went up and asked about the Ibis Hotel Sofia Airport, and he said yes, yes, get in, and of course the first issue we both had was we couldn't find the clips for the seatbelts, so neither of us ended up wearing one. About halfway through the ride, I leaned over to Cyrene and told her that the meter was already at something like 35 leva, which is ridiculous because it wasn't far from where we were dropped off in the morning, and our final bill was nearly 40 leva. For a ride that couldn't have been longer than ten minutes.
We got back to the hotel and thought about getting a beer, but Cyrene decided to pass, and I thought that was a better idea. I checked in to my flight, but it said I had to print out my boarding passes, and luckily there was a computer I was able to use in the lobby for it, and it didn't cost anything. I scheduled the airport shuttle for us at 5 a.m. and went back upstairs. I kept charging her tablet for her and then I brought it to her room since my phone and computer were dying (since I couldn't charge things when not in the room because the keycard has to be inserted for the electricity to work, which is annoying). We said goodnight around ten o'clock, and I definitely need to go to bed soon because it's half past midnight and we have to be up in about four hours to get ready and catch our flights.
I have a lot of long layovers, so hopefully I don't go mad with boredom.
If you want to know more about the Free Sofia Tour, here is a link to their website: https://freesofiatour.com/free-sofia-tour/
Field School: Panagyurishte and Koprivshtitsa
August 5, 2018
The excursion day was optional, so we didn't have Shane, Elizabeth, or Nico with us today. Shane is a supervisor and a previous student, so he's seen probably all he can see in both of these villages (towns?), Elizabeth wasn't feeling well, and I think Nico was just exhausted because before he came to our dig, he did four weeks at another location in Stobi. Since we were going to two different places, I wasn't sure how much we were going to be traveling by bus, but I was stoked to go regardless.
The bus was scheduled to come at 8:30 a.m., so I slept in longer than I usually did on dig days. I showered and talked to Folklore Fiancé for a little while. Once I told them that I had to go to get to the bus for the excursion, I went downstairs around 8 a.m. to see if anyone was waiting yet. Apparently, I had been mistaken about breakfast, which was still out, so I grabbed a few more things to eat before we went on our excursions.
The first stop on our excursions was Panagyurishte. The history complex made up The Panagyurishte Museum of History, which included the Panagyurishte Treasure, other archaeological artifacts, an exhibit dedicated to the liberation of Bulgaria, and a group of houses of important Bulgarians in history that are also important architecturally. We were given audio guides for the Treasure exhibition, which I only used about half of the time because I was too busy taking pictures of all of them so that I would have them to reference later (I also bought a book all about the treasure before leaving, so I still have a lot of the information I would have had from the audio tour, which I forgot all of what I listened to as soon as we moved on).
The Treasure was awesome, and it was so cool to see the originals rather than imitations; the hall in which they were displayed was hard to photograph with just a mobile phone, so I don't have any good photos of the whole thing. (Next time I'm bringing a better camera!) I wanted to listen to the audio tour, but I feel like I can never take my time when I'm in a group, so I just moved on as soon as most people looked like they were done. The next area had more archaeological artifacts, which I got excited about, especially because a lot of the things I have seen in Bulgaria I haven't seen in other museums before.
After seeing the rest of the archaeology exhibits and the galleries about the liberation and uprising in Bulgaria in the 19th century, we moved on to looking at the house museums. We were given a tour by the guide, which Angela translated as we went. Most of the houses were ornately decorated and had displays of the guest house areas, and traditional Bulgarian dress and daily life laid out to see. The last thing we saw were the workshops that were behind glass windows in little cubicles - things like shoe cobbling, weaving, blacksmithing, and so on - to give us a sense of the ethnography of Bulgaria.
We finished in Panagyurishte and got on the bus again to head to Koprivshtitsa. It was a little while away, and none of us had had lunch yet. We all were used to our tea and biscuit break at 10:30 a.m. as well during the dig, so we were more hungry than usual. The bus stopped around 2 p.m. in the village and dropped us off at a restaurant where we were eating Bulgarian food. I sat with Shahruz, Mathilde, Cyrene, Ivan, Jianing, and Siyu. The conversation was good, and lunch took almost an hour, which was fine, but that only gave us a couple of hours of free time to explore. The food wasn't anything special to me, so I was anxious to go see what was around.
After splitting off into groups, Shahruz, Ivan, Siyu, Mathilde, Cyrene, and I all started in the same direction. We wandered around and took some pictures - I remembered the stuffed animal my boss wanted me to photograph abroad, so I was using him a lot. Eventually, we all split off again, and Cyrene and I ran amok in the souvenir shops. I managed to get souvenirs for everyone that I thought of while I was there, so I had everything covered for that (finally). Cyrene and I kind of went into every souvenir shop to make sure we didn't miss anything good. I still wasn't able to find a spoon for my aunt-in-law, who collects them from abroad, so I got ceramic ones instead of the traditional silver souvenir ones.
Since we had to meet back at the monument at 5:30 p.m., we decided to wander a little bit more and then checked out the other souvenir shops nearer to where we were supposed to meet and then got some ice cream and water. Cyrene and I were concerned because we didn't see anyone else come back yet. Eventually, we spotted Angela and Petja and knew that people would be there soon. The bus came once we had everyone and we headed back to Villa Terres for the farewell dinner and so the people leaving could get ready.
The farewell dinner was supposed to be at 8 p.m. according to the itinerary, but apparently, they moved it to 8:30 p.m., but no one told me, so I was sitting there for a while by myself. Ivan sat across from me, Cyrene was next to me on my right, and Mathilde was on my left. I had five glasses of wine because I was sad and didn't want to leave; also, I apparently really like their Sauvignon Blanc, and I'm not usually a fan of wine.
Those of us who were leaving were given Certificates of Attendance, which outlined how many hours we had participated in the field, and how many hours of lectures we attended. We were also given a Balkan Heritage mug, which I am terrified is going to break on the way home.
Time to pack.
The excursion day was optional, so we didn't have Shane, Elizabeth, or Nico with us today. Shane is a supervisor and a previous student, so he's seen probably all he can see in both of these villages (towns?), Elizabeth wasn't feeling well, and I think Nico was just exhausted because before he came to our dig, he did four weeks at another location in Stobi. Since we were going to two different places, I wasn't sure how much we were going to be traveling by bus, but I was stoked to go regardless.
The bus was scheduled to come at 8:30 a.m., so I slept in longer than I usually did on dig days. I showered and talked to Folklore Fiancé for a little while. Once I told them that I had to go to get to the bus for the excursion, I went downstairs around 8 a.m. to see if anyone was waiting yet. Apparently, I had been mistaken about breakfast, which was still out, so I grabbed a few more things to eat before we went on our excursions.
The first stop on our excursions was Panagyurishte. The history complex made up The Panagyurishte Museum of History, which included the Panagyurishte Treasure, other archaeological artifacts, an exhibit dedicated to the liberation of Bulgaria, and a group of houses of important Bulgarians in history that are also important architecturally. We were given audio guides for the Treasure exhibition, which I only used about half of the time because I was too busy taking pictures of all of them so that I would have them to reference later (I also bought a book all about the treasure before leaving, so I still have a lot of the information I would have had from the audio tour, which I forgot all of what I listened to as soon as we moved on).
The Treasure was awesome, and it was so cool to see the originals rather than imitations; the hall in which they were displayed was hard to photograph with just a mobile phone, so I don't have any good photos of the whole thing. (Next time I'm bringing a better camera!) I wanted to listen to the audio tour, but I feel like I can never take my time when I'm in a group, so I just moved on as soon as most people looked like they were done. The next area had more archaeological artifacts, which I got excited about, especially because a lot of the things I have seen in Bulgaria I haven't seen in other museums before.
After seeing the rest of the archaeology exhibits and the galleries about the liberation and uprising in Bulgaria in the 19th century, we moved on to looking at the house museums. We were given a tour by the guide, which Angela translated as we went. Most of the houses were ornately decorated and had displays of the guest house areas, and traditional Bulgarian dress and daily life laid out to see. The last thing we saw were the workshops that were behind glass windows in little cubicles - things like shoe cobbling, weaving, blacksmithing, and so on - to give us a sense of the ethnography of Bulgaria.
We finished in Panagyurishte and got on the bus again to head to Koprivshtitsa. It was a little while away, and none of us had had lunch yet. We all were used to our tea and biscuit break at 10:30 a.m. as well during the dig, so we were more hungry than usual. The bus stopped around 2 p.m. in the village and dropped us off at a restaurant where we were eating Bulgarian food. I sat with Shahruz, Mathilde, Cyrene, Ivan, Jianing, and Siyu. The conversation was good, and lunch took almost an hour, which was fine, but that only gave us a couple of hours of free time to explore. The food wasn't anything special to me, so I was anxious to go see what was around.
After splitting off into groups, Shahruz, Ivan, Siyu, Mathilde, Cyrene, and I all started in the same direction. We wandered around and took some pictures - I remembered the stuffed animal my boss wanted me to photograph abroad, so I was using him a lot. Eventually, we all split off again, and Cyrene and I ran amok in the souvenir shops. I managed to get souvenirs for everyone that I thought of while I was there, so I had everything covered for that (finally). Cyrene and I kind of went into every souvenir shop to make sure we didn't miss anything good. I still wasn't able to find a spoon for my aunt-in-law, who collects them from abroad, so I got ceramic ones instead of the traditional silver souvenir ones.
Since we had to meet back at the monument at 5:30 p.m., we decided to wander a little bit more and then checked out the other souvenir shops nearer to where we were supposed to meet and then got some ice cream and water. Cyrene and I were concerned because we didn't see anyone else come back yet. Eventually, we spotted Angela and Petja and knew that people would be there soon. The bus came once we had everyone and we headed back to Villa Terres for the farewell dinner and so the people leaving could get ready.
The farewell dinner was supposed to be at 8 p.m. according to the itinerary, but apparently, they moved it to 8:30 p.m., but no one told me, so I was sitting there for a while by myself. Ivan sat across from me, Cyrene was next to me on my right, and Mathilde was on my left. I had five glasses of wine because I was sad and didn't want to leave; also, I apparently really like their Sauvignon Blanc, and I'm not usually a fan of wine.
Those of us who were leaving were given Certificates of Attendance, which outlined how many hours we had participated in the field, and how many hours of lectures we attended. We were also given a Balkan Heritage mug, which I am terrified is going to break on the way home.
Time to pack.
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Field School: The Dig, Day 10 (Final Day!)
August 4, 2018
Last night, someone had knocked Jenny's drink over onto my sandals, and I had to wash them when I went to bed, using Las Vegas logic of "they'll be dry in the morning" because we have no humidity.
They were not dry this morning.
A quick shower and walking downstairs in just my socks while carrying my shoes later, I ate breakfast with Ivan, who left shortly after I sat down (he was just done his breakfast and I was late to when I usually go, and, as a creature of habit, I sat at the seat I always sit at in the morning, where Ivan was sitting in the seat Mathilde is usually in when I'm down there). I ate a small breakfast and wrapped up some sausage to take to our site dog, Sharka (how it sounds in English because I don't know how to spell it in Bulgarian - it means colorful), which I forgot on the table before we left.
It was my last day at the dig site and I was pretty bummed about it. I didn't want to leave the people I met behind at all and I definitely didn't want to stop digging before there was anything interesting or exciting found (which is why most people stay for four weeks, I guess). I'm partially happy it was my last day to dig because I'm tired and I miss Folklore Fiancé too much, but I really wish I could stay.
I had made an offering of grape seeds to Dionysus, asking for him to let me find something, anything, interesting before I left. I kept digging and a little while later, I found a small knucklebone, which is a special find because they used these as game pieces when playing dice. Once I had taken the coordinates and filled out a tag for it and put it in its own bag, I continued to dig. Eventually, I uncovered some pottery, but it was too far down for me to get to, but next to it was a pottery sherd. When I picked it up, it looked like I have a black figure sherd with a distinguishable part of a figure on it. I asked Angela and she told me it was a knee and then I asked about another part of it, which looked (to me) like boxing gloves and she said it was possibly part of a garment. So, I was pretty pleased with that find, even though it's technically mass material and isn't "special" by archaeological standards, but I thought it was. So, see, the gods do come through!
We came back for lunch and rest and went back for the finds processing and washing for the last time (for me). Linda, Jenny, and I were taken separately so we could learn how to fill out a context sheet for the archaeological sites. After discussing it and asking Angela questions about archaeology that I didn't know a lot about, we headed back to the barrack. She asked if I wanted to take the test for it, even though I wasn't doing it for credit, and I said yes. (Well, first I said can I just keep the paper and do it later, but Angela explained that it was a short test so I could do it now so she could go over it - it was only 13 questions, but I got 1 wrong and 1 kind of wrong).
After that, I helped everyone get the rest of the washing done, and we finished our bags, but eventually were asked by one of our group about helping the rest of the people because we had a lot more to do. So, basically, we had to complete pottery washing, otherwise, the people who were staying for four weeks would have to deal with everything on Tuesday. We helped with another bag, and then I asked Cyrene and Madeline if they needed help because everyone else had cleaned up but they were still washing, so I took some of their material over to the tarp to dry. We all got on the bus and headed back.
Got back, did this that and the other thing, dinner, blah blah blah, and then we all played Twister together shortly followed by a drinking game. It was amazing and fun and intense and I'm going to miss them all a lot.
We have an excursion tomorrow.
Hopefully I don't have a hangover.
Last night, someone had knocked Jenny's drink over onto my sandals, and I had to wash them when I went to bed, using Las Vegas logic of "they'll be dry in the morning" because we have no humidity.
They were not dry this morning.
A quick shower and walking downstairs in just my socks while carrying my shoes later, I ate breakfast with Ivan, who left shortly after I sat down (he was just done his breakfast and I was late to when I usually go, and, as a creature of habit, I sat at the seat I always sit at in the morning, where Ivan was sitting in the seat Mathilde is usually in when I'm down there). I ate a small breakfast and wrapped up some sausage to take to our site dog, Sharka (how it sounds in English because I don't know how to spell it in Bulgarian - it means colorful), which I forgot on the table before we left.
It was my last day at the dig site and I was pretty bummed about it. I didn't want to leave the people I met behind at all and I definitely didn't want to stop digging before there was anything interesting or exciting found (which is why most people stay for four weeks, I guess). I'm partially happy it was my last day to dig because I'm tired and I miss Folklore Fiancé too much, but I really wish I could stay.
I had made an offering of grape seeds to Dionysus, asking for him to let me find something, anything, interesting before I left. I kept digging and a little while later, I found a small knucklebone, which is a special find because they used these as game pieces when playing dice. Once I had taken the coordinates and filled out a tag for it and put it in its own bag, I continued to dig. Eventually, I uncovered some pottery, but it was too far down for me to get to, but next to it was a pottery sherd. When I picked it up, it looked like I have a black figure sherd with a distinguishable part of a figure on it. I asked Angela and she told me it was a knee and then I asked about another part of it, which looked (to me) like boxing gloves and she said it was possibly part of a garment. So, I was pretty pleased with that find, even though it's technically mass material and isn't "special" by archaeological standards, but I thought it was. So, see, the gods do come through!
We came back for lunch and rest and went back for the finds processing and washing for the last time (for me). Linda, Jenny, and I were taken separately so we could learn how to fill out a context sheet for the archaeological sites. After discussing it and asking Angela questions about archaeology that I didn't know a lot about, we headed back to the barrack. She asked if I wanted to take the test for it, even though I wasn't doing it for credit, and I said yes. (Well, first I said can I just keep the paper and do it later, but Angela explained that it was a short test so I could do it now so she could go over it - it was only 13 questions, but I got 1 wrong and 1 kind of wrong).
After that, I helped everyone get the rest of the washing done, and we finished our bags, but eventually were asked by one of our group about helping the rest of the people because we had a lot more to do. So, basically, we had to complete pottery washing, otherwise, the people who were staying for four weeks would have to deal with everything on Tuesday. We helped with another bag, and then I asked Cyrene and Madeline if they needed help because everyone else had cleaned up but they were still washing, so I took some of their material over to the tarp to dry. We all got on the bus and headed back.
Got back, did this that and the other thing, dinner, blah blah blah, and then we all played Twister together shortly followed by a drinking game. It was amazing and fun and intense and I'm going to miss them all a lot.
We have an excursion tomorrow.
Hopefully I don't have a hangover.
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Field School: Wine Tasting and Traditional Bulgarian Dance
One of the things I did not expect from going to field school: impromptu excursions and unscheduled dancing. Yesterday after the dig, we were told to meet in the restaurant at 4 p.m. for the wine tasting tour because Villa Terres is also a winery. Everyone but Nico went on the tour, and we started around 4:10 p.m. since we weren't sure if other people were coming, too. Once everyone had arrived, the woman began giving the tour in Bulgarian and Angela translated for us. We got to see where the wine was made and it was explained how they processed the grapes and the steps between grapes being processed and testing the wine for impurities during the fermentation process.
After we had finished the tour, we were taken into the room where they stored the wines in the barrels while they fermented and had the walls lined with the bottled wines (we were shown how they bottled the wine as well). She said the wine cellar was kept at 18° Celsius (which is an ideal temperature for me, so I was very comfortable) and said we were going to try a few wines. She explained how to swirl the wine in the glass to see the color and release the flavors, then we had to sniff it and take a small sip, then swirl it around in our mouths, and swallow to see what the aftertaste is like (which is different from what I've seen where the last step is to spit out the wine into a bucket - but the buckets on the table were for us to dump out our wine before getting the next one if we didn't want to finish it). Instead of dumping out the remainder of the wines into the bucket, most of us just drank it faster before she brought us the next one.
I liked the first wine the best and the second one was close behind, and then I don't know how to categorize the other two. They weren't terrible but weren't to my taste. Either way, we all finished about a total of two glasses of wine (each one was poured about 1/2 of the level you usually fill a wine glass to) before our lecture. Mathilde was definitely feeling the wine.
We went from a room that was 18° C to a room that felt like it was boiling in comparison and I was pretty upset about it. Once everyone was there, they turned on the air conditioning, but it took a minute for it to kick on. The entire lecture I was pretty spaced out - I felt warm and slightly dissociated. She was talking about the different types of pottery used in the ancient world and found in Pistiros. It would have been really interesting, but it was a lot of information at once, and right after the wine tasting. After the lecture was over, I went with Cyrene to the little fruit stand across the way.
The people who work at the hotel are part of a Bulgarian dancing troupe, and so Angela arranged for them to dance for us. They even wore their traditional clothing! (I'll be posting pictures later on my other social media sites, so stay tuned for that!) One of the girls explained to us how the costume varies in different areas and they told us they were going to do a few dances for us. Three guys and four girls were dancing, and I got a few videos of that. One of the things I didn't know about Bulgarian dancing is that they do a type of yell when they dance, which startled me the first time, but after that, it was all smooth sailing.
After about three or four dances, they invited us to learn to dance with them. I tried, but I was super bad at it - a few other people picked it up way easier because there were some dancers in our group, but it's been so long since I've had to learn a dance, it wasn't something I picked up right away. It was fun either way, and we kept doing the traditional dance, and the troupe let some people in our group put on the Bulgarian costumes. We have some pictures and videos of the group in the traditional clothing dancing.
The music changed a little after that to more current music (well, aside from the Macarena, which is a song I don't remember being quite as long as we were doing it), and it became a bit of a dance party. Gena was doing the two-step and the worm and taught Donny (one of the dancers who is a waiter where we're staying) how to do it. He told me he wanted to do ballet, too, but his parents wouldn't let him (which is a shame, really, he's a very talented dancer). It was past 10:30 p.m. when we all decided it was time for bed.
I told Angela that we would be asleep in our pits today, but luckily we all seemed rather awake during the dig time!
After we had finished the tour, we were taken into the room where they stored the wines in the barrels while they fermented and had the walls lined with the bottled wines (we were shown how they bottled the wine as well). She said the wine cellar was kept at 18° Celsius (which is an ideal temperature for me, so I was very comfortable) and said we were going to try a few wines. She explained how to swirl the wine in the glass to see the color and release the flavors, then we had to sniff it and take a small sip, then swirl it around in our mouths, and swallow to see what the aftertaste is like (which is different from what I've seen where the last step is to spit out the wine into a bucket - but the buckets on the table were for us to dump out our wine before getting the next one if we didn't want to finish it). Instead of dumping out the remainder of the wines into the bucket, most of us just drank it faster before she brought us the next one.
I liked the first wine the best and the second one was close behind, and then I don't know how to categorize the other two. They weren't terrible but weren't to my taste. Either way, we all finished about a total of two glasses of wine (each one was poured about 1/2 of the level you usually fill a wine glass to) before our lecture. Mathilde was definitely feeling the wine.
We went from a room that was 18° C to a room that felt like it was boiling in comparison and I was pretty upset about it. Once everyone was there, they turned on the air conditioning, but it took a minute for it to kick on. The entire lecture I was pretty spaced out - I felt warm and slightly dissociated. She was talking about the different types of pottery used in the ancient world and found in Pistiros. It would have been really interesting, but it was a lot of information at once, and right after the wine tasting. After the lecture was over, I went with Cyrene to the little fruit stand across the way.
The people who work at the hotel are part of a Bulgarian dancing troupe, and so Angela arranged for them to dance for us. They even wore their traditional clothing! (I'll be posting pictures later on my other social media sites, so stay tuned for that!) One of the girls explained to us how the costume varies in different areas and they told us they were going to do a few dances for us. Three guys and four girls were dancing, and I got a few videos of that. One of the things I didn't know about Bulgarian dancing is that they do a type of yell when they dance, which startled me the first time, but after that, it was all smooth sailing.
After about three or four dances, they invited us to learn to dance with them. I tried, but I was super bad at it - a few other people picked it up way easier because there were some dancers in our group, but it's been so long since I've had to learn a dance, it wasn't something I picked up right away. It was fun either way, and we kept doing the traditional dance, and the troupe let some people in our group put on the Bulgarian costumes. We have some pictures and videos of the group in the traditional clothing dancing.
The music changed a little after that to more current music (well, aside from the Macarena, which is a song I don't remember being quite as long as we were doing it), and it became a bit of a dance party. Gena was doing the two-step and the worm and taught Donny (one of the dancers who is a waiter where we're staying) how to do it. He told me he wanted to do ballet, too, but his parents wouldn't let him (which is a shame, really, he's a very talented dancer). It was past 10:30 p.m. when we all decided it was time for bed.
I told Angela that we would be asleep in our pits today, but luckily we all seemed rather awake during the dig time!
Friday, August 3, 2018
Field School: The Dig, Day 9
I've not been sleeping well. It's been almost three since I've been away from Folklore Fiancé for this amount of time. I miss them a lot and want to go home, but part of me wishes I could stay the whole four weeks. It would be ideal to know how much gets done in that amount of time. Mathilde is trying to ask her mother if she can stay longer. I'm a bit envious that she might get to stay, but I think that the next time I come, I'm going to try and swing to stay the whole time that a field school takes place. I feel weird going home in the middle and not knowing how it'll end up by the end of it (and would have felt even weirder I had come in the middle of it, so I wanted to come for the first session).
Anyway.
Shortly after we got to the dig site, Shahruz and Elizabeth found a figurine. That was what some of my other fieldmates, Sydney and Gena, had found the day before with the apt description of, "With tits and nips!" when asked about it. The religious icons and related material were my dream finds, so I'm kind of envious when I've only found mass material and some clay. There's more to it than that, I know, but I haven't even found a decorated pottery sherd (which almost everyone has found in my square thus far, I think, and most of them are staying for four weeks so they probably will if they haven't yet), and tomorrow is the last day I dig.
The first part of the day, we were getting pictures of the site from different angles. I took some of them, a few of which were on top of a ladder, and let me tell you, I'm not a fan of heights and usually panic when I'm on ladders. I didn't panic at all, and it felt weird that I was so comfortable with it. Mathilde took the pictures of the other section on top of the ladder, and I got some good pictures of her doing that. When I was climbing down to switch around the whiteboard on one of the sections, it was the lower level where the difference between the top and bottom was basically my leg length. When I stepped on the ground, it caught my bad knee at a weird angle, and I fell and rolled. Angela let me sit for a bit when I came back up, and it wasn't too bad, but it still hurt and made me in a bit of a sour mood for the rest of the day.
Most of the day was spent trying to go around and unearth something in my section, but only five centimeters down, and because I had to go around a lot of rocks, it was pretty slow-going. Mathilde found some interesting things, as did Siyu and Jianing. Angela found a knucklebone in the section Mathilde, and I were digging in, so we had to take its coordinates before moving on. Ivan was doing his technical drawing, so he didn't find much of anything except the curiosity of whether he would be praised as much on his last technical drawing in Apollonia Pontica, where his supervisor said his drawing was "believable."
The dig was improved a bit by Ivan playing the Lord of the Rings soundtrack at the beginning (he is a Kiwi after all), and then we played different songs that he had on his phone. As much as I say I only really listen to Disney and Broadway, he had a selection of songs playing that was very much my taste that we listened to during the day. I told him I finally found my kindred spirit on this trip because of his music.
My aggravation was heightened when I got back to my room because the people who cleaned the room had turned off the AC and opened the door (no, no, I left the AC on for a reason...) and I had forgotten to pick up the towel I use for my feet on the floor, so that was gone too, even though the last time, they just tossed it on top of something (which was still annoying because those were my "clean" clothes for after the dig - basically without dirt or anything on it - onto which they put a towel that had been wet and on the floor -_-). I took my shower and finished my field journals because they're going to be collected.
A wine tasting was scheduled for four p.m., and then we have a lecture afterward, so it'll be interesting to see how that pans out.
Anyway.
Shortly after we got to the dig site, Shahruz and Elizabeth found a figurine. That was what some of my other fieldmates, Sydney and Gena, had found the day before with the apt description of, "With tits and nips!" when asked about it. The religious icons and related material were my dream finds, so I'm kind of envious when I've only found mass material and some clay. There's more to it than that, I know, but I haven't even found a decorated pottery sherd (which almost everyone has found in my square thus far, I think, and most of them are staying for four weeks so they probably will if they haven't yet), and tomorrow is the last day I dig.
The first part of the day, we were getting pictures of the site from different angles. I took some of them, a few of which were on top of a ladder, and let me tell you, I'm not a fan of heights and usually panic when I'm on ladders. I didn't panic at all, and it felt weird that I was so comfortable with it. Mathilde took the pictures of the other section on top of the ladder, and I got some good pictures of her doing that. When I was climbing down to switch around the whiteboard on one of the sections, it was the lower level where the difference between the top and bottom was basically my leg length. When I stepped on the ground, it caught my bad knee at a weird angle, and I fell and rolled. Angela let me sit for a bit when I came back up, and it wasn't too bad, but it still hurt and made me in a bit of a sour mood for the rest of the day.
Most of the day was spent trying to go around and unearth something in my section, but only five centimeters down, and because I had to go around a lot of rocks, it was pretty slow-going. Mathilde found some interesting things, as did Siyu and Jianing. Angela found a knucklebone in the section Mathilde, and I were digging in, so we had to take its coordinates before moving on. Ivan was doing his technical drawing, so he didn't find much of anything except the curiosity of whether he would be praised as much on his last technical drawing in Apollonia Pontica, where his supervisor said his drawing was "believable."
The dig was improved a bit by Ivan playing the Lord of the Rings soundtrack at the beginning (he is a Kiwi after all), and then we played different songs that he had on his phone. As much as I say I only really listen to Disney and Broadway, he had a selection of songs playing that was very much my taste that we listened to during the day. I told him I finally found my kindred spirit on this trip because of his music.
My aggravation was heightened when I got back to my room because the people who cleaned the room had turned off the AC and opened the door (no, no, I left the AC on for a reason...) and I had forgotten to pick up the towel I use for my feet on the floor, so that was gone too, even though the last time, they just tossed it on top of something (which was still annoying because those were my "clean" clothes for after the dig - basically without dirt or anything on it - onto which they put a towel that had been wet and on the floor -_-). I took my shower and finished my field journals because they're going to be collected.
A wine tasting was scheduled for four p.m., and then we have a lecture afterward, so it'll be interesting to see how that pans out.
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Field School: The Dig, Day 8
I didn't know what a technical drawing was at the beginning of field school. Now, I wished I had never heard those words uttered together in this way. I absolutely abhor it. Technical drawing is the new evil incarnate to me. It doesn't help that I'm the only American in my square, so I feel extra inadequate because of the fact that I am horrible with the Metric system. Even the tape measurer didn't make sense to me. Do American archaeologists use the American system or the Metric? It seems weird if we didn't use the Metric because then everyone else would have to convert it. Either way, I didn't know I could hate anything more than tomatoes, but I was wrong. It was technical drawing.
That's literally all Mathilde, and I did all day in our square. Eventually, it felt like she was doing all the work. Honestly, I was too nervous that I was going to mess it up to bother asking her if I could jump back in. I helped a bit, but I think I only did like 30% of what was done on the drawing. One of the other people found something really cool, it was honestly a dream find for me, so I'm super stoked for them and a little jealous since I haven't really found anything at all. Afterward, we had to clean up so we could take a picture, so for the last hour of fieldwork, that's all we did.
We came back for lunch, and it was some type of potato dish; it was pretty good, but still not all that hot. Instead of lingering, I went to go take a shower because I was sweating so badly during the day. The workshop in the evening was pottery cleaning and finds processing, but my group didn't get all of ours done, either. We packed up and headed back and had a half an hour until dinner.
Dinner was chicken kabobs and potatoes, so I was pleased. Nico wanted to run to the market after dinner and Cyrene mentioned it, so I asked to tag along. Jianing ended up coming, too; none of us knew the way, but Nico was well-versed in walking there. While we were in the "market" (basically a corner store to us Americans - a very small one, since we're in a literal village), Nico ran into some locals that he apparently knew. It seems no matter where he goes, he knows someone, and apparently, he's done enough study abroad trips to know how to assimilate to a place pretty quickly. He told us some...interesting...stories on the way back as well.
Cyrene and I are going to work on our field journals for the night, and then I think I'm going to chill for a little while and then go to bed. We have more to do tomorrow with both the square and the pottery washing and finds processing, which was fun. I'm really nervous about digging for the rest of the time because we only have two days left to dig and I'm a little disappointed that we spent a day and a half on drawing the technical drawing when I would have preferred to keep digging.
Hopefully, I'll be able to stay longer for my next archaeological field school!
That's literally all Mathilde, and I did all day in our square. Eventually, it felt like she was doing all the work. Honestly, I was too nervous that I was going to mess it up to bother asking her if I could jump back in. I helped a bit, but I think I only did like 30% of what was done on the drawing. One of the other people found something really cool, it was honestly a dream find for me, so I'm super stoked for them and a little jealous since I haven't really found anything at all. Afterward, we had to clean up so we could take a picture, so for the last hour of fieldwork, that's all we did.
We came back for lunch, and it was some type of potato dish; it was pretty good, but still not all that hot. Instead of lingering, I went to go take a shower because I was sweating so badly during the day. The workshop in the evening was pottery cleaning and finds processing, but my group didn't get all of ours done, either. We packed up and headed back and had a half an hour until dinner.
Dinner was chicken kabobs and potatoes, so I was pleased. Nico wanted to run to the market after dinner and Cyrene mentioned it, so I asked to tag along. Jianing ended up coming, too; none of us knew the way, but Nico was well-versed in walking there. While we were in the "market" (basically a corner store to us Americans - a very small one, since we're in a literal village), Nico ran into some locals that he apparently knew. It seems no matter where he goes, he knows someone, and apparently, he's done enough study abroad trips to know how to assimilate to a place pretty quickly. He told us some...interesting...stories on the way back as well.
Cyrene and I are going to work on our field journals for the night, and then I think I'm going to chill for a little while and then go to bed. We have more to do tomorrow with both the square and the pottery washing and finds processing, which was fun. I'm really nervous about digging for the rest of the time because we only have two days left to dig and I'm a little disappointed that we spent a day and a half on drawing the technical drawing when I would have preferred to keep digging.
Hopefully, I'll be able to stay longer for my next archaeological field school!
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Field School: The Dig, Day 7
The weather report this morning said it was going to rain twice: one around 11 a.m., and again around 1 p.m., so I was worried that it would be raining while we were digging. Our break is from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., so at least we would not be in the squares while that happened.
It didn't rain, though; in fact, Angela said today was the first real day of summer since we got here. It didn't feel that bad to me. Usually, I'm cranky as hell in the heat, especially when I'm sweating, but because I was doing so much and because I'm used to the dry heat of Las Vegas, everything felt fine to me. Sweaty, yes, but I wasn't as cranky about the heat as I am back home. I think part of the perks of this is that I haven't had to drive in nearly three weeks - I'm not looking forward to having to do that when I get back to Las Vegas and have to drive forty-five minutes to work in a car with no air conditioning.
The others didn't do their introduction the day before in their field journals, so they went around and did that while I finished up mine. I marked the sketch and then helped the others with their field journals when they got to our two squares. Once they had finished that, we all reconvened in the square, and I manned the wheelbarrow for most of the day.
There wasn't too much going on today; we continued to dig where we were digging and found more mass material, we took levels for Ivan's area, and Mathilde and I began the technical drawing. I told Angela I was nervous about the technical drawing because I was so bad at the pottery drawing workshop. She told me to not get discouraged and that if I had had three more pieces of pottery sherds, I would have been able to do it fine. However, Petja started me off with the measurements and Mathilde had to draw. I'm really nervous since I'm the only person who doesn't use centimeters in my group (*shakes fist at the American standard system*) because I feel like I'm going to mess it up.
We carried the stuff back to the barrack, having finished getting down the next layer and determining that we had to do the technical drawing the next day, which apparently can take all day. I'm really anxious about it. I'm not good at drawing, nor am I good with the Metric system. It sounds like a recipe for disaster as soon as I get that paper, so cross your fingers for me.
When we got back, there was a tourist who asked us if we were students, and we told him that we were here for archaeology. He asked where we were from and we explained all over - we have Americans, Canadians, Swiss, an Aussie, a Kiwi, etc. and he said he was from Philly, and I told him I went to Villanova and he hugged me. It was funny. He went off with his group when he was done because they were off to Plovdiv for the day, which I told him we had just gone and loved it.
Lunch was stuffed zucchini - rice and meat inside of it - which wasn't too bad, but the soup was the cucumber soup again, and I couldn't make myself eat it again. The cucumbers here aren't bad, per se, but they do have a very unique taste that's not quite what I expect cucumbers to taste like. Put it in a cold soup with yogurt, and I can only eat it so much without worrying about how it'll affect my stomach.
Some people are doing yoga in the yard, but I decided to just stay in for today because the lecture is at 5 p.m., and I wanted a bit of chill time before I went. I'm also trying to down some of the Cherry Coke I bought at the market the other day so that I won't nod off in lecture. It's a lot for us to go to the dig and then come back for lunch, have a long break, and an evening lecture. The break is nice, though, because it gives a chance for swimming, the sauna and steam room, or a nap (or if you're really good at time management and our lecture is a little later, all three).
During my downtime the past couple of days, I've actually been looking into other field schools that aren't under the Balkan Heritage Foundation. Partially because I wanted to see what was out there and could figure out if I liked another program or area better and partially because I do pick up on other languages quicker, and I can read Italian and Greek, but I can't read Cyrillic. I do want to learn Bulgarian, though, so I would be able to speak at least a little bit if I decided to come back. Also, it never hurts to learn another language; especially when that language uses the Cyrillic alphabet, an alphabet that is used by a good portion of the world. (Fun fact: Bulgarians were the ones who invented the Cyrillic alphabet, which I definitely did not know until we were in Plovdiv and Angela pointed out the statue of the men who invented it.)
The lecture today is on the Urbanization of Ancient Thrace, which I'm extremely excited about. I hope I won't nod off this time; I'm not trying to zone out because it's boring, I'm just actually tired from all the digging and the sun! If I could nap, this wouldn't be a problem, but I can't because short naps make me feel sick. We only have a couple more days left at the dig site, and I'm super sad I'm going to have to leave on Monday. I definitely want to do a full session one year.
It didn't rain, though; in fact, Angela said today was the first real day of summer since we got here. It didn't feel that bad to me. Usually, I'm cranky as hell in the heat, especially when I'm sweating, but because I was doing so much and because I'm used to the dry heat of Las Vegas, everything felt fine to me. Sweaty, yes, but I wasn't as cranky about the heat as I am back home. I think part of the perks of this is that I haven't had to drive in nearly three weeks - I'm not looking forward to having to do that when I get back to Las Vegas and have to drive forty-five minutes to work in a car with no air conditioning.
The others didn't do their introduction the day before in their field journals, so they went around and did that while I finished up mine. I marked the sketch and then helped the others with their field journals when they got to our two squares. Once they had finished that, we all reconvened in the square, and I manned the wheelbarrow for most of the day.
There wasn't too much going on today; we continued to dig where we were digging and found more mass material, we took levels for Ivan's area, and Mathilde and I began the technical drawing. I told Angela I was nervous about the technical drawing because I was so bad at the pottery drawing workshop. She told me to not get discouraged and that if I had had three more pieces of pottery sherds, I would have been able to do it fine. However, Petja started me off with the measurements and Mathilde had to draw. I'm really nervous since I'm the only person who doesn't use centimeters in my group (*shakes fist at the American standard system*) because I feel like I'm going to mess it up.
We carried the stuff back to the barrack, having finished getting down the next layer and determining that we had to do the technical drawing the next day, which apparently can take all day. I'm really anxious about it. I'm not good at drawing, nor am I good with the Metric system. It sounds like a recipe for disaster as soon as I get that paper, so cross your fingers for me.
When we got back, there was a tourist who asked us if we were students, and we told him that we were here for archaeology. He asked where we were from and we explained all over - we have Americans, Canadians, Swiss, an Aussie, a Kiwi, etc. and he said he was from Philly, and I told him I went to Villanova and he hugged me. It was funny. He went off with his group when he was done because they were off to Plovdiv for the day, which I told him we had just gone and loved it.
Lunch was stuffed zucchini - rice and meat inside of it - which wasn't too bad, but the soup was the cucumber soup again, and I couldn't make myself eat it again. The cucumbers here aren't bad, per se, but they do have a very unique taste that's not quite what I expect cucumbers to taste like. Put it in a cold soup with yogurt, and I can only eat it so much without worrying about how it'll affect my stomach.
Some people are doing yoga in the yard, but I decided to just stay in for today because the lecture is at 5 p.m., and I wanted a bit of chill time before I went. I'm also trying to down some of the Cherry Coke I bought at the market the other day so that I won't nod off in lecture. It's a lot for us to go to the dig and then come back for lunch, have a long break, and an evening lecture. The break is nice, though, because it gives a chance for swimming, the sauna and steam room, or a nap (or if you're really good at time management and our lecture is a little later, all three).
During my downtime the past couple of days, I've actually been looking into other field schools that aren't under the Balkan Heritage Foundation. Partially because I wanted to see what was out there and could figure out if I liked another program or area better and partially because I do pick up on other languages quicker, and I can read Italian and Greek, but I can't read Cyrillic. I do want to learn Bulgarian, though, so I would be able to speak at least a little bit if I decided to come back. Also, it never hurts to learn another language; especially when that language uses the Cyrillic alphabet, an alphabet that is used by a good portion of the world. (Fun fact: Bulgarians were the ones who invented the Cyrillic alphabet, which I definitely did not know until we were in Plovdiv and Angela pointed out the statue of the men who invented it.)
The lecture today is on the Urbanization of Ancient Thrace, which I'm extremely excited about. I hope I won't nod off this time; I'm not trying to zone out because it's boring, I'm just actually tired from all the digging and the sun! If I could nap, this wouldn't be a problem, but I can't because short naps make me feel sick. We only have a couple more days left at the dig site, and I'm super sad I'm going to have to leave on Monday. I definitely want to do a full session one year.
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