Summer 2005
Summer 2005
5 July | 6 July | 8 July | 10 July
5 July 7:05pm
Things are starting to come to a close. And my body is definately starting to feel it. My nice hole has just about doubled in size as I tear away (with help so to move along more quickly) the other unexcavated half of the cellar. We've found the usual, bones, nails, ceramics (a few quite nice too), glass (also a few pretty pieces) and a couple pieces of brick. What took me a week to do one half, will take us 2 or 3 days or so. Fingers crossed we're able to find the bottom before time runs out.
This week's evenings will be a bit maddening as there's something to do each night. Last night was Sin City (which I opted out in exchange for my sanity...I mean sleep). Tonight and tomorrow night we have drinks at two different houses. And Thursday night, the last night with everyone, we go out to eat pizza in Couhe, the next town over.
The weather has been quite pleasant this week, with only one hot day, (thus far) on Sunday. It's quite manageable and I don't want to go back to 90+ degree heat plus 100% humidity. Definately something I'm not looking forward to.
I am, unfortunately, expecting this week to breeze by quickly. Before I know it, it'll be Friday...and then Monday...and then home. There's still so much I'd like to do, but with no time or little means of doing it. (Example, find some curtains. Yes, that's odd, but it's amazing how beautiful the curtains are that I see as I walk by...horses, flowers, trees, houses...all lace too. Simply amazing). Okay, time's up. Au revoir!
6 July 1:20pm
I'm trying to comprehend why I am so tired. My only conclusion is that I have yet to sleep through the entire night this entire time I've been in Rom. I don't think that's too good. It's making me a bit anti-social I guess. I can't help it. My brain is crashing. A few more days, I'm saying, a few more days. On the other hand, I wish the dig was longer. I have a huge fear that I won't get the cellar finished in time. We keep on finding tons of stuff that's slowing us down.
But besides that, everybody's working hard on their area. Some are looking quite interesting. It's amazing, what can be quite a headache to the excavator, can be quite fascinating to a viewer. There are a few areas that have multiple strats/levels within a small space. It's quite interesting to see it, but it is frustrating while excavating to make sure each layer is removed at a time and the artifacts found are put in the correct bag.
And the last thought of the entry, I've already decided, I must go to the gym every day when I return. My body's not use to eating so much, I'm sure I've gained 5 or 10 pounds. I feel disgusting. Must. burn. it. off. when. return. MUST! That's all for the moment. The damn flies are driving me batty.
8 July 11:25pm
And so ends another chapter in the world of a struggling archaeologist. I said my farewells, received my hugs and kisses. It was quite a fun experience and I'm glad I did it. My cellar did find its end, and we even found it at the end of the day on Thursday - at about 2 meters down, too no less. There was much rejoicing. Finally my mini hell hole found its end. On Thursday, it came to a point where we couldn't take the buckets-full of dirt to the dirt pile and isntead, we had to yell to above "sou" and somebody would come and relieve us of our temporary burden. I think finding the bottom really lifted my spirits. Finally my hole has come to an end. Finally! Today I spent the morning cleaning up the floor and wall and then drew the profile. I always enjoy seeing a wall I profile being put on paper. It gives a clearer view of what was dug. In the afternoon, I helped out some other people on a different section of the site. Suddenly, my frustrating hole didn't seem too complicated and I became glad my hole wasn't too intense. This area was just a massive ball of confusion.
So the site is finished, I've learned quite a bit. I even ended up picking up a book on Roman ceramics in the area (also allows me to practice my french). Last night we had one final excursion to Couhe for pizza. I was actually amused to notice, what filled me up to the brim four weeks ago, now sufficiently settled me. It's going to be quite a change going back home to small and quick meals.
I am quite excited to get back to Paris, where my trip will run on its last hurrah. I've already decided when I arrive at the hotel tomorrow, I'm going to take it very easy. Maybe walk around a bit, maybe see Les Invalides (probably one of the last things to cross off of my "to-do" list). I then have all of Sunday at Disneyland Paris. Monday, I head for the airport in the morning and away I go...back to horrible heat and humidity. Back to working in ticks and poision ivy. Oh the excitement of it all. Oh the sarcasm I'm displaying now.
In any case, I finish this entry now as I am just about ready to crash. I'm spending the night at the director's house, which is very gorgeous. I hope tomorrow I'm more awake then than I have been the last four hours. Zzzzzz, I say, and good night.
10 July 11:!5pm
The day has come to an end and with it, my experience her ein France. I spent the day at Disneyland Paris, and although it probably would have been more fun going with other people, I still managed to enjoy the trip.
I left the hotel at around 9:15am. I ran into a little snag at the station when I was switching from the metro to RER. I had to purchase a separate ticket to get to Disneyland, but for some bizarre and frustrating reason, there were no ticket stands open and the ticket machines decided it didn't want to give out any tickets, so not knowing wat the hell to do, I had to make my way to Disneyland with a metro card in hopes of purchasing something at the stop. Well, that purchase ended up being fucking 25 Euros. Pissed off I was. Paid for it I did. Moved on I did.
I picked up a day-hopper pass where I could visit both the Disneyland Park and the Studio. Of course the park came first. To save y'all from babblings of what I did. I'll summarize. Two shows they had. Lion King and Tarzan. Lion King=popular. Tickets sold out for the day within 15 minutes. Tarzan, I saw. Very impressive. Surprisenly the most popular ride was Big Thunder Mountain. By mid-day the fastpasses were unavailable. The wait was never less than an hour at any given time. On the flip side, every, and I mean EVERY ride I did go on, I waited no more than 10 minutes, with only getting a fast pass for the new Space Mountain: Mission 2. The Indiana Jones ride is incredibly different than in LA. For starters, and actually, the only main difference is that it's an actual roller coaster. One thing I definately liked better here, the rides were actual damn good rides.
When I got bored with that park, I hopped over to the Studio and soon found that boredom intensifying. The park was a ghost town. It didn't help that nothing looked exciting and there was probably only 10 things to do. I ended up just doing their tram-Studio Tour, which sucked, and the Special F/X Armaggedon attraction. I think was more amused with the fact that they actually had an attraction from the movie Armaggedon. What the hell? The movie sucked! AT least teh attraction was somewhat decent. Being overly bored, I went back to the other park. Did a few more things and ate dinner in Frontierland - good meal. I picked up some souvenirs for myself & friends and family and then made my way back to the hotel. So here I am. Overall a fun day. Glad it didn't rain. Tomorrow's going to be a long, tiring day. Fingers crossed it runs smoothly. And away I go!! Thanks for reading!
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