The third week we were in Nijmegen, we stayed at the Hessenburg site. Huge craters where parking garages would go, an excavator threateningly close to our hardhat clad heads, deadlines, many graves, oil lamps, and coins. The ground was sandy, which at least made for easy digging. We were all ready to get out of the dirt once and for all during our last week, and I think on Monday we were at Kiki’s site again, but I can’t remember for sure (that’s terrible; it’s only been three weeks!) Tuesday I went with Laura to the office so she could finish [View Full Entry]

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Sunday we had the crazy idea to ride our rusting, too-small bikes to Germany. It really wasn't far; the border was probably six or eight km away, and we rode on the bike path along a major highway the whole way. We got to the border and took some pictures of ourselves leaving Gelderland and the Netherlands, but unfortunately there was no big "Welcome to Germany" sign we could stand by. There are no border posts or anything, no passport checks, as all of the countries around here are part of some pact that has no border crossings. The land was [View Full Entry]

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It is 8 in the morning right now, and I am all packed up and ready to bike out to the site with the other girls within the hour. We spent all of yesterday out in the heat (it was in the 80s and humid!) measuring heights of ground once again. The good thing about that is now we know what we're doing in the measuring department. Today Kiki, our field tech, said we may be learning how to draw/map out the dig, and possibly even start digging. But first we have to finish our measurements, unfortunately. I think we were [View Full Entry]

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My first week in Nijmegen has been pretty eventful, and the other girls and I are finally getting our bearings. Today I went into town by myself and rode around for a while, taking in the sites, and managed to know where I was the entire time. Small victories. Monday Lindsey and I rode to work with Marike. Our "flight attendent," Jerome (pronounced Yeroom) showed us around the Archaeology Bureau's office and then took us around the city. We picked up the other two girls, Jess and Laura, from the train station, and then went to buy groceries. I should mention [View Full Entry]

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I finally found out how to upload pictures! [View Full Entry]

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I'm nearing the end of my first official day with the Dutch. So far this place has been awesome, although I can't upload any of my pictures right now because the computer in the farmhouse doesn't have a slot for my card. If anyone would like to get Skype, though, feel free because we have it here. I don't know exactly how you sign up for it but it's free, and we'd be able to talk. Our flights were very smooth. Long, but with no turbulence. Oh, and there was no sleep involved, so last night I went to bed at [View Full Entry]

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Hi everybody! I'm new at this whole blogging thing, but I figure it's a good way to keep everyone informed of what shenanigans I get up to in Europe. I don't know how often I'll be able to update, as I don't know if anyone will bring a laptop to the farmhouse we'll be staying in. There are some internet cafes in Nijmegen, and a library, so I'm guessing that those will be my primary means of communication. For sure if I don't update in the Netherlands, I'll write all about my trip on here when I get back. Some stuff [View Full Entry]

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