No sunburn...yet...
Following my last post, I caught a night train from Frankfurt to Paris. I thought a couchette would be too claustrophobic so I just got a regular seat which was cheaper anyways...I'm normally great at sleeping in seats on trains or planes or whatever, so I thought it would be fine. I was wrong. I was in a cabin with a couple who had a baby and the damn child would fall asleep in its mother's arms, then wake up and start crying as soon as she tried to put him down. The man across from me had really long legs and kept them stuck out the door, so it was freezing. Plus I just couldn't get comfortable. There were headrests that went around the sides, likely to keep people from falling asleep on each other. Unfortunately they were too high to lean against comfortably, but not high enough that I could put my head under them and lean against the wall. I slept very little.
Got to Paris and managed to catch the right trains to get to the airport. Had to hop a barrier since the woman didn't give me the right ticket even though I told her where I was going. I arrived there around 8 am and couldn't sign in for my flight until 10:20. I sat and read and had a snack and was told to move back with a bunch of other people as they blew up some abandoned luggage. I actually heard the bang and saw something fly away a bit...a little scary. Finally got through and met most of the rest of the people from the program who were jetlagged and thus just as delerious as myself. Our flight was delayed and we were herded away from the gates all the way back to the security area for yet another few pieces of abandoned luggage. And people thought the middle east would be the scary part...
Friday night when we arrived we basically just unpacked had a snack and went to bed soon after. Our room is really beautiful with vaulted ceilings, and I like all my roommates. The only bad part of the room is the dust..it's everywhere here. The pillows were also way overstuffed and incredibly hard, but last night I took a bunch of stuffing out of mine and some others and it's much better now. Other bad things are that you can't flush toilet paper down the toilets, it all goes in a garbage can...kind of gross. Also, they said meals would be provided, but that just means they supply food. Lunch is cooked for us (and is always delicious) but we're on our own for breakfast and dinner. I don't mind so much but I wish they'd been more honest about it, especially since we're definitely going to be too exhausted to cook.
Saturday and Sunday were mostly orientation of the town and then the site and lab area. This morning we were on site at 5:30 am to clear out a lot of dried brush and loose rocks so we can start excavations proper tomorrow.
I really love it here. The places is beautiful and the people (both local and on the trip) are really great. I wish I had more to write, but for the most part I've just been hanging out with various people talking, having coffee, eating and all that good stuff. I'll write more when there's more to say, but for now I'll tell you all that I'm having SUCH a great time and I'm incredibly happy here.
Much love to all back home!
Got to Paris and managed to catch the right trains to get to the airport. Had to hop a barrier since the woman didn't give me the right ticket even though I told her where I was going. I arrived there around 8 am and couldn't sign in for my flight until 10:20. I sat and read and had a snack and was told to move back with a bunch of other people as they blew up some abandoned luggage. I actually heard the bang and saw something fly away a bit...a little scary. Finally got through and met most of the rest of the people from the program who were jetlagged and thus just as delerious as myself. Our flight was delayed and we were herded away from the gates all the way back to the security area for yet another few pieces of abandoned luggage. And people thought the middle east would be the scary part...
Friday night when we arrived we basically just unpacked had a snack and went to bed soon after. Our room is really beautiful with vaulted ceilings, and I like all my roommates. The only bad part of the room is the dust..it's everywhere here. The pillows were also way overstuffed and incredibly hard, but last night I took a bunch of stuffing out of mine and some others and it's much better now. Other bad things are that you can't flush toilet paper down the toilets, it all goes in a garbage can...kind of gross. Also, they said meals would be provided, but that just means they supply food. Lunch is cooked for us (and is always delicious) but we're on our own for breakfast and dinner. I don't mind so much but I wish they'd been more honest about it, especially since we're definitely going to be too exhausted to cook.
Saturday and Sunday were mostly orientation of the town and then the site and lab area. This morning we were on site at 5:30 am to clear out a lot of dried brush and loose rocks so we can start excavations proper tomorrow.
I really love it here. The places is beautiful and the people (both local and on the trip) are really great. I wish I had more to write, but for the most part I've just been hanging out with various people talking, having coffee, eating and all that good stuff. I'll write more when there's more to say, but for now I'll tell you all that I'm having SUCH a great time and I'm incredibly happy here.
Much love to all back home!