Sprain and Pain

Hello Friends,

As you can tell from the title I got injured. I rolled my ankle doing tomb surveying and I am really mad because my ankle is swollen and hard for me to walk. Therefore, Dr. Baker pulled me from working the sites for a day or two to recover and I am really upset.  Kelly and I were going to explore some interesting tombs tomorrow and now I have to work on cleaning bones instead. 

Today was not my day. To begin with Kelly and I found no tombs in our sector which was very frustrating. Then my allergies acted up and I was sneezing all day- ugh! Also, as I began hiking the trail I crashed into a root and slammed up onto a rock- ouch! However, the real tragedy was that we got a new sector and as we began surveying the site I sprained my ankle. 😦

As Kelly and I began to walk the area we suddenly encountered wild boars who started chasing us through the brush! As we were running for our lives I jumped out of the boar’s way when I fell in the mud and tripped, spraining my ankle. Just kidding! I thought that would be a better story than me just tripping and spraining my ankle. It took me an hour and 15 minutes to limp back to the bus.

Shout out to my wonderful new friends who brought me dinner since I could not go out to eat!! Thank you!! They picked up a pizza and we all gathered together in my room talking and relaxing with my leg up to reduce the swelling. A friend of mine let me borrow her leg brace and with no ice in Italy it has been a challenge. I’m off to bed now to rest and hopefully the swelling will go down by the morning so I can go back to work.

Sweet dreams,
Noelle

Tombs more tombs

Hello Friends,

First, great news- Dr. Baker got a new tomb to work on with her students! Sad news-  we only have two more weeks here at the site. However, working on a tomb is better then no tomb at all. We did find some cool Greek pottery pieces!

Today I got a new partner for tomb survey- my friend/roommate Kelly. We explored the bottom of our sector and didn’t find anything. Instead we got turned around countless of times and almost got lost! It was a fun! Later in the afternoon we headed back to the sector to see if we could find any more tombs that we might have missed in the morning. We rocked out to my Disney playlist while we searched and fell a few times. We also got cuts and all kinds of  tree sticks in our hair. Yuck! I got really sad when I ripped my favorite shirt falling :(( It’s ok though, I sewed it back up.

We had no presentations or lecture tonight so Greta, Lama, Kristen, Emily and I all went to dinner outside the walls. We found some great food and talked about everyones first impressions of each other. Good times!!

That’s it for tonight,

Tomb Raider

Work and Relaxation

June 11:

Hello Friends,

We worked this weekend to make up for our raining day😕. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing tomb survey but it’s the weekend.  I would have loved to sleep in and rest from all the work we did this week, but no such luck. Looking on the bright side I did cover at least half the sector doing tomb surveying again. In one of the tombs it seemed to be a two room tomb which still had nails  embedded in the wall of the tomb- like a coat hook. These nails are square which usually indicates that they were man made. They were so cool looking and rusted. This was an amazing tomb!!

The day pretty much consisted of me crawling into tombs that were either covered or hard to get into. I made up a song to keep my mind off of what I was going into and to stay focused.  It went like this; “Into the tomb she goes… as she wiggles in…wiggle, wiggle, wiggle… and she wiggled in.” The song to leave the tomb went like this; “Away from the tomb she goes…and she wiggled away…wiggle, wiggle, wiggle…and she wiggled away.” Once I’m half way out of the tomb I tend to army crawl the rest of the way out of the tomb. Needless to say my body hurts! I’ve had to do many weird angles to get out of tombs and I usually enter the tombs feet first and exit head first. It is insane but really fun! It’s like playing the game twister, in that your body is in all types of weird positions, but you are playing by yourself in empty tombs. You gotta love it!

After dinner my friends and I walked outside the walls to explore the city.

June 12:

Hello Readers,

Sleep…eat…sleep…wash clothes…sleep! It was what I and every other anthropology student needed. Rest! Rest! It seems that this has become the weekly Sunday ritual for relaxation and preparing for the week.
We did try a new place for dinner, a street food restaurant, that was actually pretty good. After dinner we all went to get gelato’s- yum!

Well it is about 10:45 pm and I have to wake up early for another week in the field, since I am surveying tombs, and that requires more than the usual 7 mile daily hike!

Night,

The Tomb Explorer-

Fairytales

Hello Friends-

Today was a great day!

Despite my health issues (and getting a bit shocked in the morning from an outlet) my partner and I finished surveying our tomb sector!! Woohoo!! There was a total of 35 tombs that we found in our little area. Some of the tombs were crazy to get into! One of the tombs we were in had two nails embedded in the tomb jamb and inside the tomb as well. It is  always fun to find metal.

It started to rain in the afternoon when Tanner (my tomb buddy) and I were finishing up our last tomb. We were advised to be careful and if it was too dangerous to stop. We were not to do any unnecessary risks.

Tanner and I got assigned a new sector to survey and we haven’t actually met our boundary yet. The walk to our new sector is quite away. No joke. Anyways I like the hike though because I think it’s kinda magical. It reminds me of a fairytale scene and a sense of wonderment. It truly made me appreciate the beauty of God. Granted, I’m allergic to nature but I am completely amazed about what God has created. The drizzling rain made the scene seem that much more magical. I wish my pictures could do justice to show you what I saw- a land of majesty and quiet tranquility.

That’s all for tonight, my friends. Until tomorrow and my many adventures.

Night,

Tomb Raider (Though I don’t actually raid tombs- hehe)

Tumbles and Trees

Hello Friends,

Wow! Let me just begin by saying that the soreness I feel is real and intense. I feel like a tree has hit me…and literally it did!

Let me begin my day for you. I usually do not eat breakfast but with all the hiking and work we do I have learned that I have to in order to maintain my stamina and energy. I also need to state that nature was not my friend as well. One, I’m allergic to all trees and grass and felt horrible. Usually it’s not an issue but today nature and I did not get along and I felt horrible!

I thought my job duty today, as tomb survey, would make me feel better but that didn’t help me either. A tomb surveyor investigates the area for tombs so I climbed up hills and went through brush to find them. It was a very difficult climb, holding onto trees and roots,  to get up to the tombs. I thought this adventure would be fun, but my allergies did not make it fun. Not to mention that I fell 17 freaking times….  yep, that number is correct! Now my body is aching and sore and I feel worse.

I thought I was prepared for the climb, despite the fact that my body was achy, and could just push past the pain.However, I quickly slipped and while trying to grab a dead tree it broke and I went tumbling down the hill! I was only able to stop when I literally ran int a tree. Falling 17 times down a hill is not what I call an adventure. Ugh…not fun at all!

On the bright side though I saw some really awesome tombs. One of the tombs I managed to get through had a false window in it!!  Amazing!!! It was really awesome. Plus, my tomb buddy was interesting to to work with. Well that’s all for now. I’m off to take some medicine and get some rest for my aching body.

Night,

Tomb explorer

Changing things Up…

Hello Friends,

This morning I got ready for field work as usual, but by the time we were on the bus it was raining so bad that we had to change our plans. The professors decided that we would instead do a field trip that was scheduled for Saturday and do our field work on the weekend.

We traveled to Tarquinia, Cerveteri, to visit the tombs there. Emily, Lama and I explored the tombs and the surrounding area and got drenched in the rain. However, we got to see painted tombs on paved paths which helped keep us in the rain. Karma also got the best of me.  I had been making fun of all the students who had lost their ticket entrance and then I too lost mine and had to buy another one. Ironically, Dr. Baker also lost hers as well. We are just two peas in a pod.

 

 

We all had free time to wonder the city so Emily and I went to a museum and then had lunch. We had a great lunch. She had pasta and I had steak. Doesn’t it look delicious?

 

 

 

 

Lastly, we went to another tomb site. Field school has become ingrained in us because  we wanted to immediately get inside of it. We saw some amazing tombs. We also acted a bit silly while there.

Once back at the monastery my friends and I talked for a while. All in all, it was a good day despite the fact that we did not do any actual field work.

Night,

Noelle

The Bone Collector!

Hello Friends,

 

 

 

Today I crawled into a few tombs, looked at some bones and worked in the blistering sun. Since many have asked what it is I discovered I can safely now say that it is not of a biological nature. I hope to tell you what it is in the days to come but for now that is all I can say.

 

 

 

 

The majority of the day I worked with the fantastic Dr. Baker which is always awesome! Good news- Dr. Baker was allowed, once again, to work on her tomb so that was very exciting! We both worked on her tomb site and collected measurements which was very informative. After lunch we side tracked her tomb for another tomb where bones had been discovered. The rest of the day we worked on categorizing the bones discovered from the tomb sites.

 

That might not interest the general public but working on BONES all day long is a dream come true- especially if it is on an archeological site. Great news!! We think we that we have found at least two people from the tombs!!! So exciting!!

It is always an adventure working with Dr. Baker. She is such a phenomenal mentor teacher!

At dinner tonight I was roped into seating with the Baker family because her younger son wanted to sit next to me. The Baker boys are just too funny. They definitely remind me  of how my brothers and I acted as young kids and still do to this day. After dinner, Emily, Kelly, Tanner and I went out for gelato. Yummy- it was fantastic! It was a perfect way to end a perfect day!!

Tomorrow I get to map out tombs so I am very excited. 😝😁💀🤔😏

Noelle-  aka… the Bone Collector

Digging it Up!

Hello Friends,

Today I did archeological work on the plateau since I was unable to continue working on at the tomb site. My partner and I  worked in a 3 by 3 square meter area which involves slow troweling and sifting through buckets and buckets of dirt and finding nothing- very sad!
This is the part that is somewhat tedious and frustrating since 9 out of 10 times we don’t find anything in the sifted sand. Matt and I were partners today and totally got covered with dirt from head to toe!  We were the fasted and most efficient team despite the fact that we talked the entire time. I have no idea what we are going to do tomorrow but I am always up for any kind of adventure.

Tonight we were very excited because we didn’t have a lecture or have to present on our work  for the  day. Woohoo!!!  Emily and I had an early dinner and then walked around the town.  We just walked and talked. We have become really good friends because we are so similar – like two peas in a pod.

Hopefully, I will have some exciting news for tomorrows post.

Farewell,

Noelle

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Friends!!!

This heat is going to kill me. Honestly, you would think I was use to it with the Texas heat, but this in unbearable. After a few hours of work in the sun with no shade, and only a litter of water really starts to wear down on a person both mentally and physically. It also doesn’t help that we  have to hike to our lunch area and back to work in the heat. I get so excited to see our bus at the end because it means I am going back to the hotel.  I’m exhausted and its only Monday!

Today I had a few heat headaches (ugh…they are horrible) so I have to remember to bring more water to stay hydrated.  I drank a lot of water today but still my body felt like it had overheated. What’s worse is that Italy apparently doesn’t like to give or sell ice anywhere.

Enough complaining though- I am in Italy, after all. We worked on the tomb entrance again and good news-we’re almost done!! However, we were told by the Italian authorities that we couldn’t work on the tomb anymore!!!! 😟😱 We are not happy about that so we don’t know what we are gonna do tomorrow. Hopefully, it will all be sorted out quickly. Very sad news but at least I have been sketching the inside of the tomb, and the bones recovered so that I can have that documented.

 

On another note, I’m super proud of my friend Emily. Emily and her partner had been working in the tomb were I made a discovery (as mentioned in my previous post) and was very discouraged because they had missed seeing it multiple times. However, today Emily’s luck changed and I’m super proud of her. She discovered a femur and was able to identify it even though it was missing the femur head. Emily is confident again and I’m super proud of my new friend. 😄👻

 

Before dinner we did group presentations on everyone’s progress so far, and that was awesome to see and hear. Dinner and dessert were good but now I’m off to bed because my body, once again, is overheated and I’m hoping that sleep will help.

 

 

I’m bone dead tired.  Haha💀💀. Get it? BONE DEAD tired because I’m dealing with bones, death, tombs and people who sleep for a very long time- hahaha. Sorry readers,  I’m tired!

Peace,

Noelle

Roma and Rest

Greetings Readers-

June 4th:
Sorry for not posting anything yesterday but I was in Rome and by the time we got back I was dead tired. Today I will be posting all about my adventures for the last two days.

In Roma we walked the city and saw all the historical sights as a collective group. We loved watching all the people, as a cultural lesson ,since we are all anthropology majors.

 

Anthropology deals with human and cultural history. I love to watch people, wherever I go, and try to become one of the locals and not look like a tourist.Today I took that challenge and tried to assimilate into the culture. Greta, Emily and I were stopped by this lovely old lady who wanted to know why we were taking pictures of her quiet street, which offered nothing extraordinary. We explained that our teachers had gotten us lost and we were trying to find our way back to our meeting place. While waiting for everyone, I decided to sit on the grass and act casually when one of my friends thought Emily and I were one of the locals. Challenge completed!

I had a lovely day in Rome walking the city, enjoying the beautiful sights and watching all the people. A group of us sat at a nice little cafe and enjoyed each others company. I even bought a few things, which my parents have always encouraged me to do while visiting a foreign country-Thank you, Mom and Dad!  I realized how blessed I am to have this wonderful experience!

For dinner we ate at a restaurant that provided a 5 course meal. The food was delicious but there was so much of it. It was great to relax and recap the day with everyone on our train ride back to Viterbo. We told funny stories, which led me to a laughing attack, and I got to know my friend Emily better since we hung out the entire day together.

June 5th:

Today was a day of rest which all of us desperately needed!! We all washed clothes, slept in late and finally got to explore the town of Viterbo. My roommates (Kelly and Emily) and I decided to hang out together and explored the city together. We bought fruit and enjoyed the beauty of this quaint little town. Somehow we have befriended a cat, who we have named toothless. This cat has a way of finding and following us. I will have to take a picture of him next time for my post. I am off to sleep in preparation for the week ahead. Until tomorrow-

Goodnight friends,

Noelle