When I first landed in Gazipasa I had no idea what to expect from the project as a whole, but with the exception of the heat, all my worries were put to rest soon after as I have been nothing but pleasantly surprised by everything. Overall, Turkish culture is way more friendly and approachable than most would think. As far as I’ve seen people are friendly and eager to help and even though communication might be complicated at times, everyone is ready to traverse those language barriers.
Additionally, the food is absolutely amazing, I always loved Turkish food but the real thing is not even comparable. Every day the hard work of excavating the Acropolis in the hot Mediterranean sun is simply forgotten over a plate of the homemade meals with the best spices I’ve ever had. Unfortunately I haven’t explored the town’s restaurants much yet, but I will try to get to do so this next week and hopefully, it will be as good as the ones we have been having.
Moreover, my perceptions of the place and its people were not the only thing I’ve learned about this first week. While working hard on digging what we believe could have been a small church, I realized that there is nothing that gives someone more motivation than the intriguing aspect of uncovering small pieces of a huge puzzle. So far I have still no idea of what to do with said small pieces, but it is exactly because of this that I am excited every day to get to go back to digging the next morning and hopefully I will continue to find more and more pieces in the upcoming weeks