I think I would sum up my experience at the dig so far as pretty much exactly what I expected when I signed up for getting up at 5 am to dig holes for 8 hours every day. The things that exceeded my expectations were how amazing all the friends I’ve made are, how fantastic the food is, and definitely how gorgeous the places we’ve been are. While the weather is pretty similar to how it is back home during this time of year, I’ve certainly been much more active in this kind of heat than I have been for a long time so it’s been pretty challenging, but also incredibly rewarding as I see the steady progress we make on the dig each day.
I’ve loved spending my free time with all my newfound friends, the beaches are gorgeous, the food is delicious, and the beer is not as terrible as I thought it’d be. The trips to the beach have been some of the highlights of this whole thing so far, the cove was absolutely gorgeous and I’ve been getting more practice swimming in the past two weeks than probably the last decade. If I could tell someone just one thing about my time in Gazipasa up to this point, it’s that the people are welcoming and the food is fantastic.