I am most excited to see the Antiochia site in its physical and geographical context. After reading extensively on the site and examining the photos, I still lack a clear understanding of the site’s current condition and the appearance of its surrounding environment. I think that there is a certain amount of incommunicable emotion and feeling you experience on a site that provides understanding you cannot gain from purely textual descriptions of a place. I am really excited to experience the site in person, feel the humidity and sun, and smell the salt in the air, gaining a more nuanced and personal understanding of the place where we will be working.
I am most excited to explore how the site interacts with its surrounding environment. This summer, I’ve spent time working outside with kids and have given a lot of thought to the way environments impact our experience of place and how people develop the places they live in to shape their experience of the environment around them. Are certain walls set to face the ocean or a creek? Are doors or windows placed to provide a certain view? I think you can glean a lot of information from details like that, especially if you zoom out to understand a place in its geographical context.
I am very excited to go for a run on my first day in Gazipasa. I have tried to do some scouting on Google Maps and the like, but I truly have no idea what the running will be like, and I am really excited to get out and check out the area surrounding our living accommodations. I think running is the best way to quickly get a sense of a place, so hopefully, once I have run, I will feel somewhat more grounded and comfortable in Gazipasa.