My advice to anyone coming in the future is don’t mess around with your basic needs. Make sure to be bringing plenty of water with you everyday and drink plenty of water when you’re not at the dig. Also make sure to eat. You are burning so many calories everyday and your body needs fuel, so make sure not to skip any meals. Also bring plenty of sunscreen. The sun is no joke. While you are in Gasipasa make sure to try doner as it is a wonderful food. I would also recommend going everywhere at least once. Never sit out on field trips, and talk to people as much as you can. The scholars there are fountains of information and so interesting to talk to if you just start a conversation. The Locals and Turkish students also have so much to share with you if you just ask. If you make an effort to learn about people and their lives they will tell you. I learned a lot in Gazipasa. I learned a lot about archaeology, history, seismology, geology and sociology. Archaeology is such a multifaceted subject that you can gain so much on so many different topics just by being present and asking questions. I also learned dark secrets about Tim which gave me a glimpse into his dark and haunted past. My most memorable experience was honestly just going to Konrads and talking to everyone. Finding out who my classmates and the Turks are, their experiences, hobbies and reasons for doing archaeology. Also finding things is super cool. I found a bronze figure head and I was grinning for the rest of the day because of how excited I was. My perspective I feel is very different now. I have been viewing the world through a lens different from America first since coming home. I feel so much smarter for learning how little I know about the world. I loved the work of archaeology and I loved the theorizing aspect as well. I first arrived in Gazipasa as someone who was unmotivated by school and unsure of what to do with my future. Now I feel like I have really connected with this work and all that can be learned by traveling. I am wanting to spend more time in this field as it is something that I have really connected with even though I wasn’t expecting to.
