Perception and Reality

You may be surprised, as I was, to hear that it was common people assumed my time in Turkey would be leisurely. Conversely, you may be one of those who think what we’re doing in Gaziapasa is nothing more than a glorified vacation. I’m not sure where this perception...

Adaptation and Exploration

Before arriving in Gazipasa people always asked me how I felt about traveling to Turkey. Truth be told, I never knew how to respond to them. I didn’t exactly feel scared, but I didn’t exactly feel excited either. To put it simply, the whole situation felt so surreal...

Week One in Antiochia

I arrived at the dig house on July 1, 2018 at 2am. Most of the American team arrived later in the afternoon, so I was able to spend the first day at the beach with the Turkish students and a couple of fellow Oles. One Turkish student brought a guitar and played music...

Patrick’s Blog Post Title

The first week in Turkey has exceeded all expectation. With a layover to go sight seeing, I was able to explore with a friend and immerse in Turkish culture and history. While exploring, we experienced the brutal friendliness of shop keep after shop keep, this same...

Life in Turkey

We just finished our first week in Turkey and it was a whirlwind of new learning and interesting experiences. I now know that I can get up at 5 am and dig in the hot sun for seven hours without too much of an problem, Turkish tea is very very good, and bread never...

Week One

I should preface my first blog post by emphasizing just how much I have been looking forward to this project. I can remember my interview with the St. Olaf admissions officer (I even remember that his name is DJ) where he brought up the dig when I had mentioned that I...