{"id":4051,"date":"2026-08-17T09:17:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T14:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/?p=4051"},"modified":"2026-08-17T09:17:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T14:17:52","slug":"from-one-archaeologist-to-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/2026\/08\/17\/from-one-archaeologist-to-another\/","title":{"rendered":"From One Archaeologist to Another"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi, or Merhaba, as you would say in Turkish! If you\u2019re reading this, then you are probably getting ready to embark on one of the best trips you will ever take, so here are a few things to look out for! Oh, where to begin\u2026 first of all, I definitely recommend packing everything on the packing list. One of my biggest mistakes was not bringing enough off-site clothes for lounging in and exploring around town. It\u2019s easy to bring clothes that you love, but don\u2019t do it! When they say the dirt stains your clothes, it really does stain your clothes, and it\u2019s not just work clothes either.\u00a0 Bring clothes that are easy to pair with each other and breathable you’re going to be sweating all the time. I\u2019d also recommend packing junky tee-shirts for digging in that you can donate when the trip is over, but also bring plenty of long-sleeve options for digging in. I brought two swimsuits, but if you do as much swimming as I did on the weekends, it might be nice to have a few options. This trip, our group struggled a lot with a cold that seemed to spread to almost everyone; symptoms included congestion, sore throat, and coughing. I\u2019d recommend some kind of cold and flu tablets or something to help with that. Otherwise, there are some pharmacies in Gazipa\u015fa too! Melatonin might be nice too; some people struggled with falling and staying asleep. When it comes to dinner at <\/span>\u015eEF\u0130M, the food is delicious you can\u2019t go wrong with any of the options. The restaurant is very accommodating when it comes to vegetarians and providing gluten-free options. If you want to venture off a bit and try something new from the menu, then you absolutely have to try <\/span>Mercimek. It\u2019s an amazing lentil soup, and cheeseburgers are a nice change of pace too, maybe a side of French fries too! <\/span>\u00a0I will admit, it completely slipped my mind that I should have let my bank know that I\u2019d be traveling out of the country, so that was my bad, but you definitely should let them know! If your card doesn\u2019t work like mine, then there is a good ATM downtown. Usually, I\u2019d restock on our way to Konrads, but don\u2019t make the mistake I did. Getting cash out every week was a little annoying.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of my all-time favorite things to do when I had downtime was to visit Bidi Bidi Beach on the weekends. It\u2019s so beautiful, and the restaurant has amazing food. My friends and I would try to go earlier in the morning that way, we had time in the afternoon for laundry or blog posts and for doing the readings. On Saturdays, our group spent time doing various field trips, and one of them was the festival, it\u2019s honestly really chilly up in the mountains where the festival is located. It\u2019s tolerable, but I wish I had a cardigan or sweatshirt with me.<\/span><\/p>\n

There was so much I learned during this trip, about myself, archaeology, Turkish culture, and everything in between. One of the things that stuck with me the most was just how much you can get done when you put your mind to it. I know that sounds so clich\u00e9, but I think it\u2019s the best way to explain this experience. The first few days are really hard, and it feels like chai break and lunch will never come, but soon after getting over that initial hump, everything (for the most part) is smooth sailing. Keep your mindset pleasant, be open to opportunities, and push yourself, but know your limits. The language barrier is also a bit complicated, but everyone is so kind and friendly, they are always happy to help. Talking about kind and friendly people, you absolutely have to make it to the market by the beach. We made it a tradition to have a Saturday sunset beach dinner (at Bidi Bidi, of course) followed by a visit to the jewelry market.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of my most memorable experiences on site may be all the group work and bonding we did as a group. This also sounds so cheesy, but it’s true! From Jacob sharing his cola gummies to us all celebrating when we\u2019d finally get that giant stubborn root out. These kinds of things made the work days fly by, and it gels us all as a team. As for off-site, all of the field trips are so fun. There is such a range of activities, so nothing really gets old. Making weekly traditions was memorable too, just dance night every Wednesday, movie nights on Sundays, and let’s not forget Konrad\u2019s every Friday night!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Going into this internship wanting to be an archaeologist was very exciting for me, however, I was concerned that there would be a small chance of me actually really hating it. I was pleased when I realized on the first day that yes, this is hard, but it is also a good, rewarding kind of hard. So it was exciting to confirm that archaeology is something I really want to pursue in the future. Being able to experience history firsthand in this sense is something you can\u2019t get anywhere else. It blows my mind that some of the artifacts that were found haven\u2019t been touched in thousands of years. It\u2019s so fun making hypotheses about trenches and what they were used for. To be able to do this for a month and learn from the best archaeologists is something that can never be forgotten. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi, or Merhaba, as you would say in Turkish! If you\u2019re reading this, then you are probably getting ready to embark on one of the best trips you will ever take, so here are a few things to look out for! Oh, where to begin\u2026 first of all, I definitely recommend packing everything on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5732,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Iz8A-13l","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5732"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4051"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4054,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051\/revisions\/4054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}