Week 2

It's been a rather dull week compared to that of week 1. On Monday we woke up early, left around 6:30, and headed to a sugar hill top where a radio tower was located. Around there Dr. Lane wanted us to get soil samples. That process required navigating ourself using a compass and a 100 meter long measuring tape. He gave those of us who didn't know how to navigate by compass how to do so and then assigned us our positions. One was to use the compass, another was to be the achor point for the 100 meter tape while another had to walk with the tape 100m out, the last one was to assist the front man in making sure the tape was not being ensnared in bushes or trees. What started off decent only got worse once the 100m tape somehow broke. No need to fret our professor had a 50m back up...which only worked for a good 3 uses before that one broke as well. Fortune favors the prepared as Lane once again had more measuring tape with him, however, his remaining spare tape was a 20m tape. This all occured over most of the day. Around noon Connor, a classmate, had fixed the 50m tape and we were promptly back on a quick path to finishing this ordeal sooner. Being in that mountain was a pain. Every single bush was prickly and thorny. I refuse to believe there's a reasonable explanation as to why those bushes had to be so prickly, there were no large wildlife out there, except for the spiders which were the size of a silver dollar coin, the birds stayed in the air, what else could prickly bushes be used for?. What possible reason could there be miles of bushes that cut you as you walk through it?! If it hasn't been obvious yet I got poked, thorned, razored and pricked up in that mountain. At the end of it all it felt as if my legs got sunburnt from all the tiny pricks covering my legs. Tuesday we went back out there, this time we begin to dig into the ground with special equipment. We switched off whoever used the tool, it was tiresome and difficult to manuvere. The others would assist in removing the dirt, analyzing the new layers, writing the information, or taking a break. The day before we plotted 8 points out of 15 that Dr. Lane wanted and Tuesday we dug into 3 of them.  The underground terrain was more difficult than any of us had expected. Wednesday and Thursday we went back to our lab in Thebes' museum. Where we got to identifying recorded pieces of pottery in the previous years of Dr. Lane's excavations. Now that we have a rythmn going on in our day to day plans, the spectacle of a new country as diminished. This week felt as though it went 2x as fast though the scenery never ceases to amaze me. Wednesday was the halfway point for this project. Friday we split in two groups. One continued working out in the field digging at designated plot points and the other went to the lab to finish up the pottery ID that remained. It seemed both groups did their best and a lot was accomplished. Most likely the excitement of going to the beach that afternoon boosted all our morals. Once back and ready for the beach we drove north back to the Northern Eurobean Gulf, only this time to the left of Thebes rather than right like last week. This beach was more prepared for guests, with actual shops open, the gravel/sand being slightly more tolerable and more people. We stayed there for about an hour and then headed back to the village, Κόκκινο (kokino). Tomorrow we will be traveling to Delfi, hopefully there's enough going on for a blog in of itself.