A Flawless Trip So Far

A "snowy day" near Frankfurt

Hello Loyal Followers! I come to you now with an update on my trip thus far.

My flights were fine, and even though my connecting flight departed a bit late as it was waiting for the snow to get better for landing in Frankfurt, I arrived at the same time. Their “snow” issue was laughable. I could still see the grass and the ground for the most part, but I suppose it was more of the visibility that was the issue as it was rather cloudy. I took a few trains to get to my friend’s apartment where I would be staying (one train was canceled completely, probably because of the “snow” leaving me to wait on a platform for almost an hour with a boatload of Euro-teens who just got out of school). Overall, it was an easy and average trip with the exception that my bag actually arrived!!! 

I had the best night of sleep in at least a month. I finally did not have to think about anything or plan anything. My brain tried to make a to-do list against my will, but it quickly realized I had nothing that needed to be done! The next day I finished my conference paper and resurrected the Sloppy Joe recipe for my newest victim. It was also a hit even though it was as messy as ever!

We did not have any sort of grater/shredding tool, so I had to use a veggie peeler  for the carrots, thus the extra messy batch of Joes.

The car ride from Frankfurt to Luxembourg City was quite quick as we were doing an average of 160 km on the highway. We stopped at a rest area while still in Germany to grab some lunch. The food was actually pretty good – all homemade relatively speaking.

Pretty posh accommodations!

We arrived at the hotel and goodness was I grateful to have my room paid for by the conference! It was 270 € a night! It was a lovely room and it had the best breakfast I have had in Europe! After checking in we had a trip to Dalheim, known as the Pompeii of Luxembourg and one of the most important archaeological sites in the country. The weather was cold and windy, but the tour was nice. We had a group dinner which was mostly light things: French fries, diced potatoes, salad, slices of meat, and a dessert. 

The next day the conference began, the theme of which was focused on bathhouses in the Roman Period. As springs are often found near baths because they provide a natural and local source of water, I was asked to speak about the typical objects found in springs. The paper, though very different from others presented in the conference, seemed to generate some interest and I had many good questions. It was also a great conference because I met some very wonderful and interesting people (especially a French girl from my session who I geeked-out with on Roman religion!) from different cities and countries! I can keep adding to my “people to visit” list!

Snowy ruins in Trier

Yesterday the last of the conference attendees made a trip to Trier in Germany to have a look at the baths there. Another cold and wet day, but it was an interesting tour and I learned some things that I missed last year when I saw the sites. 

I stayed in Trier with a friend, then hopped a train in the morning to connect with my Frankfurt-friend who dropped me off in Mainz. I just got settled into the Römisch-Germanische Zentralmuseum (RGZM) where I will stay for free in their guesthouse and use their library for the next month. They sure do have a lot of books which will keep me busy for a while…

I like the contrast here between my swanky hotel room above to my modest, but comfortable room at the research center 

I am leaving soon to meet a friend (The German) from my Vix excavations for dinner, so for now I will say Auf Wiedersehen!

Winter Carnival!

As I mentioned last week, I was off to attend the Twin-Cities Winter Carnival (see previous blog entry for the link if you want more info). Instead of filling up my entire blog with photos (1. take too much time to load, 2. no one wants to scroll through an endless screen, etc.), I'm providing a public link to my Facebook photo album from the event. The photo here is just a teaser.

I will just start by saying it was so darn cold that my fingers were having a hard time moving to push the button on my camera --- that's with my two-layer pair of gloves. My nose was frozen, my eyes were on their way. Basically any part of your body not covered by something out here will start to freeze...I'm going to go on a tangent for a second because I find this amusing... It gets so cold that your eyes burn and start to water, but, the water blows into your eyelashes because of the wind where it proceeds to freeze almost instantly. Another example I laughed about while walking to the bus stop this morning was that I had a runny nose from the cold and was able to sniffle it back in where it froze hard. I could actually feel the hardened piece of sniffle INSIDE my nose, haha, its so cold its just laughable. I will still take this cold over all the snow we get in Michigan... And we're back. Right, so it was really cold and hard to keep steady for picture taking, but overall, I think they turned out quite nice considering it was night (we were told to go at night because it is better for viewing the sculptures). I think it helped that the ice and snow sculptures were well lit. Anywho, here is the link to the photos: Winter Carnival

Apparently there is a whole story to go along with it. Something about the god Vulcan coming here with someone...not sure on all the details...maybe next year I'll be able to relay them more.

Not much new to report about this week. The semester is still going well. I like my classes and the way I have everything arranged. I have a lot more free time away from campus where I can get my work done, which is quite a relief. No big plans for the weekend. Going to my friend Burt's tomorrow night for a movie night with fellow Anthropology TAs.

Next week, Linda, the girl who moved in across the hall from me and also Burt's girlfriend, and I are throwing Charles Darwin a 200th Birthday party. It will be pretty dorky with various evolution themes and references, but should be a good time.

Have a great week all!

The Ball is Rolling!

Before I get started with the update, I want to share an article recommended to me by a friend. I watched a documentary recently called Beyond Belief (about two women who's husband's were killed on 9/11 and decide to do something positive about it and help Afghan women who are also widows from violence), and have become interested in what is going on with the average citizen over there. I thought that this was another interesting case of someone helping the people over there, in this case, Afghan youth. Enjoy!

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On to the update. I've officially been through an average week in my new semester and the future looks bright! I am taking Anthropological Archaeological Theory, Pagans and Christians 100 to 430 AD, and Artifact Analysis. I honestly can't remember the last time I felt this inspired about my field and that I could actually contribute some new ideas to current body of knowledge. Its a really good feeling :) The semester is going to be a lot of work and I have a lot of reading each week, but I'm going strong so far!

I am teaching two lab sections again this semester. My kids are really great, such an improvement from last semester! They answer questions, pay attention, and understand the material...its wonderful! I am so excited to teach them!

In other news... I went to my first ever wrestling match last week. It was interesting to watch and to try to figure out the rules since I know nothing about the sport. It looked painful being stretched and pulled like they were. I was amazed at how much strategy was required, a simple placement of the arm could make or break one's lead. Interesting, though I don't think I'd want to go again.

I received and AeroGarden for Christmas. I decided to plant flowers first, just to make sure I get the hang of it before I try herbs or veggies. It is doing really well and gives me hope that I will be able to actually grow things in my apartment again. Its nice to see something green and alive everyday when it is so cold and snow covered outside... Here are some pictures of my little indoor garden so far :)
















Nothing else much to report. I'm going to the Winter Carnival tonight over in St. Paul. Hopefully I wont freeze my cheeks off (either set). We were supposed to get our end of January heatwave this weekend (a whole 30 degrees), but its not looking promising at a steady 18 degrees outside... I will be sure to post pictures of that next time I post...that is, as long as my camera doesn't freeze...

Spring Semester, Here I Come!

I find it laughable that they term the upcoming semester "Spring" term. Granted we don't have school for most of January, but spring is by no means in sight. I am pretty proud of myself though. For three or four days in a row it was below zero outside and I was comfortable (yes, I wasn't just admiring the cold from my apartment either). We have had a nice high of 20 degrees for the past few days now too --- mmm, toasty. Enough about the nice weather in Minneapolis though.

As I said, the Spring Semester begins this week --- hooray! It couldn't come at a better time. While it is enjoyable and I will be cranky about a week from now, I need a break from my apartment and Netflix. I subscribed when I returned from Michigan and have been quite addicted since. I wont even disclose the number of movies I've watched in the past 1.5 weeks alone.

One of the interesting parts of Netflix is that you can rate movies you have seen too so it can recommend new ones to you. Sad to say, I've ranked over 730 movies. Haha! I knew that I had seen a lot of movies in my lifetime, but I had no idea it was that many! That only includes ones that I have come across on the site too, not ones I've searched for. Terrible. After seeing that it made me realize how much time I waste and how all of those hours could be spent doing something constructive (does blogging count? probably not...). I guess when I think about it though, I am usually doing something else while watching a movie, like finding new recipes or responding to emails.

Speaking of recipes... I have been quite ambitious the past few days in the kitchen. Maybe ambitious isn't the correct word because nothing I made was that difficult, but it sounds impressive I guess... Anyway, this weekend I tackled homemade crackers and corn chips! I'm feeling very domestic at the moment and wanted to see if I could make my own and have them actually taste good. The crackers were a lot of fun. I started with a simple wheat cracker base and added a few extra spices, though I was only working with what I had and have much tastier ideas in mind. I rolled the dough out and used cookie cutters to make shapes instead of plain rectangles. The consistency ended up being similar to Kashi's multigrain/whole wheat crackers or a thicker, less greasy Wheat Thin. I want to give it a few more tries, but I will definitely post my final results as soon as I get them in order.

The corn chips were interesting. The flavor was on, but not the consistency/texture. They were super thin based on the recipe I followed. I have another one I plan on trying soon and again. It sounds like these would be tricky (which is why I said 'ambitious' earlier), but they really are not.

Alright, enough boredem for now. I need a break from the computer and Mea wants her dinner. Until next time...