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!

Travel Anxiety Disorder (TAD)

Aside from all of the other stressful factors that exist in my life, I feel rather confident in saying that most of my gray hairs have come to me just prior to going into the field. How does a person prepare to leave their normal life for one to six months and not get anxious about it? This little known (because it is not a real thing) condition, known as (no one knows this, I just made it up) Travel Anxiety Disorder, or TAD, affects me each and every time I travel.

Typically I write my blog posts after I have already arrived to my destination, taken a shower, slept and finally cooled off from the tiring process that is airline travel in the 21st century. I am calmer, more composed, and can laugh about whatever random-ass-only-could-happen-to-me-thing-that-happened-to-me. I can finally relax. You would not see the same girl 20 hours earlier.

Its not that I go crazy prior to leaving (I like to keep my crazy a bit more hidden).




It is more bottled up anxiety that has several very real side effects:

1. Poor sleep beginning anywhere between two weeks to one month prior to leaving. Typically it manifests the moment I turn the light out to try to sleep. Regardless of how exhausted I may be, the wheels in the ol' noggin start churning and temporary panic begins when I realize how close my trip is and how much there is left to do. I think this happens to most women on a regular basis, but it is certainly amplified to an unprecedented degree when TAD strikes. 
2. Chronic stomach ache and sometimes loss of appetite (or sometimes the opposite -- over eating!) for the week prior to traveling. Your insides just never feel quite right and that knot associated with regular anxiety is magnified with TAD.
3. Random moments of sweating occur when the realization hits that you will be gone for so long or that your trip is getting nearer. These moments are hard to pinpoint when they will actually occur. Realizing it is the last time you will probably eat at your favorite restaurant for the next few months might do it, or simply thinking about having to navigate the airport could induce such random sweating. Luckily this only lasts a few minutes once you get a hold of yourself.
4. Excessive shopping trips may result from TAD. I do not mean the types of trips where you go an spend too much on clothes, etc., but rather repeated visits to Target multiple times in a single week to get one or two small things. Often this is probably stuff you do not need, but feel better taking it with you. This action contradicts some of my earlier posts about how to pack/travel light -- like I said, TAD can be ruthless. 
5. Excessive clingy-ness may occur when someone is in the throws of TAD. Thank goodness I have such wonderful friends and a wonderful boyfriend who understand what it is like to travel and do not mind me texting them a zillion times a day with nearly every thought that pops into my head or will hug me as often as I want. I really am a hug person and going several months without regular hugs really does bring me down, so I have to stock up before I go. 
6. And finally, the overwhelming idea that you are leaving your house, your loved ones (and kitty), your language, and all things familiar can some times be too much and you fall into complete lack of productivity or procrastination. I am supposed to be presenting a paper this weekend at a conference and it is not written, but I have a great outline! This only adds to the panic and can make other side effects of TAD even more pronounced. This is probably the most dangerous of all of the side effects for this reason. 

While there is no cure for TAD, there are some ways to treat the symptoms:

1. Leave a notepad next to your bed so you can write down things that pop into your head at night. Sleep is often lost when you are telling yourself "don't forget to...". By writing it down, you will not forget and can gain some piece of mind. 
2. Deep breaths help with the physical anxiety and cooking at home can be a therapeutic distraction. Chopping fresh veggies, sauteing food in a pan while it sizzles are all calming and can help with anxiety -- it will also ensure you are eating well!
3. Sweating is hard to control for. I recommend a good deodorant. 
4. Pack early and make a list of what you really need (or keep an master packing list that you update after each trip to keep you prepared for the next one) and what you can buy wherever you are going if need be. This will limit the amount of trips to the store.
5. Just keep hugging people, no one really minds.
6. Read that list you wrote while you were trying to sleep and do little bits each day. Decide which are real priorities (do I really need to finish painting that wall mural before I go?), and tackle those. You will have peace of mind and will stay productive. 

I am often asked if I am excited for my trip. While yes, there is a part of me that is always excited to go, I am typically in the throws of TAD and am feeling more anxious than excited. It is the anticipation of the trip and everything I have to do before I go that limits my enthusiasm. I typically overcome TAD after getting to my gate at the airport if my destination is someplace familiar (like Paris), or once I have picked up my bag (assuming it has arrived) at my new destination. 

I leave tomorrow for Frankfurt, Germany and will be gone for the next three months during which I will travel to Luxembourg, parts of Germany, France, England, and back to France. This trip is an exciting one as I will hopefully finish collecting my dissertation data and can begin writing up my results this summer. In the meantime though, in the short time it took me to write this post I have been fighting a stomach ache, began sweating, begged Mea Kitty to come cuddle with me (the bastard refused), and have continued to put off finishing my conference paper. I will write again soon when I am in a better state of mind. Bon voyage! :)

The Art of “Bon Appétit”!

I need to talk about “bon appétit” for a minute because I like it so much. One of the most regular questions I get while in France is “What do you say in English before a meal?” Unfortunately we do not really have a good expression other than “Enjoy your meal,” or in some cases “bon appétit” is used. This is always received with a sad face. Why is bon appétit so important? I think one reason is because food is so important in France. Enjoying fresh, rich, flavorful food is embedded in the culture. Meals are meant to be savored and enjoyed at a slow, relaxed pace with good company.

There are several common courses that I have experienced and I am sure there are others: apéritifs, entrees, main courses, cheese, dessert, and digestifs. Apéritifs are usually some sort of drink before the meal and can be a mild alcohol, wine, beer, etc. Entrees are a small plate, such as a salad of some sort which is then followed by the main course. Cheese acts as a follow up to the main course and can be eaten with bread. Dessert is self-explanatory but may be fresh fruit instead of another form of sweet. Finally, digestifs are normally a strong alcohol or liquor that is at least 40%. Eating is a ritual and is taken quite seriously.

I bring this up because in the past week I have had three strangers wish me “bon appétit” randomly and each time it has made me smile. The first occasion was when The Hobbit and I went for pizza in Châtillon. An old couple entered while we were eating and as they walked by, they wished us “bon appétit” in the sweetest fashion. For the second occasion I was at the train station in Dijon waiting for my ride to Nice. I decided to grab a sandwich and was eating while resting against a wall when a young, awkward looking guy walked by and wished me “bon appétit” quietly. The third case was last night in Nice when we were returning to the apartment with some food in our hands and my friends’ neighbor wished us “bon appétit” as we were ascending the stairs.

I thought about how bizarre this is to have strangers say this to other strangers, but then my mind transitioned to thinking this is rather nice. It is unusual to get a “hello/bonjour” from strangers in France, but “bon appétit,” this is something sacred. 

I Got a Bit Distracted

Well, the excavations finished this week and I realized that I have not provided an update in a long time. While this might make some of you worry (Mother), this is actually a good thing because it means I was keeping busy and was having such a great time with my friends that I was not on the internet all the time. Since I slacked off, I will give a brief summary of what I did and what we discovered at the excavations this year.

We were still working in the same area as last year on top of Mont Lassois. There is about 12 to 18 inches of soil on top of the bedrock which was removed with some heavy machinery. After much of the top layer was scraped off, we cleaned off additional layers of dirt to search for features, such as postholes, pits, and ditches. We opened a huge area and it took four weeks to get everything visible and clean. What we discovered were lots of postholes which indicated that there was another (or several) houses on top of the plateau in addition to the large house which they discovered several years ago. In the past then, the site had one very large house which they believe belonged to the princess of Vix and then there were several smaller houses, but still quite large, that were around the big house. The entire area was then enclosed by a ditch which we also explored further. Several structures of later dates were also evident during our work and two more graves were also excavated this year.

I did none of this work though. I was adopted by the documentation team and helped to describe and draw 300 of these postholes, pits, and ditches. I worked with then daughter of one of our directors to do this. I am incredibly grateful to her because, though she speaks English very well, she let me practice my French which improved dramatically in a matter of the first three days with her. She is only 19, but she is one of the sweetest and most mature people I have ever met. It would have been a long and more trying summer without her help! Anyway, we were quite the team and really kicked ass at getting all of these documents in order. I even got to do some drawings this year which turned out quite well in my humble opinion and much to my surprise. My supervisors were also quite happy with my work and I feel good knowing I helped make things run smoothly this year. The weather was also much improved this year and we only had one day of rain, but it was not bad enough to make us stop working.

In addition to the work, my very good friend The Hobbit was able to come to the site at the last minute. He is in the top ten of my favorite people in the world, so we had a lot of laughs and good memories again from this summer. There were a lot of great people at the site this year in general. I really liked the people on the Swiss team, which was a nice change from last year and the Austrians were great this year too! Overall, there were lots of good conversations, good jokes, and late nights this summer. I have never felt more exhausted after an excavation as I do this year. It was worth it though.

To recover so that I may do more work when I arrive home, I am going to Nice for a week. Many people know of Nice, a beautiful and expensive city in the south of France which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. I am so excited to see the beach and the water I can hardly stand it. I am sitting at the train station now waiting for my train (which goes back to Lyon first). Why did I decide to go all the way down to Nice? Well, there are Minnesotans in Nice. A couple who went to high school with Reed and who I have met several times have taken a year off from the States to live in Nice. I am looking forward to some familiar faces and accents and I hope they are too! After Nice I will go back to Paris for a day or two and then will finally fly home on the 21^st of August. I will write again before then to share my adventures, but for the moment, just know that I am happy, relaxed, and going to a fantastic place in just a few hours!

Hugs to all!

Bringing Sloppy Joes to Dijon

For my final day in Lyon I actually left the city to visit a small town called Vienne. The city had some well-known Roman ruins and a nice museum that contained mostly mosaics and wall paintings from the many houses excavated in the area. After I returned to Lyon in the afternoon, I relaxed and stayed in for the evening.

I caught a train the next morning and worked my way back to Dijon. My good friend, Sarah, in Dijon left her keys with a friend so I could stay at her apartment. I grabbed those and then met up with my friend Clement with whom I would be excavating. We had an important mission for the day: grocery shopping. I promised him two weeks prior that I would make a traditional American dinner for him and his family the next time I was in town. Trying to decide what a traditional American food is can be tricky as most of ours are modifications of other culture’s recipes which tend to add extra fats and sugars. I proposed Mac and Cheese, a standard for me, but he vetoed this one. My next idea, which I did not describe to him until we had purchased the ingredients, was for good ol’American Sloppy Joes. He seemed intrigued by this but I think perhaps had difficulty imagining it since eating it on a hamburger bun made it seem like it would be more of a hamburger. Anyway…

The next day I went over to his mother’s house and began cooking. I really like a recipe from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Foods which is what I used for this one. I had to substitute ground turkey for ground beef since there is not really that much ground meat in France. I picked up some coleslaw to eat with it which I was surprised to learn is well liked in France, though a bit different from ours at home and not as good as what my boyfriend’s mother makes (you have ruined me, Carol!). After an hour or so of preparation, cooking, and simmering, the Sloppy Joes were ready.

I explained how to eat it and that the purpose of the meal was to get it all over your hands and face. I said that is also why I chose this meal because it would be something so un-French. I also showed them my special technique of squishing down the bread in the center of the bun to accommodate more of the slop; they liked this too! I was a bit nervous because I wanted them to like it but had no idea if they would. After a few bites, the laughter began and I was pleased to see them take not only seconds, but even thirds of my Sloppy Joes! I was so happy that it was a success! 

We left shortly after for the excavations which began that Monday. I am two weeks into the excavations now and am happy to say that while they are quite different from last year, I think things are way better. We have only had a bit of rain one day which is completely different from last year. Many of my good friends did not return this year with the exception of Clement, and then The Hobbit made a last minute effort to come, so I have the two of them again. I have become closer with the French students this year than I was last year which helps a bit with the language. My roommate this year is a really cool Austrian girl that I actually met two years ago when visiting Vix and who I excavated several ditches with last year. I am not really excavating this year, but rather, am helping to document all of the new features at the site (for example, a wall or posthole after its discovery). After two weeks, I have drawn over 150 of such features (mostly postholes). The best change this year though has to be that all of the teams are mixing. Last year it was quite divided and so the Austrians stayed with the Austrians, the Swiss with the Swiss, the French with the French, and the Germans with the Germans. This was different from day one and everyone has been talking, sharing drinks, and doing things together. I have met some really great people so far and am enjoying the excavations tremendously as a result (as I have not blogged in two weeks this should be your proof!).

Ok, now that you have all had a bit of an update, I am off again to enjoy one of my evenings in the beautiful weather and good company I have found in France!