3 Days Left

Well, my departure for Turkey is quickly approaching and I think I'm just about ready to go. The past two months here in Halifax have flown by, and I must admit I'm a little sad to be leaving it again so soon. Everytime I return to this province I fall in love with it again and it makes it so hard to leave. Work has been great, and I've really enjoyed the crew I've worked with. At this point, I figure I will be returning to Calgary in the fall and I'll look for a job in archaeology when I get there.

Probably most of you reading this blog will be family...okay, maybe just immediate family...fine, it'll just be my dad...anyways, most will already know what I'm doing this summer, but in case someone accidently stumbles upon this blog, I'm spending the next 3ish months in Turkey, 2 months of which will be spent excavating at two different archaeological sites.

The first site is called Oluz Hoyuk and is close to Amasya, which is south of the Black Sea and east of the capital of Ankara. The levels they have currently reached at this site fall into the Hittite Period which just so happens to be my favourite period in Turkey. The second site is Ulucak Hoyuk and is in Izmir which is a fairly large city along the Aegean Coast. At this site they are into the Neolithic levels. I'll be spending about a month at each of these sites which will leave about 15 days for travelling with a friend of mine once excavations have wrapped up.

I'm not sure what kind of internet access I'll have over the next couple of months, but I will try to keep this blog updated so those who are interested can know what I'm up to. And as a warning to those who are not interested in archaeology, this blog will likely be heavy with it. Apologies in advance.

At this point, I have to say I'm really excited, a little nervous, but mostly excited to start this adventure. I leave Halifax on Thursday night, arrive in London (Gatwick) at about 5:00 am local time, fly out at around 6:30 am and arrive in Istanbul at 12:30 pm on Friday. Once there, I will spend a few hours in the city before travelling by bus to Amasya, about a 12 hour bus ride! Hopefully I'll be able to sleep on the bus ride, which may be an overnight trip.

Turkey is a beautiful country with extremely friendly people. I'm very excited to be able to not only visit it again, but to actually live in it, and to be able to get a different prespective of the places and people than I had before.