Bye, Pittsburgh!

I left Pittsburgh this morning with my giant bag, which weighs in at 45lbs. Yes, it is one pound overweight. Yes, it is an improvement from packing attempt #1, which hulked in on the scale at 56lbs. But that one extra pound is something I cannot part with. The BEST Starbucks manager at the BEST Starbucks in the UNIVERSE (aka Doug/Gibsonia) donated me a pound of Verona to take to Astypalaia Island with me to ensure I am properly caffeinated in the morning before we start work (Which is awesome since work starts at 7 but breakfast isn't until 9). So that one extra pound is completely necessary... I mean, if I don't take that pound of coffee, I might kill my coworkers. But the point of this post is not to complain about the packing restrictions, nor is it to thank my favorite Baristas for single handedly preventing first degree murder - but rather, to document the unofficial first mini-leg of my trip.

Leaving home stinks. I know this is going to be a great experience, but it definitely is zero fun patting the horses so-long and saying goodbye to the fam-jam. I'm trying not to dwell on all the neat things I will miss this summer. I'm going to be missing from Pittsburgh for nigh on 8 weeks - that's a long time. I will miss 95% of my grandparents visit, lose out on the chance to qualify the I1 freestyle for CBLMs, and miss the pool and BBQ days. I'm going to have to spend what is left in my bank account on carrots for Sully when I'm back to get him to stop sulking. I'm going to miss out on the post-riding Starbucks runs. Most importantly, I won't find out real-time whether Casey Anthony is found guilty or not (kidding. I'm not addicted to the trial like some people *cough-Mum-cough-Kate-cough*.)

The airport was fun. I love flying back and forth from Pittsburgh... its more of a take off, level out, then immediately land since the flight is just under an hour. Today, though, the flight just made me anxious... especially when we landed and taxied past the GIANT transatlantic jumbo jets. My tiny little micro plane would have been able to drive clean under the plane that I'll be strapping myself into on Sunday. I am excited to go, and terrified all at the same time.

I've checked and rechecked all the gear I packed. Every confirmation is printed, everything electric is charged and ready, I've said 95% of my good-byes, and now... I guess I just sit back and wait until Sunday.

Or maybe I'll go unpack and re-pack just one more time.

Mileage Remaining: 10,799
Days Remaining in Trip: 50

20 Kilos

That's how much my bags are permitted to weigh. 20 Kilos. That's only 44 pounds. Thats... nothing. I am permitted to pack air. Two bags worth of air!!!

I am flying from Toronto to Athens with AirTransat, which is lovingly referred to by my father as the Incredible Flying Cattle Car. I believe its going to live up to its name. They are only letting me bring one carry on, and check one bag. Olympic Air, which is pretty much 1/100th of the size of the AirTransat plane, lets you have 2 carry-on bags! The bigger airline is restricting me. Well - technically I could upgrade to club class and take another carry on, for an additional fee of $1200. Ha.

So, now I am starting to get a tad concerned with how I am going to cram all my stuff into ONE checked back and ONE carry on. I mean, I'm gone for 6 weeks. And while I don't exactly need to be the height of fashion for the first 5 weeks (excavating in high heels, leather pants, and tube tops is frowned upon. Not like I wear those anyway), I would like to bring, you know, more than one pair of pants (or trousers for you folks across the pond). My field kit alone is going to take up some space, with steel toe hiker boots which weight half a ton, and all the bits of equipment; plus I have to squish clothes and the 20 gallons of sunscreen mum bought for me into my checked bag.

For my carry on, I need to squish a change of clothes, plus I need my laptop for school work and the course manuals and I was planning on buying food at the airport and hiding it in my bag since I am terrified of calamari. I figure I can ration granola bars in case of mandatory squid based meals. I am a very adventurous eater but squid just gives me the heebie-jeebies.

So what do I do?? Even with ninja-esque packing skills this is going to be tricky. Perhaps I should put the learning greek book down and pick up a game of tetris to prepare for the "big pack."

Mileage Remaining: 10,799
Days Remaining in Trip: 50

Learning the Lingo (Ed.1): I am a Pancake!

This is the first of what will hopefully become a series of posts. My goal is to record my progress learning the local languages and the inevitable linguistic mistakes that occur. Clearly my mother decided to withhold the part of the genetic code that gives us an “innate” ability to speak languages, and as far as languages other than Canadian- English (Oot and aboot, then eh?) American-English (Fuhgeddaboudit / Dude / Wicked / etc.), Pittsburgh-English (Wat abouwt dem stillerz!)  and English-English (I say, what jolly fine weather…would you be so kind as to paahhss the scones?) and Franglais (J’aime le chicken) I am borderline language impaired. In fact, I am probably downright language deficient.

As I mentioned, I bought a conversational Greek book about ten days ago. It was supposed to teach me the nuts and bolts of the greek language in only seven days. It is now over a week later, and I am still on page 3 of the “Introduction” section learning about the alphabet. I’ve got it mostly down, although it still throws me off every time when I see “P” that it actually makes a ”r as in red” sound and I can never remember how many loopy squiggles ksi (ξ) has. As mum decided not to share her language abilities, I’ve resorted to employing my dad’s humor to memorize the alphabet letter names with a series of rude pneumonics, which will not be repeated here.

I might not have learned anything, but its keeping me entertained.

Having become increasingly bored and frustrated with alpha-vita-gamma-ing, I have skimmed Chapter One. So far I have learned useful phrases and words such as Καλημέρα (Kalimera!) which means Hello, Παρακαλώ (parakalo) which means Please, and Δωμάτια (Thomatia) which means Rooms.

Mum the language whizz did try to help me (maybe if I see AND hear some words they will stick better?). A few nights ago she picked up my greek book and within 10 minutes was semi-fluent. As such, she taught me how to tell people how I am employed (which will likely come in useful on the island as the locals apparently enjoy watching us work.) Be warned: herein lies an important lesson on pronunciation:

Είμαι φoιτήτρια: Ime fititria = I am a student SHOULD NOT BE CONFUSED WITH: Ime frittata = I am an egg pancake.

Then we decided that maybe I would learn better if she said a phrase and I tried to guess what it meant. It turns out that που ειυαι η Ακρόπολι? (Poo ine I Acropoli?) does NOT mean “Can I poop in the Acropolis.”

I still don’t remember what my book says this means, and as a result I still do not know how to ask for directions to the nearest bathroom, which, as any traveler knows, is the only real phrase you need when travelling abroad. Fortunately, I still have 14 days until the plane leaves. Back to alpha-vita-gamma-thelta-ing for now, I think, and we will leave such advanced phrases for next week.

Mileage Remaining: 10,799
Days Remaining in Trip: 50

Trading Show Season for School...

Only 20 days to go!

I have made zero progress regarding the to-do list I wrote about last time as we have been at a horse show all weekend. Truth be told it has finally struck home how much of the summer and show season I will be missing, and it’s a bit of a bummer. I always realized it was going to be a bit of a trade-off -  gaining fabulous excavation and lab experience while sacrificing a lot of horse show time - but I guess back in February when I submitted my application it didn’t seem like such a bad thing. Coming off the first full show at my new level (Intermediare-1) and having done so well (qualified for CBLM Championships/ 1 Gold Medal score/ Qualified for freestyle/ Reserve High-Point for I1), its now going to be incredibly difficult to kiss Sully’s nose goodbye for 6 weeks... I love showing him and am going to miss him, along with Pica and the fam-jam.

Sully posing with his winnings from this weekend

Having said all of that, I am still 100% excited and still feel extremely fortunate to be enrolled in the field school… and that will not change. This is an awesome opportunity, and I am sure that Sully won’t mind heading to some horse shows at training level with Izzy at the helm. He does seem to get a kick out of inserting extended trots into diagonals that aren’t even supposed to be in lengthening trot and he has been known to insert one-tempi changes on 20-m canter circles just to show off.

Anyway, over the next 20 days my new goal is to familiarize myself with the Greek language. I bought a crash course introduction to Greek last week and need to spend some serious time learning how on earth one pronounces words that have 8 syllables and are entirely constructed from symbols I vaguely remember from first year university physics (like Delta: ∆ which means the change in something, like the change in temperature. But language-wise… how on earth do you pronounce “triangle”?!)

Mileage Remaining: 10,799

Days Remaining: 50

The Countdown Begins!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my blog! My plan is update this site pretty regularly while I am on my little adventure this summer in order to keep everyone posted with where I am and what I am up to, if you are interested in following along. Obviously I haven't left yet (the big day is July 3rd) but I thought I should do a little intro-post before I pack my bags.

I am fortunate enough to be attending a 5 week long bioarchaeology field school in Astypalaia, Greece this summer. The field school is run by University College London and focuses on subadult remains. To find out more about the field school itself, take a quick trip here:

https://sites.google.com/site/astypalaiabioarchaeology/

I looked at a bunch of field schools to apply to this summer and this one instantly stood out as it focuses exclusively on the excavation, documentation, and preservation of subadult remains, which is an incredibly rare and exciting opportunity. Now add in the location - and wow. This trip should be amazing, and will fill a lifelong dream!  I have wanted to visit Greece since 3rd grade when I first learned about Greek mythology (just ask my mom and dad about my amazing hand-drawn comic "Hannerus & Jasperus" - a greek myth based almost entirely on the life of me and my first pony Jasper). When I turned 20 I also promised myself to visit 10 new countries before I turned 30 - so this trip will definitely help me make some inroads on that little project.

Anyway - after I cram my noggin full of new and exciting information I will be headed back to Athens, and am being met at the airport by my fabulous significant other, Fern. We are staying in Athens for 3 days, followed by Rome for 3 days, and then Paris for 3 days.  Here's the rough itinerary:

July 3 - Depart from Toronto (A)
July 4 - Arrive in Athens (B), then catch a smaller plane out to Astypalaia (C)
July 6 - Field school starts
August 10 - Field school finishes
August 12 - Meet Fern in Athens
August 15 - Fly to Rome (D)
August 18 - Off to Paris (E)
August 21 - Head back home to Toronto

So, I am both excited and terrified. I have bought most of my gear, have my itinerary mostly planned and have booked everything that needs to be booked. Still to do: sorting out phone cards, figuring out the money situation, and packing my bags. Only 25 days to go... so I should probably get my skates on.

That's all for now, I'll write again before heading out to the airport in a few weeks!

Mileage Remaining: 10,799
Days Remaining in Trip: 50