I had an action-packed seven weeks and then went head first into my busiest semester of university - now I finally have time to write for pleasure.
In July I set off for my first ever excavation on the sunny island of Andros in the Cyclades, Greece. We were excavating a neolithic site (about 5000 years old) which involved a lot of animal bones and broken pottery. The site was on a promontory of the island which meant most of the time it was very windy, which meant it wasn't unbearably hot, but it also made it hard to work sometimes. I'm not allowed to show pictures of the site itself so instead here is the incredible view we had each day.
Weekdays were spent waking at 5am and getting to site for 7am, which meant on most days a nap was required when we got back to the accommodation at around 3pm. Luckily Andros is small and Greeks eat dinner late into the evening. Many late afternoons and evenings were spent wandering through tiny streets of blue and white houses and petting a seemingly infinite number of cats. I developed a love of fresh bread dipped in olive oil washed down with a few glasses of the local wine.
On weekends we explored more of the island including a monastery perched high in the hills and an ancient city at the bottom of a ravine. Some highlights of the three weeks included getting thanked by the mayor on stage and then doing traditional Greek dancing in front of a huge crowd, finding a tiny bead amongst a lot of dirt, and making new friends wherever I went.
