My Journey

I have a long trip ahead of me and it has several parts; well, mainly just three.
I begin here, in Greece, working on an archaeological dig. I majored in Classical Civilizations focusing on Greek Archaeology, but the degree program I did didn’t require me to work at all in an archaeological context. I came to Greece to gain the experience of working on site and putting my archaeology knowledge to work. I know a lot about the Mycenaean civilization since I’ve studied it in at least four classes at IU. The site we’re working at right now is, we believe, an outpost of the so-called “Palace of Nestor”, the large palace site here in Pylos. We’re specifically searching for Linear B tablets. Linear B is a pre-Greek/Greek script from about 1600-1100bce. It's only been found at Pylos, at the actual palace site. So if we could find it at Iklaina (where I’m digging) it would be awesome because it would prove it was a palace outpost and give us more information about the functioning of the state. In my trench we've found some burnt stone, so that's exciting (Linear B was only written on clay tablets that would biodegrade unless they were baked in a fire when the palace or outpost burned.). Greek history lesson of the day.
Part two of my trip includes traveling to Switzerland, London, and Berlin. I’ll be visiting friends in these cities, which I am SO looking forward to. However, I’m also excited about experiencing the cultures, food, languages, people, and cultural sites (museums, castles, the Berlin Wall!, etc.). I know that I’ll learn a lot because I’ll have the best guides--natives or friends who have been living in the country for an extended (enough) amount of time.
Part three of my trip is the most significant. I’ll be going to Nepal for five months to volunteer in an orphanage there. I’ll also be able to teach English at a local school during the day while the kids are away at class. Here I hope to learn a new language and a new way of life, as the Nepali culture is so different from ours. I’ve never studied any religion, culture, or language from Asia or Southeast Asia, and I can’t wait to be immersed in this one. I began searching for this type of project because I feel the need to help those with less; orphans abound in Nepal because families can’t afford the children they have and abandon them. I also hope to have the chance to work in a women’s home on the western border of Nepal with the same program. Young girls are often sold into slavery by their parents, even when they’re as young as five or six. The program I’m working with buys these Kalamari girls, as they’re known, back out of slavery and gives them a chance to study in school and lead a normal life. If you’d like to understand more about what I’m doing or where I’m coming from, I’d recommend visiting the sites involved with the homes, nepalorphanshome.org and www.volunteernepal.com, and also reading the book Three Cups of Tea. It didn’t originally inspire me on this journey, but it did make me more enthusiastic about coming.
If you’d like to know more about what I’m doing or why, email me or skype me. I’d love to hear from you all.