Reflecting on my goals while also getting excited about the future!
By: Kathryn O’Connor
A group picture from our first week here!
Intro
Hey! Welcome back to my humble corner of the internet. Things have been busy over here at Cetamura del Chianti and before I knew it my program only has two weeks left! I feel as though I have learned so much about doing archaeology in the field from analyzing soil samples to proper troweling techniques. I have been so lucky to interact with my field of study in such an intimate way, and I think it is safe to say that I will be trying my hardest to hop on some other dig opportunities while I am in school. Connecting with all of the students here has been such a blast. I have a feeling that the bonds I’ve made with my “trench-mates” and roomies will carry on into our next year together at FSU!
Here I am trying to protect myself from the Tuscan sun on site
At the start of the program I came up with three things that I wanted to accomplish or try before leaving. So I wanted to take a minute and check in with myself to how these goals are coming along. The first and foremost thing I wanted to try was to experience archaeology, and well, I think I have successfully done just that. But taking it one step further, I have also enjoyed exploring the other areas of the field that become more specialized. Getting insider information on how creating trench maps or how pottery is cleaned and organized has shown me a plethora of options that I could dive deeper into in the future. Next, this one is a bit more vague, but I wanted to try and live in the moment while I am here. It’s been a running joke while we have been here that “I will never be [insert age] while [insert activity] in [insert place] ever again!” And while perhaps a bit cliche, it really is true. So I want to be as intentional with my time as possible while I am here, and to make every moment count because the moments will be what I remember most. Finally, I set myself the goal of connecting with my team while I was here. This cohort of people, most of whom were strangers to me before this program started, have really become my family abroad. It has been really eye-opening to get to know the graduate students here at Cetamura, and here their perspectives on where higher education has taken them. What has shocked me the most is how easily I have been able to connect with the faculty on the team here. I used to think that a “professional” relationship was all that I could expect with faculty, but now here I am cracking jokes at the same table as them.
My Skills
With any program, there are certain skills that you hope to improve upon by the time you are done. Well, I am no different and so I wished to improve on two skills while here at Cetamura- teamwork and applying academics practicality. Like mentioned earlier, I knew very few people when signing up for this program. As such, it has been a learning curve to then suddenly be working on the same team or in the same trench! Thus, I knew that teamwork would be a big focus of mine going into this program. Applying academics practically is another area that I wanted to hone in on. By this I mean taking the academic knowledge I had accumulated during my semesters and being able to translate it into daily life. It’s one thing to know about pottery in a Greek art and architecture class, it is another thing to know what pottery looks like in your hand. Of course these isn’t something that I can become magically good at, but with practice and effort, they become easier and easier.
The sunsets in Radda never cease to amaze me
My Quote
If I had one quote about my experience at Cetamura del Chianti, it would be a small sentence that I got from one of the interviews I conducted during my first weeks here. I sat down with a member of our museum staff and while we were talking she told me, “the thing that connects us all here in Tuscany is our landscape.” It has been in my mind ever since. I think it is a beautiful thing that whether you were Etruscan, Roman, Medieval, or modern that they were all able to look out across the same rolling hills. It helps me to feel grounded (no pun intended) in the work I do here, as I am also someone who is experience the same landscape as those we are studying.
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