Iliana
When first coming to WCC, I never saw myself heading to other countries, especially Spain of all places! Hello, my name is Iliana and I am an Archaeology student. Initially this trip was a way for me to get some more experience in the field. However, this time around the work was more hands-on with skeletal remains.
Before getting into the work, we were able to spend some time in the city of Barcelona. Arriving midday meant that we had a few hours to settle in and chill out. After that we had free time, this meant exploration time. A few of us went out with no plan and simply followed the streets. Personally, this is the best way to get lost in the culture of a city. Where we were staying was very busy, but it was fun to wander the streets. The streets were filled with shops, people and lots of energy. The first day of wandering led to many pictures of churches and architecture. After that we spent a day taking a walking tour seeing a few sites and also visiting a museum. Seeing the different aspects of architecture within the city really amazes me. Every time I travel somewhere, it's so easy to get lost in the way people design things. It's amazing to see how these places have held up for so long against people, weather and even wars.
After only spending a few nights in the city of Barcelona, we headed out to sea. For most kids this part was not the most fun. We took a ferry across the Mediterranean to one of the small Balearic islands, Menorca. This is where we are staying for two weeks to do skeletal analysis on the previously excavated site of Sanisera.
We analyzed and cataloged the remains in the attic of one of the museums on the island. Remains from each tomb are laid out, number of people estimated (as there are often more than one in the same tomb), and what observations could be made from the remains were carefully recorded. I’ve been working in the back room with 3 other people and we are currently in between remains. We finished cataloging some fragmented remains earlier today. Tomorrow we will hopefully get a full skeleton. As someone who has worked on field sites before, this is a nice break. I really enjoy being able to see both aspects of archaeology. So far this has been a great experience in terms of learning and just getting to apply some of the methods we learned about in class.
Looking at the culture of Menorca compared to the culture of Barcelona, there are some big differences. In Barcelona things were always moving fast. There was always someone moving around or walking past you. Things were always open and the city was always alive and buzzing. Here in Menorca is a different story. The people are still moving and buzzing around, but at a calmer pace. Here feels more like a place to go for a relaxing vacation. People have a late dinner and spend time at the square with their families. They enjoy a drink with dinner and go out for gelato after. Personally, gelato has been one of the best parts of the city. Seeing the difference of cultures between the 2 places really puts some things into perspective. There's always going to be a difference in places, in terms of culture, people and food. Next up, one of my adventure buddies, Lauren, will share some of her own experiences from this trip.
Lauren
With five days left in Spain and the end of this program in sight, I can say how unique this opportunity has been. Working in the Museu de Menorca collecting data from the skeletal remains of Necropolis Six in the former Roman port of Sanisera has been an honor, and I’ve learned so much in the past month. I’m surprised by how little time we have left but at the same time, flying into BCN feels so much longer than two weeks ago. On a trip like this, one day feels long enough to be two but the time passes quickly anyways. I will miss the place we are in, the work we have done, and in enough time I might even be a little nostalgic for sharing two fridges among thirteen people.
We spent a few days in Barcelona before we took the ferry to Menorca, where the Sanisera site is located. Barcelona was a city I liked the longer I was there; this was a gentle reminder early in the trip to remain open to new experiences, to try to stay in the moment, and to enjoy small moments rather than seeing flaws. Walking through the twisting neighborhoods off of La Rambla, I came across George Orwell Square. Curious as to why he had a square named after him, I read his memoir Homage to Catalonia about his time fighting in the POUM against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. It was really cool to learn more about the culture and history of a new place through travel, and I also learned about the present-day political contention from our tour guide.
Menorca has been a lovely place; very much worth every correction I’ve had to make in response to, “Oh, you mean you’re going to Mallorca, right?” Mallorca’s smaller counterpart in the Balearic Islands is full of history and has seen the prehistoric Talayotic culture, Roman rule and the establishment of Christianity (our time period focus), Moorish rule, and a brief British occupation before becoming part of Spain in 1802. Its history, beauty, and slow-paced way of life make me glad I got to experience a place a little more off the beaten path.
I learned a lot working in the lab (AKA the attic) at the Museu de Menorca. My group began with a box of three individual’s comingled bone fragments, which made me appreciate the next box of more complete bones. I felt myself become more comfortable through the weeks with our work. This involved taking the bones out of their boxes they are stored in at the museum and laying them out in Standard Anatomical Position to identify missing or extra bones, taking measurements, trying to identify sex and age, working on dentition, and observing pathologies.
One of the biggest takeaways I have to share is that things will, somewhat inevitably, not go according to plan. In a group this large and in a different country, flexibility and adaptability is absolutely necessary. Plans will change quickly, gas will run out on the road, and you might get sick (physically or the home kind). The biggest advice I can offer is to not take these things personally and to not hold on to what was supposed to happen lest it stop you from learning, exploring, and trying new things during this experience.
Tags: Study Abroad