And the word is...

Oh god, not again!

Just as I start to relax, I have to pick up and move again. This was fun at the beginning of the summer, but the constant travel is getting old. Germany will be super, but I can't wait to be in a place for over 1 week again, and I'm not looking forward to the miserable jet lag all over again. Yes, it's worth it, but another two weeks here in Longview sure do look attractive right now.

To all friends at home: I'll be back sometime in mid-December, and I *will* see you then before I take off again, if I didn't see you this time.

To all friends at tech: I'll see you in 15 days :D Boy is that exciting...

And I'll get to settle in for another 10 weeks!! No more moving around! Hooray! ;)

Miss y'all, and see you soon...

I'm home! I'm home! And finally over jet lag...

Ireland was fantastic. Not only was it absolutely gorgeous over there, but I've proven to myself that I can travel on my own, fend for myself and enjoy it to boot (even though loneliness crept in a few times). The field school was an experience in itself, in both archaeology and social dynamics of a group. As far as the former: I enjoyed a new way of looking at history, and learned a WHOLE lot in the process. However, I don't think I like it nearly as much as history itself. While trowelling, planning and setting out grid pegs, I found that I missed the literary side... I guess it was telling that I enjoyed the essay component of the course more than anything else. ;)

As for the latter... I now have a heightened appreciation for how incredibly wonderful my friends are, at tech and at home. I have also proved (unfortunately) that my threshold for abuse is higher than I thought - too high, I think. In retrospect, I've seen actions I could have taken to curb it, but I wonder if those actions might not have resulted in a worse situation overall. In any case, my self-respect is intact, I've found depths of patience I had never before realized, and I've forged good friendships with other people at the dig. While I have good friends and family to rely on (and as long as I'm not stupid and unwilling to voice emotional concerns), I know that I can weather verbal abuse without letting it severely affect my health or mental state. Hooray for developing a tougher hide. All the same, I hope I never have to go through anything like that again... between my travels this summer and the last, I think I've lived with enough pure concentrated inconsiderate bitchiness to last me another 30 years. On the positive side - aside from the one housemate who hated me and tried to make my life miserable, everyone else at the field school was absolutely terrific, and I'd consider myself lucky to work with them again.

All in all - the Bishop's a great experience. Juniors take heed and apply. :)

Anyway, on to happier things...

Highlights of the trip:
-Book of Kells. I could've spent hours looking at the 4 pages on display... like a good book, a second (third, fourth, etc) look always turned up something new. The detail and care that went into its creation is absolutely amazing.

-Cliffs of Moher. This is how I imagined parts of Pern, after reading McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. Towering cliffs, patched with moss and tufts of grass, with the waves crashing below and seabirds wheeling and soaring around the outcrops. Stunning.

-the Rock of Cashel. First the seat of the high kings of Munster from 400 to 1000, and handed over to the church around 1000. Home to a round tower (from original monastic settlement, probably used for refuge during viking raids), King Cormac's Chapel (ornate hiberno-romanesque style of mid-1100s, with frescoes and gilding), the Roman Catholic (Norman) Cathedral (gothic style, arched ceiling, cruciform design) and the castle, built onto the cathedral for an archbishop in the 1400s(?). Really neat juxtaposition of buildings from different periods.

-Dun Aenghus, on Inishmor (one of the Aran Islands). Promontory fort from the late Iron Age/early Bronze Age, with defensive walls built from stone and a cheveaux du frise (closely spaced, large sharp stones arranged in a ring around the walls). Slowly crumbling into the ocean, but a fantastic monument.

-biking ~7 miles uphill to Dun Beg through countryside along the coast of the Dingle Peninsula... didn't make it all the way around the peninsula, but the fort was fantastic :) Another promontory fort falling into the ocean, but this one had a souterrain leading under the entrance to the outer ring of fortifications, as well as several deep trenches and earthen walls built around it.


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To end: a poem written in the 8th c. by a student of the monastery of Carinthia on a copy of St Paul's Epistles

Pangur Ban

I and Pangur Ban my cat,
'Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.

Better far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with book and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill-will,
He too plies his simple skill.

'Tis a merry task to see
At our tasks how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.

Oftentimes a mouse will stray
In the hero Pangur's way;
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.

'Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
'Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.

When a mouse darts from its den,
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness do I prove
When I solve the doubts I love!

So in peace our task we ply,
Pangur Ban, my cat, and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine and he has his.

Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.