Nijmegen

I love the Netherlands. And in particular the city of Nijmegen. I could definitely live here. Except everything closes at 6 which doesn't work for me so much. But I guess most people only work 4 days a week so I can deal with it. I am living in an old farmhouse with other American students and two Dutch archaeologists. The house is great and though we don't have any animals, we are surrounded by land that does have animals. Sheep, cows, horses, goats, chickens. They are all here. The house is right next the the river Waal and looks over into the city. Very convenient. I have a bike and ride it everywhere as it is the premier mode of transportation for the Dutch. The weather hasn't been great but I can get over that. The only bad part is that with rain, we don't get to work on the actual dig as much. Also the dig site has been rather slow lately anyway. So I wash dirt through a sieve and try to find pottery or flint or wood. I find a lot of worms, snails, and even newts. In short, I find ways to amuse myself. I have learned a lot considering I knew nothing about actual archaeological methods when I showed up here. So that is good. I don't know if I could make a career out of it but its fun. the people are all nice. Rogier is basically our go-to man for everything. He tells us what to do, how to do it, cool places to go, and answers any question we might have about the Dutch. The other Americans are nice. Myra is an anthropology undergrad, Melissa is art history grad, and Dave is...well Dave is a 50-something eternal student and general unemployable individual. He isn't exactly a favorite among us. But that's ok. He can one up every story we have and be a general know it all. I think he is enjoying himself and I can enjoy myself in spite of him. Lately we have been going to the main headquarters and gluing pottery together. It ranges from Roman to Medieval to modern stuff so it is quite a task. I am not a superstar at puzzling it all out but I am getting better. It is really satisfying to put a whole pot together too. It just gets cold in the warehouse because it is temperature controlled. I like it all. It can sometimes get a little dull but then I just make some fun for myself which means finding random things to glue or asking absurd questions of everyone else. Ja, I like het Nederlands. My Dutch is not outstanding though.