As I mentioned in my last post, I hurt my back on Wednesday morning. Thursday morning it took me a good 10 minutes of painful struggling to be able to move enough to turn off my alarm clock. It was ridiculous. After than I managed to hobble out to the room next to me and tell my neighbors to inform my professor that I wouldn't be able to make it to site. That was very bothersome, but since it was truly impossible for me, I tried not to be too annoyed by it.(The season of excavation goes another week still, but apparently there is more cleaning up and preping the site for the winter, than there is actual excavations.)
Usually we would have had excavations on Friday as well, but the site director had planned a party for Thursday night, and didn't want to make everyone get up and work with hang-overs.
So, I missed our last day and the party. A few of my friends and my professor came by the hostel between the end of the work day and the party to see if I was well enough to come, but I wasn't mobile enough. The real problem by that time was that after being verticle for about 10-20 minutes, my back would start spasming and I would have to lay down and quickly. I thought about going and laying down on the floor when I needed to, but first of all, I would feel really dumb doing that every 10 minutes, and second, it would take me another 10 minutes to try to get off the floor.
Unfortunately I really don't have many more archaeology-related things to say about my trip, since I missed the last day and party.
Friday I spent the day packing for about 10 minutes and then laying down for about 20. Needless to say, that took the majority of the day. I went out to dinner with a friend that night, and then my professor drove me to Kirkwall where I boarded the ferry, and departed at 11:45pm. I was able to sleep most of the ride, and when we arrived in Aberdeen at 7:00am on Saturday, I took a taxi to my hotel. Since I had not arranged for an early check in, and apparently 7 am was early, (crazy, I know) I couldn't access my suite yet, so I left my luggage in the reception lounge and wandered around Aberdeen, taking frequent rests. I hope to be able to spend more time in that city again. It seemed to be a really neat place. Most of the archetecture I saw on my trip was old and made of stone, but the buildings in Aberdeen were also very large. They were like miniature castles lining the streets. I really enjoyed just sight-seeing.
I ate lunch at a cute little bakery, and then headed back to my hotel where I could get into my "room" finally. It was not what I was expecting... The concierge had me follow him, out of the reception room, out onto the street, then down a side alley, where the hotel key-card gave him access to what seemed to be an apartment building. He led me up several flights of stairs, and then used the key again to go through a door marked with a 32, to what I thought would be my room. Instead this door opened into a small room with 5 other doors, then he gave me a tour of my lodgings. One of the doors opened to a lounge area with two tables, a few easy chairs, a love seat, and a flat screen TV. One opened to a nice bathroom complete with shower, bath-tub, and towel warmer. One opened to a kitchenette that had dishes, cuttlery, a sink, dish-rack, microwave, dish-washer, and refridgerator with a 0.5L of milk. The last door was to the bed-room, which had a king-sized bed with a big fluffy comforter, a vanity, closet, and another flat-screen TV. (The last door was locked and he didn't know what it went to. I suspect it was to connect my lodgings to the one next to me.) The concierge left me gawking at my hotel "room" and he brought my luggage up.
Anyway, that's not what I was expecting. All I really needed was a bed and a toilet, hopefully with a shower, and tht's what I thought I was going to get. I'm not complaining about my suite--it was wonderful--but I felt almost like I was wasting all of that room by just being one person, only there for an evenng.
So I took a long bath. It was the first bath I'd had in a month, and while showers are enough, now and then a good soak is needed to really get all the dirt off, and believe me, I had a lot of dirt.
I went to dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant where I ordered some kind of ravioli. The description had several words I hadn't heard before, but it sounded good, and mentioned several kinds of cheeses (oh, the cheeses in the UK are so much better than our cheeses... It's sad) so I ordered it. I think it had bits of egg-plant in it. Whatever it was, it was good and I was happy with it.
This morning I woke up at 3 to be ready for my previously booked taxi to pick me up at 4. The concierge brought my luggage down again and waited with me for my taxi, which didn't show up. Finally he decided to call the company and they said that as soon as they had one available, it would be here, but currently all of their cars were busy. Apparently people stay our REALLY late on Saturday nights/Sunday mornings there. Also there was a football (soccer) game going on Saturday nght and people were probably out celebrating from that. While I waited for my taxi, several drunken people stumbled past me. At least they seemed to be friendly drunks. One wished me a happy stay in Aberdeen.
So my Taxi finally came and gave me a ride to the air-port, then when we got there, he ddn't accept credit cards. That was frustrating because I had specifically asked the receptionist to get me a company that would accept credit, and also frustrating because I was several pounds short of the cost of the trip. I had to go into the air-port where there was an ATM to get cash. The lowest ammount it would let me withdraw was 200pounds! all of the other ATMs had increments increasing from 20 but of course not this one.
Oh well. I got him paid and got on all my planes and now I'm in Salt Lake City with a bunch of Scotish pounds which of course I can't exchange because none of the currency exchanges in the airports are open on Sunday... I guess I'll figure that out later. Nothing I can do about it today.
I hope you've all enjoyed hearing about my trip and if all goes according to plan, I'll be returning to the Ness of Brodgar next summer to learn more. I'll probably be coerced into writing a blog next summer as well.
*'Looney Tunes' music and in big, swirly cursive, THE END*
Usually we would have had excavations on Friday as well, but the site director had planned a party for Thursday night, and didn't want to make everyone get up and work with hang-overs.
So, I missed our last day and the party. A few of my friends and my professor came by the hostel between the end of the work day and the party to see if I was well enough to come, but I wasn't mobile enough. The real problem by that time was that after being verticle for about 10-20 minutes, my back would start spasming and I would have to lay down and quickly. I thought about going and laying down on the floor when I needed to, but first of all, I would feel really dumb doing that every 10 minutes, and second, it would take me another 10 minutes to try to get off the floor.
Unfortunately I really don't have many more archaeology-related things to say about my trip, since I missed the last day and party.
Friday I spent the day packing for about 10 minutes and then laying down for about 20. Needless to say, that took the majority of the day. I went out to dinner with a friend that night, and then my professor drove me to Kirkwall where I boarded the ferry, and departed at 11:45pm. I was able to sleep most of the ride, and when we arrived in Aberdeen at 7:00am on Saturday, I took a taxi to my hotel. Since I had not arranged for an early check in, and apparently 7 am was early, (crazy, I know) I couldn't access my suite yet, so I left my luggage in the reception lounge and wandered around Aberdeen, taking frequent rests. I hope to be able to spend more time in that city again. It seemed to be a really neat place. Most of the archetecture I saw on my trip was old and made of stone, but the buildings in Aberdeen were also very large. They were like miniature castles lining the streets. I really enjoyed just sight-seeing.
I ate lunch at a cute little bakery, and then headed back to my hotel where I could get into my "room" finally. It was not what I was expecting... The concierge had me follow him, out of the reception room, out onto the street, then down a side alley, where the hotel key-card gave him access to what seemed to be an apartment building. He led me up several flights of stairs, and then used the key again to go through a door marked with a 32, to what I thought would be my room. Instead this door opened into a small room with 5 other doors, then he gave me a tour of my lodgings. One of the doors opened to a lounge area with two tables, a few easy chairs, a love seat, and a flat screen TV. One opened to a nice bathroom complete with shower, bath-tub, and towel warmer. One opened to a kitchenette that had dishes, cuttlery, a sink, dish-rack, microwave, dish-washer, and refridgerator with a 0.5L of milk. The last door was to the bed-room, which had a king-sized bed with a big fluffy comforter, a vanity, closet, and another flat-screen TV. (The last door was locked and he didn't know what it went to. I suspect it was to connect my lodgings to the one next to me.) The concierge left me gawking at my hotel "room" and he brought my luggage up.
Anyway, that's not what I was expecting. All I really needed was a bed and a toilet, hopefully with a shower, and tht's what I thought I was going to get. I'm not complaining about my suite--it was wonderful--but I felt almost like I was wasting all of that room by just being one person, only there for an evenng.
So I took a long bath. It was the first bath I'd had in a month, and while showers are enough, now and then a good soak is needed to really get all the dirt off, and believe me, I had a lot of dirt.
I went to dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant where I ordered some kind of ravioli. The description had several words I hadn't heard before, but it sounded good, and mentioned several kinds of cheeses (oh, the cheeses in the UK are so much better than our cheeses... It's sad) so I ordered it. I think it had bits of egg-plant in it. Whatever it was, it was good and I was happy with it.
This morning I woke up at 3 to be ready for my previously booked taxi to pick me up at 4. The concierge brought my luggage down again and waited with me for my taxi, which didn't show up. Finally he decided to call the company and they said that as soon as they had one available, it would be here, but currently all of their cars were busy. Apparently people stay our REALLY late on Saturday nights/Sunday mornings there. Also there was a football (soccer) game going on Saturday nght and people were probably out celebrating from that. While I waited for my taxi, several drunken people stumbled past me. At least they seemed to be friendly drunks. One wished me a happy stay in Aberdeen.
So my Taxi finally came and gave me a ride to the air-port, then when we got there, he ddn't accept credit cards. That was frustrating because I had specifically asked the receptionist to get me a company that would accept credit, and also frustrating because I was several pounds short of the cost of the trip. I had to go into the air-port where there was an ATM to get cash. The lowest ammount it would let me withdraw was 200pounds! all of the other ATMs had increments increasing from 20 but of course not this one.
Oh well. I got him paid and got on all my planes and now I'm in Salt Lake City with a bunch of Scotish pounds which of course I can't exchange because none of the currency exchanges in the airports are open on Sunday... I guess I'll figure that out later. Nothing I can do about it today.
I hope you've all enjoyed hearing about my trip and if all goes according to plan, I'll be returning to the Ness of Brodgar next summer to learn more. I'll probably be coerced into writing a blog next summer as well.
*'Looney Tunes' music and in big, swirly cursive, THE END*
No comments:
Post a Comment