The Crew

Folks, I've been trying to write this blogpost for 2 weeks now. I'm actually starting to forget some of the more intimate details of my week in Budapest/Vienna/Prague and the first impressions I had of the crew, but this has straight up been the happiest I've been in my life ever. I think being outside and getting dirty and hanging out with weirdos is my sweet spot, that's what I fucking have to do with the rest of my life. 

Quick recap of B/V/P: It was just a really chill week spent with my mom and that was what made it nice. The 3 cities we visited were so incredibly gorgeous and obviously we went to see a lot of the big touristy type things, but we also spent a decent amount of time walking around parks and stopping in little mom-pop cafes and buying jewelry from small artist stalls on the bridges. Seriously, it was relaxing as hell and I think my mom really needed it. Lol at the fact that I haven't been able to have a full phone conversation with either of my parents since I've gotten here, but it's just fucking difficult to keep in touch with people from Semlac. The culture here is so… distant. I love feeling unbound to the life I live at home, the people I know, and all my responsibilities. Right now all that matters is excavating my block, washing artifacts, and getting fucking hammered all the damn time.

So after leaving Budapest, we got to Semlac and this house is so different from home. It's like actually kind of gross everywhere but in a good way? Everything's covered in dust, doesn't matter how many times I wash my clothes, spiders and insects everywhere; fuck it feels so good though. We get up every morning at 5:45 and head to the field at 6:30, we come home again at 4:30 and hit up that bar. 

It's actually really funny; everytime someone fucks up or makes a small error on the field, everyone yells out "BEER! bEeeeeeeer Beer BBEEEER!" and that person has to buy a round for everyone at the bar. So obviously this happens a couple of times each day so at the end of the work day once everyone's bought their rounds, we're all fucking HAMMMERED. And then we come back from the bar at like 6:30, still fucking gross as hell covered in dirt and sweat and sunburned as shit, and sit at the amazing dinner our *host mom* makes us, sloppily and drunkily laughing all over the place. 

But actually life here is so simple and fully of routine and the fucking people are amazing. 

Briana Gladhill- Affectionately known as Bri-guy, Briana is the person who is my closest girl friend, like the gossip and the giggling and the sleepover talk and all that shit. She's 23 and she's going into the her senior year at UM, she's from California, and she's a riot. I like her a lot and I can see us being friends for a long time. 

Andrew Fiasco- Affectionately known as Drewbee or Fiasco, he's so fucking hilarious. He's seriously one of the most just straight up fucking "what the fuck" laugh out loud shenanigans kind of guy. And he uses all this dumbass slang ironically. Bri accurately said once, "he sounds like a hipster without looking like one." He wears the same 3 t-shirts and he's a little chubby and he's got a cute baby face. He's 24, also a senior, from Annapolis, and I can also see us being friends for at least during the school year. 

Melanie and Polly Anna- They got grouped because they're the only ones on the crew that actually kind of suck. Stefan too, I guess, but less so because I don't really interact with him. Melanie and PA are the lab techs and they blow chunks--they're whiny, socially awkward, weird, annoying. Not much else to say here. PA was mormon until she was 20, she's married in an open relationship, and Robert fucking hates her. PA is 28 now and Melanie is 21. 

Amy Nicodemus- Amy is the head boss lady, she's 37 but she looks (and acts) 25, she's a fucking GENIUS and seriously we all call her Lady Boss cuz she's that full of swag and intelligence and general badassery. She can outdrink anyone on the team, routinely eats more than even Tim, can ID bones in one glance even when she's hammered--I mean this woman is fucking inspirational. And I think she likes me and thinks I have a lot of potential, yayyy. 

John O'Shea- John is 62, the head curator of the fucking museum of archaeology, and one of the biggest fucking deals in the field, period. LIke internationally. He's huge. And I have been living in a room adjacent to him, watching him get wasted, and make jokes about everyone's sex lives for the past two weeks and the future 6 weeks. It's fucking unbelievable how accomplished but also down to earth he is, he's scary as hell because I just want him to respect me (everyone gives me shit for being the youngest him included), and we call him The Chief. Fucking rightly so, this guy give Lady Boss a run for her money. They are co-directors of the project. 

Tim Everhart- Tim was actually in Madagascar working on Paleolithic sites before coming here so he's been traveling. Actually, Drewbs and Bri were also working in South Africa in Lesotho on a Middle Stone Age site (35,000 years ago), so people have been out and about for a while. Anywhos, Tim came in a week later than the rest of us, but everyone here knows each other from around the museum so he just jumped right into the swing of things. Him and Rob have a little bromance going, so he gives me the most shit about the situation-- "you stole Rob from me, but I'll get him back!" "Guess we can't call you the baby anymore, now you're a woman."-- shit like that. It's funny though and he's super metrosexual (he uses fucking construction paste in his hair like fuckin come on man). Tim is 22, a second year PhD student, and a really cool guy. I like him. He also gave Andrew a hair cut yesterday while both of them were drunk, but I'll get to that. 

Michael Mlyniec- Michael is an interesting character. Let me start by saying I don't hate Michael. I really don't. He's a really knowledgable experienced guys, that is for sure. But he's kind of a douchebag. Actually, the best comparison is to Lex. He's cool, he's funny, he knows his shit, but sometimes you just want him to shut the fuck up. He's super fun when he's drunk though, and he's kind of like a boy scout--he has all his shit on him all the time, his backpack weighs like 50 pounds and he shares. Not a bad guy. 

Moving onto the European camp: 

Robert Toth- Maybe I should do Rob last because his will be the longest and the most important. That's what I'll do. 

Iride and Dejan- Iride (irri-day) and Dejan (day-yahn) are the 2 Slovenians on the team and they are so cool and funny and cute. They've known each other for years, they're best friends, and Dejan calls Iride "blondie" not because she's blonde but because she's "stupid" (she's is NOT stupid holy shit). Side comment here about how everyone's accents are sexy as fuck. Iride is so adorable and she's 25 and really hot and awesome and her laugh sounds like the mating call of an African bird in a good way. Dejan is 27, covered in piercings, listens to fucking the weirdest music on the planet, and is just raunchy 24/7. I love em both.

Sarah Peters and Ritchie- These two are the adorable Transylvanians, they're like giant teddy bears and fucking weird as hell but in a good way. They remind me of Zooey Deschanel kind of, if that makes sense? Sarah does things with her feet, like straight up she uses her feet to do some of her daily tasks, and she makes weird noises a lot. She's so cute, and she's 25. Ritchie never stops smiling, he's such a team player, and I like him a lot. Ritchie is the closest in age to me at 20. 

Stefan- We think Stefan is a vampire. He's crazy. He runs the flotation machine and sometimes trowels with us. I don't know. 

and of course, we return to 

Rob- Oh Rob. It would be an understatement to say I've never been with a guy who cares about me as much as Rob does. Or at least, a guy who's as nice and sweet and caring as he is. I haven't known him long, obviously, but already I can tell that he's not like Nik or Ben or even Chris. He's soft and quiet and affectionate, which are not qualities I usually look for in men, but he's also ambitious, hardworking, likable, HAS A BEARD, perceptive, intelligent. His life has been rough, he grew up in a poor part of a city in Romania called Cluj-Napoca, he worked hard to get where he is. He's a good guy, and everyone here loves him which is always a good sign. Hands-down the nicest guy I've ever "been with." And also he really really really likes me. Like a lot. He likes me so much, it's fucking insane. He's really insecure though so he doesn't understand why I like him???? (Rob you dumbass look at the above list) but it's nice and interesting and different for me to be hearing compliments and cute things constantly from someone. He also starts speaking in Hungarian when we're having sex so that's cool. 

Noora Hassaballa once told me that if I ever meet a man who can eat it right, I should marry him. Maybe I'll fucking marry Rob then goddamn :) 

Last but not least of the wonderful Semlac-ians is Carmen, our host "mom." This wonderful woman washes our towels, makes us traditional Romanian food every night in 3 course meal form, fucking turned me into a soup person honestly. 

It's weird because this is barely even scraping the surface (haha archae joke) of what life is like here, but it's important to understand that the people make the place. This crew is amazing, this work is amazing, and I'm going to fucking cry when I have to leave Semlac and Rob and this part of my life.