My break from uni this year was filled with travelling, both within Britain and jetting off to some warmer locations. The final segment of my travels was to Magaluf, with my little sister for a girlie holiday before we both started at Uni. This was a little bit more wild than what I was used in my previous holidays, and expectations of drinking and partying were of course met. We didn't go too crazy, and managed to recover from each night out at the pool the next day while sipping on our all inclusive drinks and eating ourselves silly at the buffet bar.

Night One

• Crop Top - New Look
• Denim Skirt - Primark

• Vintage Playsuit - Blue Rinse

• Vest Top (tied at front with bobble) - H & M
• Navy Skirt with Pineapples - Primark

If you saw my Weekly Round Up from back in June (before all the craziness of this summer began) then you'll have seen that Reconstructing Amelia was in my favourites that week, as I had just finished reading it. So, since it's been so long since my last book review and I'd really like to include more of these on my blog, I thought I'd do another for this amazing book.



Reconstructing Amelia, by Kimberly McCreight, is a really interesting read. The narrative is split into two, with a chapter from Amelia's point of view, and a chapter in her mum's (Kate) perspective, giving you insight into both of these characters and their experiences. The story begins with Amelia's apparent suicide, and when Kate is told the news. Not believing that her daughter would commit suicide, Kate takes on the role of detective of her daughter's life, trying to identify what happened in the days leading up to her death. While you follow Kate in her search, months after the incident, you are also given Amelia's thoughts for the month leading up to her death.

I'm not a massive lover of crime books, but this story was a perfect blend of crime with teenage angst and motherly love. It was fascinating to see the perception of events through a teenage girl's eyes then to see how easy it is for it to be interpreted in another way by a somewhat absent mother. Without getting too deep, it does help you realise that maybe your parents aren't always the bad guys, and that sometimes these teenage troubles aren't always the end of the world.

It's hard to talk about this book without gushing about the whole story line  - but I won't let slip the key events, no need to fear. What I will say is that not everything is as it seems all along. Kate has issues of her own, and secrets that she kept from Amelia, just the same as Amelia hid things from her mother - both with their best intentions at heart. Each chapter had me guessing what had happened, and I came up with countless - what I thought was plausible - story lines and incentives for characters to kill Amelia.

The ending, only becomes apparent in the last couple of chapters, and I was right beside Kate as she figured it out at the same time. I found myself becoming attached to these characters, who had obviously not had an easy life. From Kate's chapters you learn of the struggles of being a single parent and having a successful career; from Amelia's view I could sometimes relate to some typical school behaviour, and could sympathise with how easy it is to become total involved in something you are not comfortable with.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a novel with a bit of a mystery to solve, and love to read about family relationships. This book covers so many topics, and I feel its really relevant to today's generation where a lot of these issues are widely discussed on twitter and tumblr etc. I'd definitely say to teenagers to read this book, although it seems like a sad novel due to its premise, it actual sheds a lot of light on many important issues, and helps to show that there are many different ways to interpret a situation.

My final week in Italy is offically over, and I have now returned to Britain, and am currently revelling in the luxury of having a double bed and a room to myself while I break up my journey in a Gatwick Travelodge. Returning home has proved more difficult than I imagined, the travelling itself has been smooth and easy-going, the actual act of leaving, on the other hand, brought about many tears. Never did I think that I would become so attached to this project and the people that I would actually cry, but 6 weeks is a significant period of time to spend in a new place. I threw myself into this project and was determined to get as much out of it as possible, I was not aware how much of an impact it would have on me and how much I would not want to leave. It would be a dream to have been able to stay for the rest of the project to see the final result before closing all the trenches, however, normality beckons and reality creeps upon me.

This last week was incredible. After a new rule change, only supervisors and trainee supervisors are allowed in trench in the afternoon, meaning I get to spend my afternoons learning even more one - on - one. My training was in full swing, and I started writing a field journal of all the things that we accomplished in a day. We closed our trench which has the ramp in it, and opened a new one - trench 12 East. It's quite disappointing to know that I won't be able to see this trench through like I did the last, however I feel I've had my fair share of opening and closing trenches during my three blocks. I did get to try my hand at pick axing again - something which I never thought I'd be any good at, nor enjoy, after my last encounter with one left me sweating and with blisters all over my hand. I'll admit that I'm still not a fan of pick axing through volcanic rock, and I'll happily leave that to those who are strong enough and willing enough to offer, however on my last day I got into the swing of pick axing through the rocks and soil of our context and found myself feeling empowered.



After having a super weekend in Ischia, where I bonded with all the people in our group, the dynamics of the house changed a little to suit the closer relationships. I didn't have a single sober night this week (this seems to be turning into a 'drinks diary' rather than a 'dig diary'!) and spent time relaxing while playing many card games on the roof, cards against humanity in the lab, and yet another barbecue at the supervisors house - this time with some amazing seafood dishes as well! It really made for the perfect end to an amazing summer. As I looked out over the bay of naples from our roof late Thursday night, I couldn't help but shed a tear - which proved to be the opening of the flood gates for the whole of Friday.

 I can't thank the people who I've met enough for making me feel so comfortable, and really helping me come into myself. This experience was daunting and scary, as soon as I stepped off the plane at the end of June I was starting to doubt whether I could do it and wanted to hop back on a plane to the familiarity of Scotland. But persevering and swallowing all those fears paid off and I feel I've come away with amazing friends, new found confidence, and a whole bunch of stories to tell everyone back home about.



And that's it for my week by week run down of my dig, thank you for persevering with this although I couldn't post them in actual time and have seemingly neglected my blog over this summer. If you're reading these posts after seeing my status on facebook, then thank you for following me on this adventure as I like to call it! If you're an older reader wondering what the heck has happened to this blog, and where all the regular posts have gone, then fear not as they will return when I get back to uni, as will a regular posting schedule. As you can imagine, this summer has been a little out of the ordinary and it would be a sin not to post about this experience on my wee blog - after all this is an 'everything' blog, all about what I get up to. I can only hope you new readers will keep reading even when I return to my mundane life, and you can always look forward to when I return to Italia and The Apolline Project next summer.



Here's all the previous week's posts if you haven't had a chance to read them yet:

• The Apolline Project | Week One
• The Apolline Project | Week Two
• The Apolline Project | Week Three
• The Apolline Project | Week Four
• The Apolline Project | Week Five

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The One Where I Dug A Hole


As always, I've had another great week- as can be expected when you're in the sunshine all day doing something you love. This week we welcomed another bunch of people to our wee home, and got to know them while having some drinks on the roof of our house. I found it rather odd this week, returning to site and working on the same trench with the same supervisor, but this time with new trench mates. Although we didn't have the same trench games going on that we had last block, we still were chatting away and introducing the new girls to our tarp trench. We are now the only trench on site to have all girls - although the boys humour is missed, we sure are showing 'girl power' as we work away.



I've loved continuing on the same trench as the last two weeks, and we've finished our drawing of one context and now excavated further down to expose the foundation of the ramp - our goal for trench 12. If I'd have to pick a day that was my favourite for my whole time here, this Friday would have to be a strong contender. As I have been here the longest on site (officially the veteran for this block!) my supervisor Gabie asked if I'd help her excavate a little dip we had found in the ramp. Although this may not seem like a huge deal, I was exceedingly happy, as it shows that I've come a long way in my excavating skills, and am trusted enough to do something of this nature. It was really interesting to excavate this area of the ramp as we were producing lots of frescoe, some of which had amazing patterns of flowers and leaves on them. Although we didn't find a coin like we were all praying for, we did uncover some evidence about the building of the ramp, which may help the original research question of when it was built.



Friday was also an amazing day because Ferdinando (the project director) said that I could return next year as a supervisor! This is an amazing achievement for me, to be given this position so early on in my archaeology career is a real privilege. What I hadn't realised was that I was being trained for a supervisor role this whole week, but my official training begins next week, and I will be called a "trainee supervisor". I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time I talked to Ferdinando, nor the when telling people. I can't wait to return next year, hopefully seeing many of the same faces, and be involved in the project with a different perspective then a student. I think this year will be spent on improving my confidence, and I will throw myself fully into the courses that will help me in the field, so that I can be the best that I can be.

This week has had another few boozy nights, and an amazing barbecue with Veronika's incredible burgers - so filling, but so worth it. We've taken the last few days slow in anticipation for the weekend, when we take a trip to Ischia and plan to have a very drunk Saturday night.

Lots of love,
Emily
xxx