Brazil

Greetings to everyone who recieved my recent email announcement; I hope you return to this page often, and feel free to drop me a line RE this project or just to say hi :)

Today I have compensated for a system glitch that cost me a piece of paperwork and return postage; why use USPS when a fax will do the job faster? Well, because I enjoy the old-fashioned "lick-me" stamps and envelopes for one. However-- we live in a modern age, which is to say-- an age of progress, efficiency and order. Hello Xerox, Internet, and Big Brother!

I am very close to finishing all the required paper work from both of the Universities (UI and EIU). Once the consortium agreement is faxed back, and after I talk to my advisors about credit equivalency-- I should be set. Next step: Look into getting an international student ID and solidifying travel plans.

Background Check

I've been Google-ing my way to oblivion; here are two results of my search for some context on this project. The first is an outdated website from the 1998-2000 era with pictures and some paragraphs of French; I reccomend using Babelfish to translate if you're interested. The second has a few pictures of the tower and vicinity.

the first

the second

Initial

So, here you are looking at the first update of the site which will follow my movements at home and abroad. I suppose some background would be useful:

I've been accepted to a participate in the excavation of a medieval castle in Belgium over the summer. I found the program in an email from the Honors Program here at UI and started drooling at the first mention of "castle." I had the application done in record time and spent a couple months sitting on my hands twitching-- until I found out I'd been added to the team. There are about a dozen of us, from all over the US and one from Ireland, and we cover the class spectrum from freshmen to seniors. Most of us are directly connected to anthropology or history by major/minor, but we have a neuroscience/pre-med, an art major, and someone in communication studies too.

Right now I'm trying to finish up the required paper work from my school, after having done the paper work for the host school (Eastern Illinois University) and their partner overseas. For more information on the hoops the bureaucracy has me jumping through, make an inquiry and take a number ;)