Today was an amazing day! First we woke and finally obtained the remains from the current investigation. Sadly they had been left out and exposed to bird poop and the like, or sealed tightly in a bag where condensation quickly appeared. For bones, it is bad to go from being wet to dry quite quickly, as they fall apart rather easily. Bones are also hydrophobic and can explode from too much water, so we were quite worried about the state of the remains. We laid out one of the skeletons anatomically and I realized how rusty I am with siding. We had many tourists watching us as we did our work, which was out in the open near the museum. The Albanian children are extremely curious and love to touch everything and ignore when someone tells them to stay behind a certain space. I certainly kept an eye on my bag in case thieving hands wandered its way. After that we broke for lunch and began to try and do some analysis but the bones were just too dirty, it was decided that we should start cleaning them but I had wanted to go to the internet cafe in Saranda to check my email to see if I had heard from BU.
The only other person to come to town was Caitlyn, who is the oldest of us at 24 and is a mother. She is a teacher and came on the trip for the culture and the trip, not the bones. I felt bad leaving the bones to be cleaned but I really wanted to check my email. It was mildly awkward as Caitlyn and Alex are extremely flirtatious. It is pretty evident that they will have some sort of romance before he leaves on Sunday. He told us that if we didn't mind a short time at the internet cafe, he would take us somewhere special and we agreed.
Well boy was I glad I went to check my email, I did indeed have an email waiting in my inbox that was given the subject of “Decision from the Boston University Medical School”. Gmail actually lists the subject and then the first few words of the email in its inbox and so I saw “Dear Amy, Congratulations” and my heart leapt in my chest. I opened the email to find that I had been accepted to Boston University for their MS in Forensic Anthropology! I was so excited I couldn't contain myself and Caitlyn happily shared in my excitement. I also called my parents to tell them the news but apparently the school had already called home because I had emailed them saying I would be out of the country and they didn't know if they could reach me. I was so happy that I chose to go into town and felt so at peace. I didn't realize the large weight that I had carried on my shoulders about that. I had just assumed I was rejected and was waiting for formal confirmation. I can't really describe how amazing it feels to make the cut and have my life lined up! Of course there will be much to stress about when I return home, such as housing, financial aid and a job hunt but....I'm a graduate student!!
After that I was totally happy to do anything with Caitlyn and Alex and luckily he did not disappoint us. He brought us both to The Blue Eye. And this time I had my camera. The Blue Eye is a beautiful body of water in Albania that is the purest, clearest water I have ever seen. It is a place where water comes up from an underground tunnel as well as seeps through the ground from the mountain into this river of pure clear water. The blue of the deep pool is indescribable. It is the bluest blue I have ever seen and to see water so clear it looked like it wasn't there was amazing. We also could drink the water, which was so delicious I will never taste water like that again. It was truly a great experience and I was so happy that Alex decided to bring us there, especially since we might not be able to go within the next week.
After that breathtaking sight we returned to Saranda in order to visit a dessert shop and pick up some treats for everyone, which Alex paid for by himself, much to mine and Caitlyn's dismay. He also drove around talking to people and teasing us. Then he forced Caitlyn to drive his standard BMW because she had bragged to him about how great a driver she was. She was a good driver, and Albanian roads are scary so I'm impressed that she even did that. Of course I was told to keep both our visit to the Blue Eye as well as Caitlyn's driving experience a secret, which I have but it feels weird.
We returned to the Livia, our hotel in Butrint and during dinner I informed the professor and the dean that I had been accepted to Boston University. I was not sure how he would react as we had spent a day being lectured about the difference between a terminal masters forensic anthropologist and a phD anthropologist and he had seemed pretty down on the masters workers. He was very excited for me and everyone congratulated me. It was very nice. I'm so happy.
We were informed at dinner that a few burials had been found at the forum archeological site and that they wanted us to excavate so the excitement for tomorrow is palpable.
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