When I decided to go abroad, I had been studying and was fairly set on anthropology for my future. I knew I would be an archaeologist -- that was that. What I didn’t realize then, however, was that I had no idea what the scope of “archaeology” was. My experiences while abroad not only served to teach me about myself, but they largely informed me about what I could do with my future inside of the broad field of anthropology. In this short account, I would like to discuss both my personal experiences while traveling as well as how these experiences shaped my outlook on my future.
Being abroad is a crash course in culture. In a span of 24 hours, you go from total normalcy to having no idea what anything is, what anyone is saying, or even what you are saying. It’s a mess of confusion and terror and it is the most fun I have ever had in my life. Getting out of the country tests your limits -- are you quick on your feet? Are you organized? Do you have a good sense of direction? (Spoiler, I do not. Apple Maps saved my skin every single day.) It allows you to experience an entirely new side of human capability and behavior. For me, every day was an anthropological study. Going to the cafe and ordering “un cappuccino” was a study -- I asked myself: How do people treat me as a foreigner? How do they treat each other? What is different here, and what is the same? You grow infinitely more understanding of the world with each foreign experience.
Image A branch of anthropology I previously had underappreciated is ethnography. Ethnography is the collection of data on current cultures in order to “draw conclusions about how societies and individuals function” (University of Virginia). Essentially, it focuses on how the past has informed the present. Before immersing myself in these foreign cultures, I was naively focused on prehistory. I did not see the importance for an archaeologist to study the present. As I quickly discovered, it matters immensely. The present is where I exist, it’s the filter through which I understand everything. Therefore, I realized that we study the past to understand ourselves. I spent the first days abroad in a haze of shock. It wasn’t the fact that everything was different that was overwhelming, it was that I didn't understand why, and that bothered me. All these minute differences were inherited pieces of one massive cultural puzzle, and I discovered that I wanted to solve it.
As one might assume, going to Italy and seeing active archaeology sites was extremely gratifying (for an archaeology nerd like me at least). They seemed to pop up everywhere. I lived in a small town called Siena in the Tuscany region of Italy. Siena is a Medieval-era city absolutely bursting with fascinating history. In a place that old, archaeology existed in literally every step; the cobblestones I walked over to get to the supermarket were the same ones used during the pilgrimage to Rome in the middle ages! Observing such a wide array of active projects showed me the diversity of archaeology. One can of course try to excavate Pompeii, but there’s also an ancient Etruscan temple lying unexcavated underneath a Roman temple which rests under Il Duomo, the currently standing Catholic church of Siena. I found that there were countless opportunities available. Alongside this understanding, I also realized that not all sites would be the glorious “Indiana Jones” artifact-laden sites you’d want. However, they will be amazing, rich little enclaves just dripping with lost information. It is strange that surrounded by all this grandeur, I finally accepted mediocrity. Though, I suspect that all young people eventually come to this realization, once we really begin to look into the career we’ve chosen, it loses that magnificence. I see this as a good thing because that also makes one’s dream attainable. I will not discover Atlantis, but I can work to advance our understanding of the settlement of the Americas, which is also pretty sick.
While abroad, I was lucky enough to visit multiple countries - predictably dragging my travel companions along with me to every accessible site. I got to see Greece and the Mediterranean, as well as Iceland. By doing this, I was able to experience how different cultures present and preserve their own cultural histories. It’s really such a fascinating concept. What do people want to remember? How do they want to be seen? This traveling also cemented my interest in the development of ancient trade ways, if I can be a nerd for a moment. I got to travel the very oceans that people would have crossed, ships loaded with various trade goods - oil, vinegar, and wine in Greek amphorae, lapis lazuli scarab beads from Egypt lying in Etruscan tombs in central Italy - thousands of years earlier. I want to retrace these people’s footsteps and understand how they lived. Being in these places made this goal so real. I knew there was a future for me in this world because I was already standing in it; a foot in the door, they say.
Image In short, traveling allowed me to understand myself and what I want out of my future. Taking time to exist in these places, listening to how they make your body sing, it’s a very enlightening experience. I learned that I want to dedicate my life to understanding people, and I’d prefer to do this by studying what we’ve left buried in the ground. I love history, I love watching it fade - I thought being in Venice would make me more sad than it did because the whole city is falling away, back into the ocean. What I realized was that, really, it’s one massive storybook. I walked through the pages, I saw the world the people had created so long before me, and one day, that story will end. The beauty in the tale is of course the story, but how beautiful is it that it will one day be over? I breathed so deeply, knowing that each breath was one I could never take in that place again. The city I saw before me was in a constant state of change, and I was lucky enough to see it, to hear its beautiful story before the end. That’s a bit off-topic, but really that's what travel does to you, it makes you lament. Makes you sound like an old man in a sepia filter, stroking his long white beard and saying things that make no sense. There are actually many of these men wandering around Italy, I strongly advise you to go find them.This experience changed my life, but not in the ways I expected it to. I feel more capable and more confident that I can carve the right future for myself. I feel ready to see what’s ahead because I know it will be exciting.
By Logan Knouse
Italian Language and Culture in Siena, Fall 2022