The end of week two brought about mixed emotions. It's the end of my first two week block here, and while I'm staying on, the majority of people aren't. So it was quite difficult saying goodbye to these people who I've spent every single day and night with and become pretty close to.
Nonetheless, we weren't going to let it taint our last week here. On the excavation front, things are going well. I spent most of the week in Trench 4, run by Veronika, which is the Tepidarium. We finished excavating the collapsed floor which was amazing. And by the end of the week we had managed to expose some marble slabs which were truly beautiful. On top of this, I got to perfect my hand at drawing, and I've found its really not as dull or as difficult as I originally thought. On the Thursday we got to visit the Villa Augustae which is an excavation on Mount. Somma run by Ferdinando's dad. This villa was amazing - only one tenth of it has been excavated and it's already triple the size of the site I'm working on. The frescoes are stunning, and there is a huge entrance hall which blows your mind when you imagine the full size of this villa. What left me in awe was the wine cellar, which has only just been exposed, and the full extant still runs under fields and layers upon layers of volcanic ash. There are dolia still in situ, and Ferdinando reckons this is the biggest wine storage area in the whole of Italy. The amount of time and effort going into the excavation of this villa is amazing, and leaves me wandering what the site I'm working on could look like if it had the same funds.
The evenings this week have been great fun, with many a bottle of €1.25 wine being consumed, as well as many a trip to the local Gelateria, where I am determined to try every flavour before I go (I'll keep you updated on the progress). We organised a quiz night for Friday, the last night when everyone was still here, which was very drunken but very amusing, despite my celebrity culture and UK Top 40 questions being a flop. It was great to hang out with these friends that I've made, and plan trips to visit one another and promises of coming back next summer.
This week I've felt far more comfortable with the heat, despite there being an increase in the temperature. No more fainting and no more heat stroke! The tan is also coming along very well, with my back becoming a very rich shade of brown.
Speak soon!
Love,
Emily
Xxx
(photos have been borrowed from Beth, which I hope is okay!)
