More Opportunities?

It pays to listen. A prominent archaeologist of the times, Dr. Thomas Davis, came to give a talk yesterday. Luckily I happened to still be in the caf when Dr. Johnson and Dr. Knauth brought him down for lunch. Dr. J went around the entire caf looking for arch students to join them. I'm so glad I did! Turns out, he's the director or something at the Fulbright Institute in Cypres! He gave me some advice, though I missed the deadlines for applying for this year. He gave a fire-side chat in the afternoon which Heather and I decided to go to. We originally planned to only go for 30 minutes, but ended up staying for damn near the whole thing. haha. He mentioned some things to look into:

CRM: I'm not sure what it stands for, but informally it's known as Salvage Archaeology, Rescue Archaeology, or even sell-your-soul-to-the-devil-archaeology. haha. It's a requirement by the Federal Government that any type of major construction MUST employ archaeologists to survey the site for some kind of "historical integrity" before breaking ground for construction. It's bitch work, but hey, it's also archaeology. Dr. Davis (hehe, I hope that's what my name will look like) said it was also some of the best 12 years of his life. You're sent all over the country and learn so much about American history and/or Native American culture. If you find a good place, you're salaried (though not much) with permanent benefits AND you're working for the government, so you get government benefits AND a credit union! woop woop! Plus, you're given a travel stiped of a small amount for hotels and food. Sounds like a great deal to me!

He also told me that my specific interests in ancient Mesopotamian languages couldn't have come at a better time because all the big names are dying out/retiring, so I could pretty much consider myself the world leading expert once I finish a dissertation. Sweet deal! Now I just need to get in to grad school!!

I also told him my new interest in Internation Peace and Conflict Resolutions and he said, "Archaeology, Conflict Resolution, they're pretty much the exact same thing. In fact, in Cypress' Fullbright Program right now, we only have Archaeologists and Conflict Resolutions people." He suggested I look into Georgetown for that.

Then Heather and I talked to Dr. Knauth this morning. That was extremely helpful! She told us to go talk to the schools (i.e. UPenn and Johns Hopkins) about getting in under "special student" status. We'd have to pay the tuition and wouldn't be under a program, but we'd be in the school and taking classes, and if we performed well, we could get into the program for the next year with tuition assistance. She also told us to look into volunteering at the local museums (i.e. UPenn's Anthropology and Archaeology Museum and the Walter's Museum in Baltimore). I will DEFINITELY be going to UPenn to talk to them then. My momma told me to send a follow up letter to these schools, and this would be just one step up from that. Go to them and ask them specifically why I didn't get in.

Well, now it's time for breakfast. I'm hungry!