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♪ [background music playing] ♪♪.
I went on the Summer Archeology program in Belgium through the
Study Abroad program here at Eastern Illinois University.
Basically the overall experience was five days a week you'd get
up and you would go to the excavation sight
at Walhain Castle about 8 to 10 miles outside
of Louvain-la-Neuve where we were staying.
You would work for eight hours a day.
We had three seperate areas.
Each day we'd try to hopefully get down
through another layer carefully scraping
away any dirt, finding artifacts, cataloging.
We found several different structures.
We found a well.
We worked on a bigger area that had part of the palace floor.
We eventually made it down to the medieval level.
We excavated a medieval doorway on the back side of the wall.
At the end of the day you'd pack up your tools and you'd go back.
You'd be ready for the tavern I guess you could say.
I expected to, I guess have the full experience
of an archeological dig.
Being able to go to a medieval castle and
actually take part in a professional excavation
was a dream of mine I guess you could say.
Being a student of the traditional school of history
I guess you could say, we deal with historical documents.
And archeology you deal with the material culture, artifacts.
It allows you to cross-reference I guess you could say what you
find in the ground with these historical documents.
It gives you a broader picture of,
I guess just history as it is.
The good thing about this program is you have
three weekends free to travel on your own
and I took advantage of all those weekends.
I went to Germany, traveled around Belgium
on a few day trips, went to Normandy.
Really got to see some of the sights that had
always just been on the TV screen for me.
It made it real.
I got the full European experience
I guess you could say.
♪ [music playing-- no dialogue]♪♪.