Lauren Nowakowski
STEP Education Abroad
(1) For my STEP project, I studied abroad at an archaeological site in Trim, Ireland. The study abroad was a 4-week dig at the Blackfriary in Trim. During the week we worked on excavating the monastic site and going on educational field trips, and on the weekends we would travel to different sites around Ireland.
(2) While studying abroad in Ireland, I really got to know myself, my interests, and what I want my future to look like. In college, I am studying Anthropology, and while I have read a lot about archaeology and excavation it is completely different in the field than it is on paper. This was to be expected, but I learned that archaeology and excavation are even more thrilling when you are physically interacting with the world you have been learning about for so long. At the Blackfriary, we worked on the weekdays digging through different time periods trying to get down to the medieval time period of the original monastery. While working through these layers we discovered loads of artifacts that really give the different time periods a life. By working directly with this world I was able to create an image in my mind of what the monastery would have looked like back in its prime. Working at this field site taught me so much about a time period I was unfamiliar with prior to visiting and showed me that anthropology is definitely the study for me. Being in a foreign country without family or friends from home really forces you to get to know yourself. You have to figure out travel and your new home life in a completely different country. While doing this exploring you also meet new friends, family, and teachers that completely change your world. I met so many new people with all different ideas and interests, thus expanding my own. This experience allowed me to really see what I want to do with my life, and how to interact with a new country. I learned that the people in these countries are a lot like the visitors, interested in the unknown.
(3) While studying in Ireland I was accompanied by 15 other students who worked with me every day on the dig site. While working in the dig we had a lot of time to talk to each other, because we were often troweling away at the ground. Talking to my fellow students allowed me to learn a lot of different perspectives and gave me the opportunity to make more friends. We ended up traveling together on the weekends and hanging out together during the week. These friends on the trip allowed me to be myself and talk openly about my interests and life. They showed me that being open is not a bad thing. Being open about yourself lets others have the opportunity to form a better connection with you, and allows you to be more genuine yourself.
Not only were the friends I made on the trip transformational, but so were the weekend travels I partook in. On the three weekends I had, my friends and I traveled to Belfast and saw Giants Causeway, explored Dublin, hiked a mountain in Carlingford, walked the Cliffs of Moher, and many other things. On these trips, I interacted with so many new people and places. I learned about the Irish way of life and tried a multitude of new foods. These new places taught me that no matter where you go being a kind person to everyone you meet is one of the most important qualities that someone could have. Being that kind of person opens you up to a world that invites you in, and allows you to make true connections with people. This was true in Ireland and all of the other locations I have traveled to. The Irish were amazing people in every part of their beautiful country that I visited and I can only try to match their kindness and welcoming spirit to everyone who comes and visits America.
Lastly, I learned so much from working in my cutting at the field school. Our instructor Ian taught us how to trowel, mattock, and shover the dirt in our cutting to create clean layers that we could collect information from. In the cutting, I developed so many skills, from how to work in tough situations, to how to keep a positive attitude no matter what. A lot of the days we would not find anything, but I learned that you had to stay positive and focus on the small things that you can learn from. Even though a burnt floor may not seem exciting when you say it out loud, in the cutting finding a burnt floor is an incredibly cool thing. There’s so much to learn from it. Why is the floor burnt? Who did the burning? What did the burning destroy? etc. Things like this really helped to change my mindset. Instead of just looking at things from face value, I really started asking deep penetrating questions about the world around me.
(4) These transformations and changes that I developed while studying abroad in Ireland have made me into a more open, engaged, and interested person. I made 15 more incredible friends, have an even larger family in Ireland, and learned so much about a major that I have fallen in love with. Studying abroad in Ireland really taught me that my academics at Ohio State are important if I want to work in the field of Archaeology and that by honing my skills in the classroom I will be able to learn so much more out in the field. In terms of professional, and personal goals, this trip taught me that I need to work hard to become an anthropologist and that working in a foreign country that I care deeply about can be the most rewarding thing in the world.