Pit Week #2

We last left Michelle buying a Latin grammar tea towel at Vindolanda. It's been many weeks since that day. Let us now return to our story...

On Monday, we began planning in the pit. Now, planning basically entails setting up some strings and measuring tapes and grids...and crying because you're spending your entire day drawing rocks even though you have no artistic talent and rocks are weird. It was glorious.

On Tuesday, we continued the planning process. Why don't we consult the journal to see how Tuesday went...

Journal Excerpt: "Today was almost like any other day in the pit: Digging in the dirt, being a serial killer, same old, same old. The major difference was that today, we were evidently working on the face of the sun. It was the hottest day I have heretofore experienced. It was like running around FSU's campus in the middle of September...on fire. In fact, next time I go for one of my cross-campus fire runs, I will know what to expect because I know what it feels like."

Yes, that was Tuesday. We continued all the drawing and then pictures of the pit were taken. After dinner, Sara and I took a walk down to the river and discovered the passageway to Narnia. It was a good day.

Wednesday...oh goodness...

Journal Excerpt: "On Wednesday, the excavation of the Pit of Despair began. That's right, today consisted of digging up all the rocks that we spent the past two days drawing."

On Wednesday, my little group also found out that we had been given nicknames. Apparently, Kaitlin, Sara, Nicole, and I became known as the "Fantastic Four." It was great fun. Kaitlin was labeled the Invisible Woman, Nicole the Human Torch, Sara the Thing, and I am Mr. Fantastic. Not going to lie, it's pretty great to be a superhero group. We are pretty fantastic. Also on Wednesday, I had a very important learning experience. Keep in mind that at this point, I have been in Durham for almost a week and a half:

Journal Excerpt: "Today, I discovered how to actually plug in my converter... :)" 

Nice job, self, nice job.

Thursday was a pretty good day, and I'll tell you why:

Journal Excerpt: "Today was, by far, the creepiest day of my existence."

Basically, I was on my serial killer game all day. On Wednesday, Chris' hat had been stolen and generously given to me to do with what I pleased. I, of course, showed up in the pit on Thursday wearing said hat. I then made Chris wear my hat...it has a little bow on it...I'm evil, I know. Anyway, so later that night, everyone went to the Castle Bar after the lecture (oh yeah, there's a castle in Durham just BTW) and some people stayed out later than others. I took the opportunity, with the help of my good friend Connor, to leave creepy notes such as "Impending Doom was here" around Chris' room. (Chris and Connor were roommates) So, after leaving my notes, Connor tells me about the window-door, where a human can hide...and it's on Chris' side of the room............draw the obviously conclusion. I threw open the curtains when Chris got back and he had a minor heart attack. Glorious.

Friday - Last Day in the Pit

Journal Excerpt: "I rescind my previous comments about the hottest day of the dig because today was absolutely it. It was also the dirtiest day of the dig for me. I was covered in just...brown."

That about sums it up for Friday. Hot. Brown.

And that's week 2!