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It’s 4:00am in the sleepy town of Polis Chrysochous, Cyprus. The sun isn’t up yet, but the alley cats are finding their morning snacks. I’m on breakfast duty, so in addition to the egg boiling and tomato cutting of the night before, it’s my team’s job to go fill the coolers and water jugs for the field day ahead. We pile Landy, the beloved but ancient Land Rover of one of our co-directors, with the equipment and food for the day.

After our work for this morning’s breakfast is complete, we take a rest in the seats at the bottom of the apartment building and wait for the bus to arrive. I find it vital in these moments to remind myself to take in every single detail of this amazing experience so that I have things to look back on when I make the inevitable journey home. My favorite thing about these dark and tiresome mornings is the way the sun looks as it starts to rise just barely over the peaks of the mountains while the moon still shines bright above.

Arriving at the site of Makounta-Voules, we have the first hill climb of the day, a beautiful path (if I do say so myself) we landscaped the first day being here that only steals some breath on the journey up. I remember before this trip how worried I was that I wouldn’t like this enough to be happy with the early mornings and heat, but I can safely say that’s not an issue as I now know I need to do this for the rest of my life. I leave the trench fifteen minutes before breakfast to help with my roommate and the rest of our breakfast crew setting out the tarp on which we will feast and nap while we set out the food. At around 8:30am we can hear the call of “BREAKFAST” shout down the mountain and prepare for the incoming team ready to fuel themselves for the rest of the day.

We spend the day digging and taking elevations, pictures when necessary, and reminding ourselves to trust our guts while we sift. It’s Thursday, which means at the end of the day it’s time for everyone’s favorite segment: Trench Tours. We show off the work we’ve done for the week, being sure to take a look at the trenches we aren’t a part of in order to learn more about the site as a whole.

After the bus ride home, we have some lunch and begin pot washing, but I have a special task. I am working on a project to clean up our faunal remains from past seasons and remove their thick calcium accretions through various methods. After an hour or two of this lab work, we have some lovely free time which is always best spent at the beach. A view that I strongly believe can’t be beat is the Mediterranean Sea after a long day of digging. With a fifteen-minute walk, we arrive ready to take in the wonderfully clear water. The hours spent on this beach are some that I would be hard pressed to ever give up, let alone the friends I get to spend it with. Throughout this project I have had so many experiences that I hope aren’t limited to being once-in-a-lifetime. We are back at it bright and early tomorrow, and I just can’t stop taking in every detail knowing that there are only so many days left here—but I’ll be back.