American Ethnological Society & Nevis

This week I purchased my plane tickets to Nevis, with a bit of finagling.  It seems that all of the flights I originally wanted have since sold out.  These flights were not direct flights- they each had connections in Miami. The planes which were due to arrive in Miami were full, not those which would be flying from Miami to St Kitts. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise- as myself and a friend were able to book a direct flight from New York to St Kitts.  From there we will take our two-hour ferry boat ride to Nevis. I will actually need to travel from DC to New York to catch this flight, which is frustrating- but I'm saving about $50 in gas and tolls by going this route.  I will then be catching a train back from Jersey to Fredericksburg after our return from the island.  My friend and I will be staying overnight in a hostel near the airport, which will provides free airport shuttles.  At the end of the day, I'm spending the same amount of money as I would if I were driving to and from Jersey- except I don't have to do the driving and I don't have to put the miles on my car.  The trade-off is worth it. I'm so excited to be getting back into the field that I've already packed my bag!  No, seriously.  It's at the foot of my bed, full of toiletries, clothes, camera and an assortment of other travel things...

I am an officer for the History and Anthropology Club, which was recently resurrected at Monmouth University.  A few students and I decided that it was time to come up with our own way of paying for conference travel expenses AND to encourage students to participate in these conferences. We want to find a cultural, archaeology and history conference to start with for next year.  The archaeology students have already decided that the Mid Atlantic Archaeology Conference (MAAC) is the best "starter" for students who have never presented before. Our history students are investigating their option and tomorrow, I will be traveling to NYC to check out the American Ethnological Society (AES) conference.  Two of our cultural MA students is also traveling- if the conference is of interest- we may return next year!  I will do my best to participate as well-- my professional interests lie in archaeology but I am a cultural convert...  I'm interested in cultural revitalization movements and it might be nice to churn out a paper related to such a topic. We shall see!

I'll be sure to update within the next few days, informing you of my experience at AES...