By J L Lunze
Christmas alone here in Denmark has enabled me to give some thought over my performance over the last semester as a graduate student. As I have told the head of my department I am here to learn, but even I must admit that I came for something more than this. I came because I wanted to have genuine experience in the field of maritime archaeology. It is one thing to read and talk about a discipline or to teach students through the work of others; it is quite another to actually practice what you preach. Admittedly, I have had a hard time with my GIS and Rhino assignments; I am after all a former geologist for whom a brunton compass fits the hand far better than a cell phone or computer does. This however, has not detracted from my overall experiences here in Denmark. With a small caring faculty much like the one I originated from at the College of William and Mary it was easy to settle into the small homelike atmosphere, and often external opportunities to interact with them at social events or just for an end of semester drink at the local pub. While I have drifted away on a raft from the famous raft debates which occur at William and Mary with no hint of returning; it has been extremely refreshing to make new friends and see different places.
I have made new friends from around the world who have properly challenged my previous notion that William and Mary- nay American students have a privileged education. And while all of them come from a different background, this does not detract from the program but enhances it. Competition is of course fierce as with any graduate or undergraduate program for that matter; with students all eagerly wanting to learn from their professors who have other responsibilities beyond teaching, but competition with both success and failure is crucial for any educational experience. Loss teaches us to be more careful in certain regards. Success teaches us to be bolder and place more confidence in ourselves. Too much of either through falsity creates an unbalanced academic who cannot strive towards perfection or has to lean on their friends and advisors for continuous support and guidance.
While the faculty and fellow students have been guiding me here- I have through my friendships been attempting to foster the same. I often feel or wish that I could be teaching intro-geology or oceanography as many of my other fellows from the William and Mary geology department, but know in time a place will open up for me as well and perhaps my raft will drift back one day. Perhaps one day we will exchange students as was the way with my senior research project. The experiences I am gathering by traveling the world would make this beneficial to all. I am reminded of how while I have read extensively and on many an occasion plagued my professors to the point of losing their temper, I have not traveled a great deal beyond the confines of the stretch of the world that encompasses the distance from Virginia to Alaska.
That has now changed. I have traveled to Istanbul for the International Symposium on Ship and Boat Archaeology this fall which was a revealing occasion for me- I also shook the hand of a hero, albeit just for a moment. I have been to Stockholm and seen the famous Vasa, only to notice after the awe and wonder had worn off- the amount of work that future generations will have to endure to preserve her. I think however, the most telling moment was rolling into the parking lot of the Strandingsmuseum St. George here in Denmark and asking my professor if that was a conning tower off of a submarine as I did not recognize which type or nationality- which is rare for me; only to find out that it was from the U-20, the submarine that sank the Lusitania and brought America into the first world war- and to put my hand upon it. While I miss my many homes, friends, and family members; we can not grow if we do not engage the world and our respected chosen disciplines. I know there are many students at William and Mary who are about to graduate next year; to them I would say- keep your home and your friends in your heart, but let your legs wander a bit down the less traveled road.
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