"While I go gas up the truck"

As Ashley and I begin the final round of little chores and obligations required to get ourselves across the pond, we find ourselves here, with this new blog. With Giorraíonn beirt bóthar, or Beirt, we'll endeavour to keep family and friends abreast of our experiences in and around Sheffield, England. Ultimately, we'll be able to use this tool for other adventures as well.

We both can't wait to start at the University of Sheffield in September. Ashley will be taking a MSc in Arts, Culture, and Heritage Management, and I'll be working towards an MSc in Environmental Archaeology and Palaeoeconomy. In addition to the fun cultural aspects of living in northern England for a year, we hope to periodically shed light on our work.

This past weekend we finally finished our applications for UK student visas, and we'll be in Atlanta Friday at (apparently not) the British Embassy itself, supplying our "biometrics." Essentially, fingerprints and passport photos. Aside from finishing our visa process, we're down to just settling on travel arrangements to Sheffield and getting our first month's rent drafted over to Ireland (where our landlord resides). In the mean time, I'm down to my final three weeks at the Georgia Archaeological Site File and UGA Lab of Archaeology after over two years.

We'll keep posting as we finalize all of our last-minute (month) obligations and start packing up for our adventure!