I'm an UNCLE!!!!!!!

That's right! :-D My sister had a beautiful baby girl. Her name is Addie Brynn Olson. She is named after my Great-Grandmother Addie Mae Anderson. "Brynn" is a Scottish word meaning "small hill". As some of you know, my sister and her husband, Greg, were hiking the Appalachian Trail when she found out she was pregnant. So the "hill" part of Addie's name is very fitting.

The first time I saw her, I couldn't believe it. She is SO cute!! My parents are so so happy to have a new addition to the family.

Jennifer, my sister, is doing well but very sore because of the C-Section she had to have. I think she was in labor for just at around 24 hours. We were all getting a bit worried about her, but everything worked out great. I wish I had been there with everyone, but I was still in school down in Texas.

What a great Christmas present for the whole family!! I'll try to post more pictures after Christmas on my photo page.

First Semester Down! 3 to go!

Well......I've finished my first semester in graduate school. I am SO glad its over, however, some good things did come from it. I've become very good friends with several professors that I think will be great resources for me in the future. Recently, I finished a 22 page paper for one of my archaeology classes. The paper was read aloud, which made me very nervous. After my adviser read the paper, he suggested that I change that paper topic into my thesis. I'll explain that in a bit.

I've really started to like living in Texas. The people are great, the food is wonderful (Steak is WAY better in Texas), and there are plenty of things to do and see. Some of the smaller towns nearby are so nice. New Braunfels is one of them. he downtown area reminds me of some small German villages. Maybe that's because its German. They even have a Weinnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) there and things are labeled in German. Pretty neat-O.

My two jobs have become more and more interesting as the year has progressed. The Alumni Association has put there full trust in me with their website. We are in a transitional phase of the site right now, moving from one back-end web provider to another one. When I first started working there, the site was VERY archaic and we got weekly complaints about it. Now we have a new temporary site while we negotiate terms with our current provider. There are still lots and lots and LOTS of problems with it, but at least it looks updated. I wish I could spend more time working on it. Here is the site.

The other site I work on is Texas Beyond History. Here it is if you'd like to see it.
This is a HUGE website that a good friend of mine, Dr. Stephen Black, has set up as a virtual museum of Texas archaeology. The exhibit I am working on isn't up yet but it is called "Mission Dolores". It is a Spanish Mission that was set up when the Spanish ruled Texas in the 1600s and 1700s. The research is interesting and I get to work with a lot of old documents and interesting journals about the subject.

So my thesis topic has been narrowed down to the subject of Mayan Hieroglyphics. I had first planned on working with Mayan burials, but I was told that subject has been "done to death" ha ha ha. So the paper that I mentioned was on a group of symbols called the "Initial Series Introductory Glyph" or ISIG for short. These symbols are grouped together before calendar dates on monuments and nearly anything with a date called the Long Count date. Not a lot of work has been done on these symbols and my adviser was so impressed with my subject that he told me on the spot that this was gonna be my new thesis topic. I've received a few emails from other professors at other schools around the country telling me that this is research that has been needed for a while but no one has done it before. I hope I am up to the task.

My professors at ECU were certainly happy to hear about my thesis an the direction I am going. Without them, who knows what I'd be doing now. It was nice getting to see them all again at my late graduation. I actually was on the list of graduates in May 2009 but couldn't walk because I was in Germany. So I was told I should come and do the graduation this Dec. I'm so glad that I did. I talked to so many professors about my current work and about Texas State. That is Dr. Laura Mazow and myself. She always encouraged me to go into epigraphy and so far it seems like that is the field I belong in. It was GREAT getting to tell them how much of an impact they made on my career decisions.

Whats going on in Texas.

Hey everyone! Its been a while since I have written on here and a few of you have emailed me wondering whats going on so let me see if I can recap the last month or so.

My dad and I drove down here (although he did nearly all the driving) in late August. Nearly had a few close call wrecks on the way as well. Boy....people sure do drive crazy here!!

The building here is called Old Main. Its the "old main" building that administrative offices use to be in. Its the central icon of the university and sits high on a hill overlooking everything. Its a very beautiful building. This is one of my favorite photos of it.

After I got settled in we had our first meeting of the grad students. Some of us had been emailing back and forth for a while so we already knew each other well. It almost felt like we were already friends when we first met so that was nice.

We listened to Dr McGee, the chair of our department, for a while. Soon a few other professors filtered in. One of them named Dr Reilly immediately pointed to me and said "I need to talk to you after the meeting. George Stuart sends his regards." As some of you know, Dr George Stuart was one of the most notable Mayan Archaeologist in the country. His son is the leading Mayan Hieroglyphic expert in the world, who works at the University of Texas at Austin, just down the road. So I was very pleased to hear that George had even remembered me. Apparently he had some very nice things to say. Dr Reilly told me that he knew that if Dr Stuart had written a letter of recommendation for me, that I must be something special. Ha ha!

Classes are going well. Right now I am taking an Anthropology Theory seminar, which is terribly awful. We are reading about 150 pages a week of the most boring stuff written in a very old style of writing. We also have several papers due for that class this semester. The chair of the department, Dr McGee, is a co-instructor together with Dr Warms in that class. Most of the time it seems that all they do is bicker like an old married couple.

I'm also taking an Archaeology seminar in which we have several archaeology problems that we have to solve. Most of them have to do with excavation strategy and things like that.

My last class is on that Dr Reilly teaches. Its Art and Archaeology of the Olmec. I love this class. Because it mostly deals with my area of expertise, I get put on the spot a lot in that class.....in front of about 70+ people. If there is a Mayan Glyph in the slideshow, he usually says "Mr Glisson, explain to everyone what we are looking at" or he just points to me with this commanding look and lets me know its my turn to speak. So most of the class I am on the edge of my seat but its sure is very interesting. Dr Reilly is likely one of the top experts in the world on the Olmec civilization. After hearing his name, I looked him up in my archaeology books and he is in most of them.

Right now I am working 2 jobs, and might be adding a third. My first job is working at the Alumni Association of Texas State. I love this job. Currently I am working with the head of Alumni Affairs and designing a new website for them. Here is my new design. Its not being used yet, but I am working on it. <http://www.txstatealumni.org/new_site/index.htm>
Their current one is ancient. They have been impressed by my work already and have asked me to make some new graphics for them to use in emails and things. The building I work in is an old house that's really nice on the inside (My office is upstairs.). Apparently the room that I work in is the room that Lyndon B Johnson use to live in when he was a Student at Texas State (then Southwest Texas Teaching College). It is neat going to a school that a president graduated from, but BOY! do they have pictures of him everywhere!!

My second job is working for one of the archaeologist doing a HUGE website called Texas Beyond History. It is a state-wide website about the history of Texas and the archaeology sites around the state. It is easily the largest website I have ever worked on. Its used A LOT by people all over the world and has been featured on a lot of news and TV programs. Here is the Texas Beyond History website. <http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/>

The third job, which I have yet to start, is teaching guitar lessons for one of my professors sons. Its been a while since I have taught guitar and I thought now would be a good time to get back into it.

The campus is really nice and has some beautiful spots. Its really well organized and easy to get around. I take the bus from my apartment everyday which is great because I never have to drive. I could actually take the bus anywhere I need to. The public transportation is fairly good here. Nothing like Germany, but its pretty good for the US. I think Texas is a little ahead of the other states in that area. The train station here is really nice too and has a bus station right there which is nice (just like most European cities).

Recently Dr Reilly told me that he wants me to fly to San Francisco to view someones private collection of Mayan artifacts. That is going to be interesting. I am not sure when that will be but I am looking forward to that. I have also been told that several of my papers will be published before I graduate so I am very excited about the way things are going.

This coming weekend we are having a Mayan Hieroglyphic conference and workshop. A guest speaker is coming to teach a hieroglyphic workshop and we will be viewing the movie "Breaking the Maya Code". I saw this last year at the University of Texas at Austin's Maya Meetings that they have every year. Its an excellent documentary. Most of the archaeologist that are in it I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking to. Dr George Stuart is in the movie as well.

The weather is certainly cooling off. When my dad and I first got here in was in the 100s for a few weeks. I think this week it is actually in the low 80s which is a BIG change.

The city of San Marcos is nice and quaint. It has a Greenville NC feel to it almost. Sometimes it seems like I didn't actually leave Greenville because it really does have that same feeling, except there are A LOT of hills here. Some of them very steep. There is a large lake called Aquarena nearby that people scuba dive in. I am going to try to get around to doing that soon. The river that flows through the town is fed from a spring. The water is crystal clear and usually crowded with people swimming all over the city (even on cold days) at the different parks. Some of the parks are very beautiful and very well maintained.

Ok....so lets talk about Barbecue. :-) First off....I really do miss Eastern NC BBQ. Nothing beats Wilbers. But down here....its an entirely different animal. All the BBQ is beef. The first week here we had a big catered dinner which was all BBQ. I had never heard of Brisket before but WOW....it is SO good. They also have smoked sausage and some other cuts of beef. Its all very good though. Every time I explain to Texans what BBQ is in NC, they just can't believe it.

That's about all I can think of right now. I'll write more soon, hopefully.

Last month in Germany!!!!

So I have finally arrived at my last month in Germany. It has been a long LONG year here in Europe. Its been more difficult than I could have ever imagined being away from my my loved ones this long.

Having said that.....I know that I have learned more this past year than I could ever have dreamed. I have made new friendships, learned another language, saw some of the most wonderful sights of Europe with my girl friend and my family, and completed my bachelors degree in Anthropology.

It has been a very interesting experience getting to see another countries culture and also their viewpoints on so many topics. Over the past year I have gotten many reactions from people all over Europe when I tell them I am an American. Some people smile and greet you. Some people laugh and shake their head. Some people laugh and shake your hand. Some people treat you badly. And some people treat you VERY badly (like the guy in the Paris airport that purposely told me to go the wrong way so I would miss my flight). But.....it has become very apparent to me that even the people that say they don't like America.......still respect America.

So I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July no matter where you were. Hopefully you stopped and remembered why we celebrate this holiday. Over 230 years ago farmers, workers, businessmen, preachers, and common folk like yourselves all became traitors to the British Crown because they wanted freedom. Although it sometimes seems like we have less and less freedom in this country, we are still America.....home of the brave and land of the free and I realize that more now than I have.

A few weeks ago I finished working on a video of all my pictures from the past year. Its not ALL of my pictures......but it is a lot of them. I estimate that I have taken nearly 50,000 pictures here so it was difficult going through all of them and picking out all the right ones. I'm still not totally happy with it, but this is the final product. Make sure that you turn your audio up because there is music.



I'll be posting one more time before I leave for the US. Hope everyone had a good weekend. Talk to you soon!

Ah....Venice......and other places in Italy

My sister Jennifer and her husband Greg came to visit me in Germany. Boy did we have a great time!!!

The day they got here we went for a walk and I took them to my favorite store Kaufland. :-) Afterwards, we went to eat at my favorite restaurant "Neckermuller" where all of my friends were to meet us later that night. It was sometime that day that things started getting a little crazy for Jennifer.

The next morning we started packing for our trip to Italy and Jennifer noticed that her passport was gone from her bag. We looked everywhere. Later that afternoon we walked to Javier and Rut's house, my friends from Spain. And no......her name is suppose to be spelled like that. Ruth in Spanish is "Rut". We explained the situation and Javier helped us look for the passport, but no luck. We tried to calm Jennifer down and make her not worry so much. For the rest of the day we enjoyed a large Spanish style dinner at my friends house with typical Spanish dishes. It was SO good.

The next morning, Javier and Rut picked us up early and drove us all the way to Dachau, near Munich, to the Concentration Camp there. D

achau was the first camp opened before the war began and was the only one opened through the entire war. It was a VERY large camp. I found it difficult at times to walk around there knowing what had happened to so many people. The gate entrance says in German "Work Makes You Free" but that was just to mislead the prisoners. So many people died in this camp, it was an strange feeling walking in their footsteps.

We walked through the building where they were processed and their heads shaved. We walked through the courtyard where they stood for hours sometimes as punishment. We walked through the small rooms they lived and slept in. Lastly we walked to the ovens that the human bodies were burned in. That was the most disturbing thing to see. Ashes were still inside some of these ovens, after so long. There are three memorials on the grounds of the camp, Jewish, Catholic, and Evangelistic. There is also a giant bell that rings at the exact time they were liberated by the US Army. What a moving experience.

The next day Jennifer, Greg, and I walked through the old city in Tubingen to the lost and found office. After asking the lady a few question in German, and her asking me a few questions in German, she ran upstairs and came back with the passport Jennifer had lost. Some kind soul had turned it in. It was filthy as if it had been in the dirt so we assumed we dropped it walking somewhere.

After that it was off the train station to head through the beautiful Swiss Alps into Italy. What a wonderful ride! The train was very comfortable and the views were amazing. We all wanted to sleep but we were afraid we would miss a great picture. Jennifer was up and down from here seat taking pictures at every nice view we had. The Alps really are majestic. I think they have been called "The Fingerprint of God" because they are so beautiful and amazing.

Later that day we arrived in Milan, Italy. After a good nights rest, we headed out to the Milano

 Duomo, the Milan Cathedral. Its one of the largest in the world and probably one of the most decorated buildings I have ever seen. It was amazing. We read that it took nearly 500 years to complete. After touring the entire cathedral, and walking on the roof, you can totally understand why it took so long. We were all quite speechless about the place. Leaving the cathedral, we headed down towards the Milan castle. On our way we stopped and had a wonderful Italian lunch with one of the best desserts I have ever had. It was coffee, ice cream, and some kind of whipped cream. It was VERY good. I think Jennifer knows the name of it.

At the Milan Castle we were able to get in free because we got there just before they were starting to close. So we hurried through and looked at all of the art work and weapons they had on display. Some featured art was one painting done by Da Vinci and one of the last pieces that Michaelangelo did. It was a huge castle with a lot to see. Afterwards we headed back to our hotel to get our bags and board our train for Venice.

Ah.....Venice. You always see it in movies, and hear people talk about it. But to actually be there, its something else. It is like something out of a fantasy book. No cars anywhere, only boats. The architecture here is a mix of Italian, Turkish, and French........and its beautiful. There is a interesting church on every corner and waterways where there should be alleyways.
We walked around a bit and then toured the Doge's Palace. And what a Palace it was. We were impressed with every room we walked in. The rooms got bigger and more decorative as we neared the end of our visit. That night we boarded a train for Vicenza, where Greg was born.

Vicenza is NW of Venice. It was a short train ride. We walked around the next day looking around the city. We couldn't find a lot to see, but it was still very interesting walking around. The city was a bit smaller than it seemed on the map. Jennifer also started feeling bad so we wanted to look for a place to eat. The problem is that, in Italy, they also have a siesta like Spain. They eat early and then rest from 12:00pm to 2:00pm. This was about the time we started looking for lunch. There was no one open, and no one on the streets. But as soon as 2pm rolled around, the streets were packed and stores began to open again. It was amazing to me how everyone went on this schedule.....even businesses. After sitting down for a nice pizza lunch, Greg ordered some Tiramisu to-go. Vicenza is where tiramisu is suppose to have been created. We headed back to the hostel we stayed at (which wasn't a pleasant stay), got our bags, and headed to the train station to go to Conegliano......where Greg lived when he was very young.

Now.....I'm not a law breaker.....by no means. But when we got to Conegliano, I nearly got into a lot of trouble. After we arrived, we decided to walk to our hotel. It ended up being a longer walk than we thought it would be. Our backpacks were getting heavier and Jennifer wasn't feeling well either. After we turned a corner, I saw a hotel sign down 

the road and figured that was the right place. So we crossed the road so we could stay on the sidewalk. After a few minutes, the sidewalk ended and we found ourself boxed in a car lot with a fence between us and where we needed to go. Greg suggested we turn back and go around....which is what I SHOULD have done. But me being the stubborn type....I said "I'm climbing over the fence". So I threw my pack over the fence and grabbed a flagpole that was on the other side to help me climb over. When I got over, the wire that was holding the pole up snapped and I started to fall right into a new car. I stopped the pole just before it slammed into the car. Jennifer and Greg stood there kind of shocked, and then we all let out a laugh. I looked around to see if anyone saw and then quickly laid the pole down on the ground.....ripping the flag that was on it as well. Jennifer just laughed at me as they walked away. :-P

After we finally got to our hotel we were all very tired and just wanted to rest a bit. Greg and I talked to the guy at the front desk for a bit named Deniz. He was very nice and helped Greg print out maps and things for our walk the next day. As we were just hanging out in our room, Greg and I heard a strange sound outside. After a few second we heard a very very loud explosion. We both looked at each other and Jennifer woke up and sat up. We thought we had been bombed or something. It was such a powerful explosion that things were rattling in the room and you could feel the shock wave in your chest. We found out later that it was an illegal firework that someone set off in the parking lot. Whew!

The next morning we walked around the city a bit and up to the castle. Unfortunately it was closed when we got there, but the walk was very nice. When we got to the top, we ate at a nice restaurant overlooking the vineyards. We weren't really sure if we were eating things in the right order, or using the right bowls and plates for different things because the owner kind of made some jokes about it. Later that night we headed back to Venice for just a few more days.

We stayed in the same room we stayed at the first time we came to Venice a few days before. It is very close to the train station and very convenient to walk to. We had such a great time here. We got to tour the Basilica of St Mark (San Marcos) where Mark from the Bible is said to be buried. The entire inside of the place is decorated with gold and multi colored mosaics. It was very impressive. There is so much to see that we just had to buy a book about it so we could read it later. While I was in Venice I also got to see a church that was used in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Its near the beginning of the movie. I was REALLY excited to see it in person. :-)

Our last night we got to attend a classical concert of Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart.....and one other guy that I can't remember the name of. It was in the church that Vivaldi himself was a choir director in. It was fantastic. It was Greg's first classical concert. What a great place to have a first classical concert!! The acoustics were great inside the church. We heard "The Four Seasons" and then Bach's 2 Violin Concerto which is beautiful.

Our train back to Tubingen Germany left Venice at 6:20 am. It was a rough morning. We woke up at 4:45. After riding through some beautiful mountains called the Dolomites and then the Austrian Alps, we arrived in Munich and caught our next train towards Tubingen.

That night we ate dinner with Javier and Rut one more time when we decided to try to call Delta and see about extending Jenn and Greg's stay a bit longer. Through a few loopholes, we were able to extend their stay by two days. They hadn't seen much of Tubingen yet so it was good that they were able to stay a bit longer. We went to the castle in Tubingen and the old market square. Their last day we went to the Botanical Gardens and spent a bit more time with Javier and Rut. They are super nice people that are so pleasant to be around.

The next morning Javier picked us all up very early to take us to the airport. It was tough saying goodbye to them because I won't see them for a while, and they are just about to start their adventure on the Appalachian Trail in less than a week. They are going to be walking for several months from Maine to Georgia, over 2100 miles. I wish them well and hope their trip is awesome!

Prague

So at the drop of a hat, I decided to whisk myself off to another place before I went home. This time it was to the east of Germany in the Czech Republic. I decided to go to Prague for a few days. There are advertisements around Tubingen to visit Prague during the holidays, so I thought, well why not.

Prague is a beautiful city with many really interesting buildings. Some of them are very old and have a very unique style to them. This building to the right is part of an astronomical clock. The man that designed it was blinded by the king so that no one else could ever have one. I have a video of the clock if you check out my videos on You Tube.

Each corner of Prague had something interesting to see and I think I explored nearly every corner of the city to say the least. At night it was fun walking around because of all the incredible Christmas lights. In each of the major squares there was a Christmas tree and a lot of lights. Something that I also discovered is that the food in these squares was really really cheap. So I tried some of the local food. Chicken Kababs, Belgian Waffels with caramel between them, Polish Sausage, Fried dough with a sauce on it, all good stuff.

The best thing that I had was this cooked dessert that was basically dough that was cooked over coals. Here is a picture of it to the left, good luck pronouncing the name. It doesn't sound like it looks.
Anyway....the dough is wrapped around what looks like a rolling pin and then it is placed over hot coals on a rotisary machine so that it spins slowly. After it is cooked it is buttered and then placed in cinnamon and sugar. YUM!!!

Prague is a nice town to visit because of all of the neat buildings, but after you have seen them, there wasn't much more to do there. I don't think it would be as neat any other time but Christmas. In the main square there was a stage that had live music on it every night. That only happens at Christmas.

So after being there a day or so I decided to venture out of Prague by train (which was an adventure finding the right one to get on). I heard about this church that was decorated with bones about 2 hours outside of Prague. So I headed for the town of Kutna Hora.

The bones were moved inside the church during the early 1800s to make room for more graves outside. No one knew what to do with the bones that were left over so they began to come up with ways to decorate with them. This picture is a chandallier that is made of pelvic, skull, jaw, radius, ulna, and femur bones. You can see many more in the background. The church wasn't very big but had a lot of stuff to look at on the inside. I accidently touched a wire fense on the inside of the church that was labeled DO NOT TOUCH. A bunch of sirens and lights went off. :-/
Outside the church were lots of graves that mostly dated back to WWII oddly enough.

After seeing the church I wondered around the town a bit more trying to find something to do because I rode on a train for 2 hours to spend about 30 mins in this church. There had to be more in the town to see than just the church. Not really....
But I did find one more thing that was interesting.

There was a place called the Italian Court that the king built in the 1200s to start minting silver coins. He brought Italians there to mint these coins because they were very good at it apparently. The musuem of the place had some interesting items. The tour guide was very knowlegible though and knew all the history of the area. One of the coins that the Italians minted for the Czech king was called a Tolar. This monetary ammount was traded with the Germans and eventually was called the "Dollar". See where I am going with this??
This is what it looks like to the left.

So after touring around the mint a bit, I headed back to the train station and later that night stuffed my face with all kinds of treats from the Christmas square. Those Belgian Waffles with the caramel were sooooo good. I ate about 3 of them and got a little sick feeling but it was totally worth it.