A great city with wonderful friends (Abdulrahman Al Khafaji, Iraq, ITP 2024)

Written by Abdulrahman Al Khafaji, Fourth Archaeological Excavator, Iraq Museum (Iraq, ITP 2024)

I was so happy when I learned that I had been chosen to go to Newcastle with Doris from Kenya, Heba from Egypt and Wang from China. The trip with them was wonderful, and Claire was with us too, so we were lucky!

Helen was waiting for us at the station and took us on a quick tour of the most important landmarks of the city such as the castle and the Newcastle football club stadium! I enjoyed the tour with Bill Griffiths from the Discovery Museum, and he took us on a tour of different sites and museums. One of the most important sites we visited was Hadrian’s Wall. It was beautiful to be in nature with wonderful views.

Before that, there was a visit to the Hancock Museum where we met Malavika and Andrew who were very friendly and after a few tours of the museum I saw a cuneiform tablet displayed in reverse and advised them to change the display method. After that we went to the Newcastle University Library to see the archive of Gertrude Bell, the founder of the Iraq Museum. It was an indescribable feeling.

Finally, I would like to thank Claire and Bill for their help and the tours and the entire ITP team for this more than wonderful experience.