Our first full work week has come and gone, and although we’ve only been here for a week and a half, I feel like we’ve been in Turkey much longer than that. The other students and I have, for the most part, acclamated well to our new surroundings and our somewhat abnormal life here. One thing that has helped considerably with this is how well we all get along as a group. Consistently I have found myself thinking about how lucky we got with the group of people that decided to come here. This same thought has been expressed both by other students on this trip, and by Professor Howe. The thing is, there aren’t that many of us. This isn’t the St. Olaf campus where, although it is small, you can still get away from most people you wish to avoid. Because we are so few, and we can’t escape, the actions of one person have a large impact on each of us. Not only this, but we depend on each other in order to do our work.
At home, I have a very strong sense of independence. It is my job to make sure I get to class on time, my job to do my readings and homework, and my job to take notes and pay attention. I can ask for some help from my peers if I really need to, but ultimately these are my personal responsibilities. Here, things are different. There are some rocks that I simply can’t lift on my own, we need second opinions on pottery categorization, and even taking elevations requires at least two people to work together. No single person here can get anything done without some help from the others. While my responsibilities at home are geared mainly towards personal goals, my responsibility here is to do my part as a member of our group as we all work towards a common goal.