You may be surprised, as I was, to hear that it was common people assumed my time in Turkey would be leisurely. Conversely, you may be one of those who think what we’re doing in Gaziapasa is nothing more than a glorified vacation. I’m not sure where this perception comes from. Perhaps it’s the exotic sound of living in Turkey for a month; perhaps it’s the adventurous Indiana Jones-esque imagery that archaeology work conjures up; or maybe it’s so far removed from most peoples lives they can’t even fathom what our work entails. That’s not meant to come off as pretentious, I understand that the work we’re doing is not a normal trajectory for most young professionals. Regardless of perception, the two weeks of working here have already taught me things I’ll use in any path life takes me down.
Our normal day consists of waking up at 5:00 AM, working from 6:30 AM to 1:00 PM, then doing pottery work from 4:30 to 6:30 PM. From this routine, we learn discipline. Most of this work is labor-intensive as well as mentally taxing. We work hard at our sites, digging and picking away at the rock infested Turkish earth as the midday sun beats us down with every passing minute. Simultaneously our minds are constantly thinking and adapting. We try to process what we’re working on; we try to figure out the ancient puzzle. From our work, we learn a unique combination of physical resilience and analytical power. Perhaps more importantly, we’re learning how to work as a team under strenuous conditions. We use teamwork to lift the heaviest rocks. We probe each others brains to help solve our collective puzzle. Perhaps even more importantly, we’re learning how to communicate and work with people who don’t share a common language. This in itself is an amazing skill to learn in an ever increasing global society, but it also teaches patience. It teaches us to be explicit and concise about what we’re saying rather than mincing words. We learn effective communication skills. This internship isn’t easy, but then again–despite perception–we never asked it to be.
