“I have an archaeological internship in Turkey for the month of July…. Yeah, it is pretty unique…. No, I don’t know anything about archaeology…. Yup, it’ll be an adventure!” I found myself repeating phrases like these throughout all of June as family friends and community members inquired about my first year at Olaf and summer plans. The Antiochia ad Cragum Archaeological Research Project is not a typical internship—our workspace is the top of a cliff with beautiful Mediterranean views, and our wardrobe consists of perpetually-stained swim trunks and hiking boots—but the skills I am acquiring here are certainly applicable to future career endeavors. Perhaps the most prevalent skills I have been honing thus far are determination and grit. Every day presents ambitious tasks in fatiguing conditions, and being both mentally and physically resilient is a necessity. The other main facet of the archeological work, however, is critical thinking. Unit 2, and the acropolis as a whole, form a giant puzzle. Every day, every hour, the pieces shift (or get thrown off the side of the cliff as is the case with loose stones that perhaps once formed a structure), and we have to reconstruct the parameters of the puzzle while simultaneously unearthing new pieces.
A large part of this puzzle-solving and thus, the internship, is collaboration. One of the most prominent collaborative aspects is the Unit Partner Relationship (UPR)*. We labor together in a five-by-four meter space where our levels of soreness, fatigue, and productivity, fluctuate in sometimes unpredictable fashions. We have to compromise on strategies, capitalize on each others’ strengths, and continually share what we are finding and thinking. Beyond the UPR, however, there are supervisors, professors, and experts, to work with and learn from. As if this isn’t layered enough, there is no guarantee that all of these people come from the same cultural background or speak English. Learning how to fit into Turkish culture in a professional setting while also juggling the social aspect of working with other young adults is a skill in and of itself. As the professional world grows more and more global, having this experience of collaborating with non-Americans provides a solid foundation for a professional career. I know that my academic adventures in Turkey will support whatever career I end up pursing in the future…and let’s be honest, swimming in the Mediterranean isn’t a bad way to spend the summer either.
*a term just now coined by yours truly