I love being a history major, absolutely no regrets. But I will say, the worst part about being a history major is the inevitable rhetorical question that gets thrown my way every time I engage in small talk: What are you going to do with your history major; teach? And to be quite honest, the reason this question is so terrifying, aside from the snide derision towards the career path of teaching, is that my answer is not a specific career or educational path. I don’t know if I want to go to grad school, and I am unsure if I want to dive into the business world, let alone what specific area of business I want to pursue. All that aside, the one thing that calms my nerves and anxieties as senior year approaches, is the knowledge that my history major has made me extremely hirable for whatever path I choose to follow.
Much like my history major, I believe this dig in Türkiye, though seemingly arbitrary considering I don’t plan on pursuing archaeology as a career path, expands on those oh so precious marketable skills employers look for on a resumé. After being dubbed the most frightening student on this trip, I would like to first talk about leadership. To translate this observation for a conversation in a job interview, I take the outcome of projects and assignments that I am part of very seriously, and my peers, or better yet colleagues, are aware of these expectations and the extent to which I rely on them to help me bring these goals to fruition. Being part of an archaeological dig is demanding work, pushing every team member to their physical limits. As a result, expectations for each individual vary, and understanding and conveying those different limits has been crucial in order to achieve our goals for the day, and quite frankly even to make attainable goals to begin with. One of the most frustrating, and yet beneficial experiences of this internship has been changing teams and locations halfway through. I had to adapt to new team members, literally hotter conditions, and the variability of having an incomplete team the entire week. Despite these changes, and the alterations to what I perceived to be plausible goals for each day, I know that my teammates understand that I nonetheless strive for commitment and hard work. I mean business, and I don’t plan on doing it alone. That’s at least how I am choosing to interpret this widespread fear of me.
I chose to go on this dig, despite not being necessarily interested in the field of archaeology, because I believed that this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, that would push me outside of my comfort zone. Since then, I’ve learned that I can be pushed outside of a multitude of comfort zones: physical, emotional, intellectual, and social. Digging is hard work, and coupled with the heat I am pushing the limits of my body every day. As a result, maintaining patience and effective communication skills while being exhausted and sweating is not a skill that I take for granted. Amidst all of this, living and working in a country with different cultural norms, language, and even currency, I believe, always pushes one to become a more compassionate and inquisitive person. Communication is tricky when the other party speaks only Turkish or when you’re overheated and exhausted from hauling wheelbarrows down a hill in 100 degree weather. I have, therefore, learned to communicate in both cultural and social situations with curiosity and compassion, and maintain my communication skills in physically and socially demanding environments.
I still don’t know what I want to do post-graduation, but I believe I not only have more skills in my toolbelt but also a better understanding of the kind of work I enjoy. For instance, I have found that I am driven by challenges that require me to push myself in order to complete my goals. I enjoy being part of a team, and I naturally take on a bigger leadership role as someone who finds comfort in being in control. While I have always known that I have a strong work ethic, I now know that I love long projects, broken up into smaller goals in order to be motivated by both a larger purpose and the validation of completing tasks along the way. Oh, and I guess I could add that I think I would enjoy lifting weights in my free time in order to keep up this new physique I’ve acquired, but maybe that’s a little too personal.