Amelia Pace
August 19, 2026

In an age where professional recruitment feels mandatory by the age of twenty, it is easy to feel pulled toward a path that isn't right for you, one chosen out of pressure rather than genuine purpose. You commit before you have had time to ask whether it is what you actually want. Mongolia reminded me that there are other ways to live.

Even in Ulaanbaatar, where globalization has taken root, the nomadic spirit has not disappeared. It has simply evolved, taking on a new shape for a new generation. You can feel it in the way people move through the day, in how they relate to time, and in how little urgency there is around fitting into a predetermined mold. There is a patience here, a willingness to let life unfold rather than force it into a shape decided years in advance.

That feeling crystallized when I met the archaeologists on this trip, a group ranging from 19 to their mid-70s, all working side by side. Age did not create distance between us. If anything, it did the opposite. Passion connected people who otherwise had decades of life experience between them. Being around these new friends and their passion made me want to be more adventurous, more bold, more willing to explore and connect with whoever happens to be standing next to me. We are here to create, to learn, to move, and life keeps moving right along with us, whether we are ready or not.

There is something funny about the fact that archaeologists, of all people, are the ones pioneering this way of thinking. They spend their entire careers studying the past, and yet they have quietly landed on one of the most forward-thinking ideas I've come across: life doesn't need to be placed on a fast track toward some fixed professional or financial goal. You can dig through history all day and still be the one showing everyone else how to live in the present.

The sense of community here is palpable. Children roam the city freely, looked after by everyone and no one in particular. The phrase “it takes a village to raise a child” feels less like an old saying and more like something you watch happen in real time. That same spirit showed up inside our own small world, too. Within our group of archaeologists, interns, and students, everyone connected almost immediately and started looking out for one another, as if we had known each other long before this trip, instead of just a few days. 

Mongolia was eye-opening and quietly inspiring in a way I didn't fully expect. I just returned back home, yet I am already trying to figure out when I can come back.