7 Years, 1 Ba and 1.5 MA's....

So it has been 7 years since I got my A-Level results and so I have done a little bit of reflecting.  Nothing has turned out quite as I had planned, other than I am well on the road to crossing off all the qualifications I aimed to get.  It all started with those results, I got what I needed and my career in heritage could begin...couldn't it? Not quite! I packed my stuff and off I went to Lampeter, I was certain I would study archaeology, get my degree and run off to Greece moving from site to site and having a ball. Within a month I knew Greece was not for me and neither was Italy (backup plan) instead it was all about the Neolithic.  This new and exciting period that was a complete mystery to me, was to be my future.  By my second year this had changed too, a module on the Minoans took me back to Greece, though this was short lived.  The third year took me through a journey I will never forget and forever be grateful for having.  It was not easy and it without doubt changed me, but it brought back my desire and made it clear that the Iron Age was for me.  But not any old Iron Age, it had to be British! My theory based dissertation took me on adventures to museums, with imagery and impressions of the period being scrutinised, something I will revisit one day.  This took me to the end of my 4 years in the middle of nowhere and lead me straight into a year in Canterbury, and cemented my love of my period.  A long year of hard work paid off and I ended with a grade I only dreamed of when I began the course. And never for one minute did I think a tiny corner of Kent could become so focal in my life. The return home was not easy and the year of unemployment was even harder.  The cards had been dealt and I have ended up in a military museum as a museum assistant.  This has taken me into distance learning, and a second masters, this time in Museum Studies.  Although removed archaeology creeps in at every possible opportunity and this is not something I am about to change as I ponder how to keep it in the next dissertation.

So I have not become and archaeologist and I cannot say I am happy about this, but I cannot say I have given up on the idea either.  I do not yet have the PhD that 17 year old me was determined to get, but again I have not given up on that either, just moved my time frames around a little.  But I have learnt that I can teach and more importantly that I love to teach.  So that is the new aim, to teach preferably within a museum and even more preferably a museum that involves an archaeological collection.  Finding advice on this is more difficult than archaeology on it's own, but, when did that ever stop me? I am not against undertaking a PGCE it is the decision as to which one, Primary, Secondary History or Post 16, Google it seems currently has no answers!

So what does all this mean? I suppose it means I have been dealt cards that 17 year old me did not foresee. I never thought teaching would be for me, until I was put in the position of doing it, discovered that I was pretty good at it and that actually it was the best bit of my job. Who knows what will happen next but it has made me consider what I really want to do/achieve so here we have a Bucket List....

In the short term though, I need to prepare a wonderful presentation to take to my beautiful Isle in order to share my thoughts of her archaeology to her residents at the end of September.  It has seemed so far away fro so long it is hard to believe that it has finally come around!

It has been a super busy Summer and I have let my poor blog slide a little, but I am pleased to say that we have crept over the 8,000 views marker and I can't quite believe it, so Thank You for reading and here is to the next 8,000!!!