Meme response #3
littlebutfierce asked:
How did you wind up where you are now (both, er, in Sheffield & in a professional-type sense, I guess)? I know you've mentioned why Sheffield a little bit before, but there's always room for elaboration. :) And I know v. little about why you chose archaeology, or what else you might've chosen (or might choose in the future), etc.!
Well, for starters, my dad got me into archaeology & history and stuff from a very young age - it's something he's been interested in since he was a kid - so when we were on holiday (or even just at weekends) we'd always go & look at ruined castles or prehistoric sites or just whatever the local English Heritage/National Trust sites were. And we used to watch TV programmes about archaeology/history together too (yes. including Time Team!).
I spent years at school thinking I wanted to be a teacher (I liked my school), and then around my GCSEs became less certain. I think that was when I discovered that there were a bunch of interesting subjects you could do at university beyond the 'normal' ones you studied at school, and archaeology was one of them. So I had a look at some archaeology degrees, and most of them didn't want specific subjects, just grades, so I chose whatever subjects I fancied for A Level, which happened to be English Literature, German, and Art. I also did a Spanish GCSE in the first year of my A Levels to fill up some free periods, and signed up for an evening class at my local Adult Education centre to do GCSE Archaeology. I persuaded a couple of friends to do it with me, and it must be said we didn't take it entirely seriously, but at least it gave me a taster.
As an aside, if I hadn't chosen archaeology as a degree, I probably would have done either English Lit or Modern Languages - I have GSCEs in French, German & Spanish, and A Level German. I also did a year of Latin as my optional modules in my first year at uni.
So then I had to choose which universities to apply for. I went through prospectuses with my dad (it's useful to have a father who is interested in the subject you want to study and works as a university lecturer so knows the system!) and we picked out the ones that were best for archaeology. I went on some open days, and I picked my top choices to apply for, which as far as I remember included Sheffield, Bristol, Reading, somewhere else I've totally forgotten, and Cambridge. Yup, I applied to Cambridge, even though I wasn't sure I wanted to go there (the degree was Archaeology & Anthropology, which I wasn't convinced by). I was going to apply to Durham, but my mum vetoed it as too far north (my parents live in Plymouth).
I got offered a place by everywhere except Cambridge, which is probably because I didn't take my application there entirely seriously (they sent me a reading list for the interview - I read part of one book, and then had to waffle a bit when they started asking me in depth questions on what I thought about the incest taboo!).
So I ended up with Sheffield as my first choice, and Reading as my second. My dad's family is spread out all over the country, and as such I have family in both Sheffield and Nottingham, which meant that Sheffield seemed like a sensible place to go, as well as having one of the best archaeology departments. I got all Bs in my A Levels, which is what Sheffield wanted, so I got in.
I started my degree in 2000, and finished it in 2003 with a 2.1, and I met Tam about 3 weeks into being here and we've been together ever since. When I graduated I got the first job that came along, which happened to be admin in the Civil Service. I already knew I wanted to go back and do a Masters in Landscape Archaeology, because I'd been turned on to it by an Undergrad module I'd done, so I applied, and started it part time in September 2004. I went with Sheffield for the Masters partly because I knew the department and the university and liked it here, and partly because I had a life established here and didn't want to move. I really like Sheffield as a city - it has lots of green spaces, and it's near the Peaks. I wish we were near the sea, because I miss that...but there are plenty of rivers, lakes & reservoirs that can fulfill my need to visit water sometimes :-)
I carried on working for the Civil Service part time while I was doing that, and finished the Masters in 2006 with a Distinction. My Masters dissertation was on Community Landscape Projects (I was also always interested in the public side of archaeology too) and I decided I wanted to go straight on and do a PhD looking at Community Archaeology more generally. I applied (again to Sheffield, for reasons stated above) and got a place to start immediately after the Masters, but I knew I'd need funding because I didn't want to have to do a PhD part time. I applied to the relevant Research Council for funding but unfortunately the application was turned down, so no pennies = no PhD.
The Civil Service department I was working for couldn't put me back up to full time for resourcing reasons, so that meant new job, this time working admin at Sheffield Hallam University, which I started in March 2007, and I'm still here.
Tam and I got married in October 2006, and we just bought a house before Christmas. I still want to do a PhD, but need to make myself do something about it (see previous response to thermalsatsuma's question).
Wow that was long! Sorry!
How did you wind up where you are now (both, er, in Sheffield & in a professional-type sense, I guess)? I know you've mentioned why Sheffield a little bit before, but there's always room for elaboration. :) And I know v. little about why you chose archaeology, or what else you might've chosen (or might choose in the future), etc.!
Well, for starters, my dad got me into archaeology & history and stuff from a very young age - it's something he's been interested in since he was a kid - so when we were on holiday (or even just at weekends) we'd always go & look at ruined castles or prehistoric sites or just whatever the local English Heritage/National Trust sites were. And we used to watch TV programmes about archaeology/history together too (yes. including Time Team!).
I spent years at school thinking I wanted to be a teacher (I liked my school), and then around my GCSEs became less certain. I think that was when I discovered that there were a bunch of interesting subjects you could do at university beyond the 'normal' ones you studied at school, and archaeology was one of them. So I had a look at some archaeology degrees, and most of them didn't want specific subjects, just grades, so I chose whatever subjects I fancied for A Level, which happened to be English Literature, German, and Art. I also did a Spanish GCSE in the first year of my A Levels to fill up some free periods, and signed up for an evening class at my local Adult Education centre to do GCSE Archaeology. I persuaded a couple of friends to do it with me, and it must be said we didn't take it entirely seriously, but at least it gave me a taster.
As an aside, if I hadn't chosen archaeology as a degree, I probably would have done either English Lit or Modern Languages - I have GSCEs in French, German & Spanish, and A Level German. I also did a year of Latin as my optional modules in my first year at uni.
So then I had to choose which universities to apply for. I went through prospectuses with my dad (it's useful to have a father who is interested in the subject you want to study and works as a university lecturer so knows the system!) and we picked out the ones that were best for archaeology. I went on some open days, and I picked my top choices to apply for, which as far as I remember included Sheffield, Bristol, Reading, somewhere else I've totally forgotten, and Cambridge. Yup, I applied to Cambridge, even though I wasn't sure I wanted to go there (the degree was Archaeology & Anthropology, which I wasn't convinced by). I was going to apply to Durham, but my mum vetoed it as too far north (my parents live in Plymouth).
I got offered a place by everywhere except Cambridge, which is probably because I didn't take my application there entirely seriously (they sent me a reading list for the interview - I read part of one book, and then had to waffle a bit when they started asking me in depth questions on what I thought about the incest taboo!).
So I ended up with Sheffield as my first choice, and Reading as my second. My dad's family is spread out all over the country, and as such I have family in both Sheffield and Nottingham, which meant that Sheffield seemed like a sensible place to go, as well as having one of the best archaeology departments. I got all Bs in my A Levels, which is what Sheffield wanted, so I got in.
I started my degree in 2000, and finished it in 2003 with a 2.1, and I met Tam about 3 weeks into being here and we've been together ever since. When I graduated I got the first job that came along, which happened to be admin in the Civil Service. I already knew I wanted to go back and do a Masters in Landscape Archaeology, because I'd been turned on to it by an Undergrad module I'd done, so I applied, and started it part time in September 2004. I went with Sheffield for the Masters partly because I knew the department and the university and liked it here, and partly because I had a life established here and didn't want to move. I really like Sheffield as a city - it has lots of green spaces, and it's near the Peaks. I wish we were near the sea, because I miss that...but there are plenty of rivers, lakes & reservoirs that can fulfill my need to visit water sometimes :-)
I carried on working for the Civil Service part time while I was doing that, and finished the Masters in 2006 with a Distinction. My Masters dissertation was on Community Landscape Projects (I was also always interested in the public side of archaeology too) and I decided I wanted to go straight on and do a PhD looking at Community Archaeology more generally. I applied (again to Sheffield, for reasons stated above) and got a place to start immediately after the Masters, but I knew I'd need funding because I didn't want to have to do a PhD part time. I applied to the relevant Research Council for funding but unfortunately the application was turned down, so no pennies = no PhD.
The Civil Service department I was working for couldn't put me back up to full time for resourcing reasons, so that meant new job, this time working admin at Sheffield Hallam University, which I started in March 2007, and I'm still here.
Tam and I got married in October 2006, and we just bought a house before Christmas. I still want to do a PhD, but need to make myself do something about it (see previous response to thermalsatsuma's question).
Wow that was long! Sorry!