Draft 1:

I decided to come to university to expand on my knowledge of Ancient Greece and gain skills to have the means to practice Archaeology and be a part of my future career. I was hoping that the University would help me find ways to study without losing focus or motivation and make connections with Archaeologists and Ancient Historians that would help to set my career up in general, and also further my language skills in Greek, which I’ve been practising on my own since 2020.

With this, I want to find an even clearer perspective on what I want out of this career, specifically what areas I want to specialise in. Having a game like Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey helped me realise that the people of the past were actual people, with their thoughts and emotions, with cities being rebuilt (with some mild inaccuracies) but with active agoras and city-states that felt alive - both in the sense of the people, but also the land as a whole.

My main focus is to understand where I want to specialise in, and especially to learn more about Greek Myth and the Gods, an area which I find I lack in terms of knowledge; having focused on Ancient Sparta in A-Level, and then studying Ancient Greek conflict, I’ve found myself with an extensive understanding of how people lived during that period, with Ancient Greek mythology being the part I have to put time into to learn about - whereas, for most other people, it’d likely be the opposite. I understand that to me, however, wanting to explore the Peloponnese of Greece, as opposed to somewhere more active for Archaeology, - like Crete - to be a good thing though, as it confirms that I have a passion for the subject rather than just excavations. 

Having the skills and knowledge of the past needed to be asked to travel to different areas and islands around Greece, and potentially the Mediterranean is also included with my passion. My family have never had the money for us to go on holidays - the first time I went on a plane was in late August this year to go to Dublin, and my first holiday was 2 years ago to Blackpool; not to say that I’m not grateful for the experiences I’ve encountered so far, but it’s extremely important to me I have the freedom eventually to be able to travel, especially when a huge part of wanting to pursue this career is to move to another country entirely (aside from moving to Wales to go to University in the first place). I think being able to live in Greece is a main goal for me, along with learning the Tsakonian language as well. The same goes for allowing my mum and sister the opportunity to stay in Greece with me, maybe even my nan as well one day.