When I Grow Up

Sydney Fox, Lara Croft, Rick O’Connell, and the world’s most famous archaeologist, Indiana Jones--these are just some of the best fictional characters that I adored and looked up to (well, not Sydney and Lara of course but I certainly adore them). They are archaeologists. Most people I know don’t really have a clue about this side of me. If there’s one subject that I really am interested in (and good at) it’s history.

Ever since forever, I’ve always been fascinated with the world’s history and what better way to appreciate the past than ancient artifact and relics. I’ve always believed that every treasure or piece has this magical story behind them passed by through generations. History, geography, culture, and my personal favorite, mythology--I’m such a geek for these topics.

I remember, when cable was introduced in the 90’s, Nickelodeon had this game show, “Legends of the Hidden Temple,” where kids in pairs are pitted against each other through several tasks and challenges and the winning pair gets to enter Olmec’s temple and find the historical artifact, and of course, winning the grand prize. It was my dream to join that show (hehe) because I found the questions really easy and it’ll probably be the closest I can get to an epic adventure.

Of course, I don’t consider myself to be an expert or scholar on this matter. But I want to be. You see, archaeology may be a weird profession especially on my side of the globe, but then again, I was always the type who would go with what I want rather than the practical choice. That’s why I wanted to study history in college. When I was younger than my current self, when asked about what I want to be when I grow up, my automatic answer would be, “I want to be an archaeologist.” But, as luck would have it, I ended up with a degree in business and entrepreneurship management. Having said that, I have decided to pursue my dream and take up further studies of archaeology in the University of Philippines. I read about their program and I was really fascinated with it. Cool, huh? Yeah, even Bes thinks so too. Hold on just one minute. I said “I decided,” that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m actually enrolling at this coming semester.

Believe me, there is nothing more I want than to go ahead and study again, but there are a lot of factors to consider with this move that I want to make. I may not be the best student then, but I think my credentials are enough for the state university to accept my application. (I actually graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree…still surprises me to this day) Sure, the tuition is manageable, but then again, I’ll have to be self-sustaining as the parents will not be able to help me out with this one; I need to keep my day job, which makes it a little impossible as time is of the essence in my industry. And the fact that U.P. is in the other side of NCR doesn’t help at all.

Maybe not today, maybe not this year, hell, it may even take years before I reach this goal of mine. But one thing’s for sure, this will be good for me. I’m actually doing something with my life and I will most surely enjoy every minute of it. After all, it’s always fun when you’re doing what you want, right? Someday, there will be a major dig or a very important archaeological find with me spearheading it. Maybe I’ll be the one who will discover the Holy Grail, or discover if there really is a Fountain of Youth, or just some ordinary but significant urn that will unlock the majestic gates of heaven (okay, I got carried away). I could just imagine. Dashing and debonair me. (--,)