After graduating from secondary school, I started training as a media and documentation technician. Among other things, I learned extensive media technology basics in dealing with graphics-based software. At the same time, I developed a great interest in history - my career aspirations slowly changed. East Asian philosophy and its development initially fascinated me and I learned a lot about the history of this continent. My interests continued to wander through world history, in the spirit of: "He who knows the past understands the present more easily". The history of the origins of South American cultures and their downfall due to European expansion was another area of interest. To this end, I learned the Spanish language in order to be able to better deal with this topic. Finally, I decided to study "History and Culture" at the University of Giessen. Classical Archaeology was to be my main subject. The combination of the humanities and natural sciences makes Classical Archaeology a very fascinating and diverse field of work. So far, I have been able to gain some experience during excavations, excursions and internships. For the past two years, I have also been a museum guide in a small museum, which gives me deeper insights into the mediation of historical facts. I enjoy working outdoors with tools and machines, I have knowledge of documentation, design and mediation of all kinds and have a great passion for history in general. My studies benefit greatly from these interests and strengths.

Already when I was a child, I was fascinated by old things and history. When I was 19, I decided to follow in my grandmother's footsteps and started a professional training as a dressmaker. The plan was to approach this branch through historical costumes. I also took an additional course to obtain my secondary school certificate. Afterwards, I attended the technical college and completed a technical baccalaureate in textiles. Since I had obtained the advanced technical college entrance qualification and had just switched to the Bachelor's system at that time, it was possible for me to attend university and so the decision to study Classical Archaeology at Justus Liebig University was quickly made. About halfway through my studies, I decided to accept a tempting job offer and worked in the textile sector for a few years. During this time, however, I realised how much I missed archaeology and so I decided to finish my studies and fulfil my dream of becoming an archaeologist. I am still more than happy with my decision and I am sure that I will get a job someday, because I am ready to invest all my heart and soul for this dream.

My name is Johanna Schmidt, I am studying History in my 5th semester as a major and Art History and Classical Archaeology in my 3rd semester as a minor.

I graduated from high school in 2017 and went straight to university afterwards. It was clear to me pretty early on that I wanted to study History, and in my first two semesters I still had Journalism as a second major. But I wasn't happy with that, so I switched to Art History and Classical Archaeology. I was already familiar with both subjects through a friend, but I had no idea about them because they are not really covered at school. In the end, I chose them because I felt they could be a good complement to History.

What I like most about Archaeology is the link between the two subjects, Art and History, because we don't just relate our findings to the objects, but also to the ancient living conditions of the Romans and Greeks and make statements about them. The programme is structured in such a way that the first two semesters give us an introduction to Greek and Roman life from an archaeological, historical and philological perspective. In the following semesters, we deepen our understanding of various thematic focal points, and we are usually free to choose which concepts and objects we deal with. At the moment, I am particularly interested in spatial concepts and representations of gods. The atmosphere in the department is friendly and conducive to learning, and the lecturers are always available and helpful.