Why Paleoanthropology?

A day to be remembered...

Choosing a major -or worse- a career, it's one of the things that spook the hell out of everyone in high school, most of us didn't even think about it until it's too late, or when we are straight in the wrong path. Fortunately that didn't happen to me, it's a strange thing -i know- but to be self conscious about my luck and being open to share my experience has brought many memories and good ideas also. So sit tight and enjoy my story.

Paleoanthropology it's one of those ostentatious and also flamboyant words that some time came up in the news or in the media. To some it implies the fact of seeking mummies and/or investigating ancient cultures, nothing further from the truth. In fact, I was once one of those people, and it took me quite a while to discover the wonders and the great pleasures of seeking the origins of the human kind, the general objective of this discipline.

That impulse, gradually became an obsession that bordered in a solid and irrevocable mission, I was to become one of those guys who spend half of their life in college campuses and the other in the field, investigating and collecting funds to return once again, ever searching for that one fossil, the one that might cause a revolution or complete the picture of human evolution, or at least stir the pot long enough to evolve into the symbol that will bring us fame and fortune, and of course, the envy of our colleagues.

A crazy dream, I guess. And was amidst those fantasies that I eventually ended up in my last school year, wondering about my future. A day to be remembered it's the title I choose, not because it was a memorable moment when I step into my house enunciating my desires to emigrate to another city, Mexico City, but because this crazy decision to pursue an anthropology and biology oriented life was a big step to someone who almost never ventured outside his home state.

This was literally a step in to the darkness and the unknown. A leap of faith of sorts, and to be honest, it has been one of the best decisions and also one of the poorest executed yet in my life, a rough start, sure, but what adventure starts whit the all cleared?

The things that need to be done

The first step into becoming a paleoanthropologist, it's of course, study the essentials. Many choose this path in Graduate school, when they have spent their college years wasting hours and credits in subjects that will never be touched or be useful in any way that relates to the career in question, in that sense, my first priority was to seek out a career that served me as a starting point for building up the necessary abilities as well as the theoretical background that Graduate courses usually require.
So I ended up in two schools; in one hand the National School of Anthropology and History and in the other the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Splitting my time and little brains between (Paleo) Biology, and Physical Anthropology.

Until now this may sounds a little crazy, two college majors for just one specialization it's a bit of a stretch, but in my mind, at first, sounded more rational. But the practical reason I did it was simple, they do complement each other, and better yet, both have excellent field and laboratory opportunities.

So that's my story so far, and the rest will eventually be told here, if times allow it.