It is not totally EB-related, so I apologize for posting this somewhat off-topic thread, but I could not think about a better place to ask for some general *hints* about this.

I just terminally flunked some very serious exams at the uni, thereby getting myself expelled from my engineering course. Among other reasons, I definitely spent more time alternating between aimlessly browsing the web for ancient history, then playing some EB, then browsing some more - than I spent time with learning my required subjects (math, physics and chemistry).
Now a friend who is currently studying for a master degree in history (although it is not ancient history) visited, we talked some and had a few beers and glasses of wine in the process. He kept saying that I was wasting time with engineering anyway and should go study history immediately.

The question I have to ask the professional historians and history students among you is - should I (regardless of whether I am actually fit to study history)? Rough pros and cons? What sort of "job perspectives" does one have after "finishing"? What's the general picture (not necessarily just in Europe; I like travelling and can imagine that I would enjoy, for instance, catalogue-ing bits and pieces at an excavation site somewhere in modern Iran or wherever, learning the lay of the land and the way of the people, maybe decyphering some very old, very fascinating clay tablets in linearB or runes or maybe even some completely unheard of glyphs)? Is this Idea (the one in the previous brackets) of working as a historian (partly in the archaeological field) completely misguided/out of date?

Again, sorry for knowingly abusing the EB forum, but it's just such a good place to get history-related questions answered... I would be very grateful for some pointers about this.