Etsymetal bolg carnival - School days

So, I'm late for this one and it's late here but this is a subject so dear to my heart I feel compelled, even this late in the game, to write. The subject of this month's Etsymetal Blog Carnival is:

"Where did you go to school? Are you still a student? What kind of student were/are you? If you had the opportunity to go back to school, would you? Where and what would you study?"

I have to start right off the bat here and say, unapologetically, that I LOVE school. I love the way a school campus looks and feels, I love the smell of books and supplies, I love the backpacks, the lunch tables, the endless possibilities of all that knowledge. I love learning and I love to be taught. Is it any wonder that I managed to stay in school until I was 32?

I went to 3 different High Schools in 3 different states and moved a lot even before that so the opportunity to put down roots when I hit college was very formative for me. I had no idea where I wanted to attend college, I was lazy and confused so I applied to Baylor University just to get my parents off my back while I devised a plan. To my shock and horror, I was accepted. So, off I went without a clue,...probably the only Catholic at Baylor. To my surprise, it was an incredible experience. It was sheltered enough so the trouble we were getting into wasn't really all that bad and it was big enough to draw a sort of diverse student body. It took about two years of stumbling around the business school, but I finally discovered the printmaking department and never looked back. I graduated in 1991 with a BFA in printmaking.

Since this is about school I skip the next few years.....

Not being able to leave my love of academia that easily I landed in Normal, Illinois for the longest three years of my life. Now, don't get me wrong, I love school, but I hated Illinois State University. Man, that place can suck the joy out of a box of kittens. It was a dismal group of washed up, mirthless, tenured air bags and slobbering sycophants. Sure, I made my prints and loved it but it was crushing the spirit out of me and taking all the fun out of getting dirty. With one semester to go, I desperately begged the metals professor to let me use the studio so I could build up a portfolio of metal work so I could get the hell out of there.

Get the hell out of there I did and in 1996 I arrived at the University of Illionis where I finally got my MFA in metals. It was an awesome three years. My professors and fellow students were all excellent and I learned so much. These were the salad days; I had just met my future husband, we were fat on student loans (ouch) and we had nothing else to do but stay in the studio all night and sleep all day. What's not to like?

I was an excellent student. I loved trying new things, I took criticism pretty well and worked hard. If I could go back there, I'd do it in a minute. I look at the work I made back then and marvel at it's inventiveness and it's construction. It's like someone else made it because, really, someone else did. Being a wife and mother has stripped me of the time and energy to even think the thoughts that led to those pieces. My life now is not one of student but of teacher. I long to be student again and that will come, in time. I'm just waiting for my turn to go back to school again. When my time comes, I won't have the luxury to sleep until noon or live with no responsibilities but I will have the time to think and play and challenge myself and live, if only for a few hours a day, quietly.

So, since I'm so late in posting, won't you join me in checking out these other Etsymetal members to see what their school experience was like???

victoria takahashi - experimetal - http://vtakahashi.blogspot.com/
caitlyn davey- discomedusa- http://discomedusa.typepad.com
Thomasin Durgin - metalriot - http://metalriot.blogspot.com/
Danielle Miller - http://daniellemillerjewelry.blogspot.com/
stacey - wildflowerdesigns - http://wildflowerdesigns@blogspot.com
Konstanze - Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/
Beth Cyr - http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com
Jenny Baughman- http://ridgeschool.blogspot.com/
Kathryn Cole - http://www.kathryncolejewelry.blogspot.com