We only have two weeks left of this semester. And for me, that's two weeks left total of school. Even though 2 weeks seems like an incomprehensible amount of time to finish all the projects I still have left, (because one of the qualifications to get into the show seems to be a commitment to blowing off your 7 other classes for 2 months, only to be hit with a storm of work in the last two weeks of school), still, I'm really starting to get sad. Really sad.
I'm not one of those people who can't wait for school to end. I never have been. I have always loved school, my entire life. Something about going somewhere every day, to just ...learn. There is something so remarkable about that being the main task in your daily life. To be a student, to be studying, to be working your brain. I took enough time off from being a student (6 years!) to know that when you're out in the working world, all you want to do is go back to being a student. Well, at least for me. Doing the same thing every day for 10 hours a day, it's for the birds. A friend told me once the thing he liked most about working was that after the day was over, you could go on with the rest of your life, and leave work for the morning. And when you're a student, your entire life is consumed by school. I think that's really true, and I have to say, I like that. I like to have a passion and a commitment to something so great, that it becomes a part of who I am. It's the same reason why I have a few professors who still tease me about how much I used to cry in first semester. Most people reading this are probably like, what? Who cries at school? haha. but this is different. When a professor criticises you at fashion or art school, it's not like they are telling you, hey your spelling sucks. It's like, this skirt looks like it's made for your 80 year old aunt maude, or ..have you drawn anything since kindergarden? They are making comments about something that is so personal to you, so important to you. In the beginning it was hard. But 2 years later, I don't get criticism in that way anymore. Why? Because somehow, along the way I became a designer.
Going to school here was nothing like any other school I have ever attended. I don't know if it's because this is my 2nd time around getting a college degree, or if it was because I'm paying for it myself, or if it was because I was studying something I'm honestly truely passionate about, or if maybe it was moving to New York was all new to me too, but the fact remains that I am leaving this school a huge chunk of my heart. The experiences I have had here will never be forgotten. I've had so many ups and downs, so many battles, and oceans of tears over various circumstances. So many happy days as well. So many moments when I got goosebumps over something I did that I never thought was possible. It hasn't been easy. In fact, the past two years have been mostly really hard. But the fact remains, going to school at FIT was one of the best decisions I ever made. I worked with some of the most fascinating students, and some of the most excellent professors, with a backdrop of the the most amazing and inspirational city in the world. While it is going to be so desperately hard to say goodbye, I feel so fortunate that I was given this opportunity. Being part of the Versace exhibit was like a valentine to the entire experience. If I could do it all over again 8 million times, I wouldn't skip a beat.
