Residency Soreness
Originally published at Through the Tollbooth. Please leave any comments there.
I am sore!
Nothing major… just an old VCFA injury acting up again. My arms are stiff, my shoulders ache, there is a kink in my neck and my back is throbbing. It seems to happen the first few days of every residency. I thought it would be better during the winter semester where I can wear large padded sweaters and an extra layer of thermal underwear… but I was wrong. The old injury flared up again.
You see, I have officially hugged more people in the last two days than I have in my entire life combined. I don’t even hug my mother this often. I hugged every one of my eighteen classmates (possibly some of them twice). I hugged the graduating class and congratulated them on getting to this point. I hugged the 4th semesters because they deserved it after surviving their critical thesis. I hugged the 1st semesters and welcomed them to the VCFA family. I hugged the 2nd semesters because I couldn’t leave them out. I hugged my advisors. I hugged my past and present critique advisors. I hugged every other faculty member because they could one day be my advisor. I hugged Melissa and Shannon for making this residency possible. I think I even hugged the President of the college but I am not sure (it may have been some stranger).
I am officially hugged out!
My arms are now stuck in a permanent circle. I look as if I have been carrying a large wooden barrel around campus. It is officially impossible for me to take notes with my arms locked in an oval.
Oh well, I guess it is simply a hazard of residency. It is nothing a warm NECI meal, a good night sleep on a tiny mattress and an evening in the wine pit can’t cure. In a few days I will be back to myself again.
That is until it is time to go home and the hugging begins again!
Jeff Schill is a third semester student in Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing For Children and Young Adults program.