Chemistry fills a special place in my heart, and was a special interest for me in childhood.
I've always had interest in the stuff that fills and makes up our universe (astronomy, chemistry, biology etc.). It really took off for me when I got a chem set one christmas with all kinds of strange compounds and reactions that could be made... however, when the chems in the set were used it kinda faded again, maybe because I didn't think I could do more in chemistry.
In college, I was known mostly for my adept handling of chemicals, flasks and equipment. In a few cases with harder assignments, I was the only one to have made the intended reaction, especially those where one needs a steady hand or speed. The theory was pretty easy and straight-forward, I found the organic chemistry somewhat hard at first, but after getting the logic of the groups (OH etc.) it wasn't that hard for me.
Most of the experience, however, came from helping cook dinner since the age of 6 (the time my parents would let me ), many of the same skills are used whether in front of the stove or the flasks...
While chemist was an interesting career choice at the time, I was pretty tired of school back then, and I decided against getting into a university....