I love learning. The driving force behind my choice to become a teacher was because there's nothing I enjoy more than exploring new ideas, reading new stories or ingesting random bits of information. Ergo,[1] I also love university campuses. There is some underlying passion or curiosity I see in starry-eyed students wandering around that is refreshing. Mind you, that excitement is probably geared towards upcoming fraternity parties, a new hook-up or turning twenty-one but I like to be romantic and think that some are passionate about learning. At any rate, hanging out at Wake Forest University in North Carolina for the past few days has reinfected me with a shot of passion for learning and reading. I went for a walk around campus yesterday and I stumbled upon a behemoth of a library. It contains around 1.9 million books of all shapes, colours and sizes…I was in heaven. After twenty minutes of wandering, mouth agape and salivating like a four-year old in Willy Wonka’s factory, I impulsively decided to take action. I found an abandoned corner of the library, shut my eyes and strolled down an aisle of books. I blindly grabbed a book, sat on a chair with my eyes still shut and opened to the first page. I began to read. I devoured several chapters from Tamara: A Novel of Imperial Russia by Irina Skariatina, a novel obscure enough that even Google Almighty struggles to dig up a plot summary or author biography. I was sad to return the book to the dusty shelves of the library where it will probably sit untouched for another decade but I left with an epiphany: I can do this anywhere! The great thing about what I’ve christened “library-adventure” is that I can do it in any city large or small. Wherever a library stands, adventure calls. I can’t wait to replicate my blind-book-selection and I hope that journeys through libraries around the world can become a staple experience as I travel. [1] In my opinion, ergo is unequivocally the ugliest transition word ever invented in any language anywhere in the galaxy. I’ve always wanted to use it in a published blog post just so I could experience the feeling of overwhelming guilt and shame I suppose everyone else who uses it regularly must feel when they see this atrocious word defacing the pages of their writing. The desire to use “ergo” in my writing reminds me of the suppressed desire I feel to pull a fire alarm, don a hockey mask on a trip to the bank or leap from a plane without a parachute. Well, I can now check this exciting, if excruciatingly painful adventure off the bucket list!
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