[S]he loved youth

Of the Professor in The Professor's House, Willa Cather writes "... he loved youth-- he was weak to it, it kindled him.  If there was one eager eye, one critical, doubting mind, one lively curiosity in a whole lecture room full of commonplace boys and girls, he was its servant.  That ardour could command him. It hadn't worn out with years, this responsiveness, any more than the magnetic currents wear out; it had nothing to do with Time."

I think about this all the time when I am walking around campus.  Especially on nice days.  I know what this is like.  There are so many reasons to love working on a college campus, but for me, being surrounded by kids who are at this stage in their lives is one of the best.

I made my campus visits as a high school senior.  I only visited schools that had already admitted me, so there was no anxiety about it.  I was making the most exciting decision of my life.  The weather was beautiful at all three of them: Valparaiso, Wake Forest, and Furman.  I could not wait for college to begin, because it felt like waiting for my real life to begin.  When I walk around Maryland's campus on a beautiful day, I can remember exactly what that felt like.  How beautiful and exciting everything was.  How cool college kids seemed and how much freedom they had.  How much fun they seemed to be having just walking around.  I think about how that "lively curiosity" college students have was inspiring when I was 17 and continues to be refreshing now that I'm 30.

Today was a beautiful day on campus, so I took a few pictures on my walking commute.

It's a rough life, right?

Somewhat relatedly, I took Nora to campus with me yesterday for my department's end of semester party.  This deserves a post of its own, but it's been a long week, so I'll keep it short:  It was a delight to see her in my work element.  I thought she would run around the mall, but she mostly stood in place and stared all around her.  My friends and professors were very excited to see her, and after about an hour of shyness she warmed up to the situation enough to show off her personality a little.  I'm at a stage in my program where I don't have much interaction with other members of the department unless I actively seek it out, and that's hard to do with so little spare time in my schedule.  It was extra nice to have everyone together in one place, to hear briefly how they've been doing, and to let them see that my current "project" is not limited to reading, writing, and teaching.