My Reading Break on Campus

This reading break was my first full week of living in Victoria without schoolwork as my number one focus.

My break from academics began with fluffy flurries of snow, snowball fights, and an entire snowman reminding me that my Blundstone boot purchase was worth the money.

Three was my lucky number of the week because I tried three fun flavoured milkshakes, watched three different movies, and played three new boardgames. I even went indoor ice skating to celebrate my friend’s birthday.

Instead of exploring Victoria during the day, my friends and I decided to adventure at night. The beaches at night deepened my thoughts as dark as the sky; I observed the infinite stars in the boundless sky. At that moment, I decided that humans are earth’s stars because we too can shine in life’s darkness and are as infinite as the stars.

Since staying in Victoria over reading break, I have learned that people can create a life in heaven. I spent a lot of time with friends, fun, and escaping my weekly academic routine. Aside from the much-needed brain break, the change of routine taught me that life is never meant to be spent hitting repeat and life’s spice comes from change.

Reading break reminded me that my university degree doesn’t have to end with a career goal or a strict focus on my own expectations. I chose to live against life’s repetition and explore new ways to stimulate my senses; to listen, smell, taste, see, feel, hear what I didn’t before. For seven days I devoted my time on earth to experience the new, the different, and the spontaneous. I felt alive.

Trying something new every day for a week has inspired me to consciously fling myself towards the unfamiliar in order to experience as much as possible in this dissolving yet infinite life. I want to prioritize adventure and exploration in this limitless world where humans are superheroes and the opportunities to experience life are endless. For the upcoming two months, I feel motivated to make the last months of my first year at UVIC the beginning of an uncertain, untamed, and constantly changing future.