Re-Discovering UVa

Well, I've been fairly busy these four years of college.

Before I go, I'll slow down a bit and savor the stuff I shan't repeat. That is to say, I'm paying close attention to the experiences that won't repeat themselves - especially the ones that are only possible here, now, in Charlottesville, with the friends I've made, the classes I'm taking, and the spring at last emerging.

My only qualifier: there are far, far more experiential gems than those I'm listing. But you could have guessed that.

1) Porch-Sitting

I love sitting on my front porch with my housemates, watching our fellow students saunter back from classes for a night of revelry. (I might merely be reading Dylan Thomas, but these kids on the street think they're ready to rage). If it's the right kind of afternoon, the breeze is balmy. The last, insistent rays of sun are lingering on the pine floorboards under our chairs. I have obviously skipped class to enjoy this day and feel absolutely no regret. Couple that with the inevitable suggestion that we go for frozen yogurt, and you can see why I'm going to miss this.

The porch is a mighty good people-watching, housemate-heckling, out-loud-laughing place. Even better with a novel and a nap on the swing.

2) Picnic Lunching

Portable lunches were made for the Rotunda steps, and vice-versa. Seems like there's nothing better than wrapping up a sandwich, shouldering my backpack, and heading up the huge hill that elevates the Rotunda from the rest of Charlottesville. I'll sit on the steps of that Pantheonic masterpiece, gaze at the temples that line the Lawn, and remark to myself what a wonder my Ordinary is.

Again, the really fine weather makes the picnic lunch a doozy for those of us given to premature nostalgia.

3) Tour-Giving

"Once more with the dang Rotunda!" you might say, but it's true. I love leading visitors through its oval-shaped interior rooms, explaining Jefferson's character and ideals even as we wind up the narrow stairs to the Dome Room and talk about the Great Fire of 1895. I love their squinty eyes as they gaze down the sun-drenched Lawn and take in the majesty of those pristine colonnades. I love their questions, their reticence, their awkward pointing at the walls and asking about trivial matters like the number of bricks that comprise the building. Yes, even those.

Southern girl that I am, I can't resist a strong sense of place, nor can I resist a chance to ham it up for a bunch of strangers. I definitely owe this one to U.Va. itself, for being historical in the first place, and to the University Guides, who taught me every rhetorical trick in the book.