Once upon a time, some brilliant scholar (we'll call him Planto for the sake of this story) was sitting at his desk, pondering how to stimulate his pupils to become more active during class, when he stumbled upon the brilliant idea for a "reading week". Well, he didn't really stumble upon it, per se, but likely, after hours of pondering the biggest philosophical questions in life, he looked up to the stars and saw an "r" and a "w" carved into the constellations ... and well, from there he "stumbled" upon the idea for a "reading week".
"Aha!" he likely proclaimed, with an epic arm wave and a look of self-contentment. "It's genius! I shall give my students a week to study with no distractions, and when they return, they will be eager to engage in debates, discuss their studies, and stop falling asleep during lectures!"
... Once upon a time, I too thought reading week was for studying. Biggest lie ever.
As great as Planto's idea was (and trust me, if anyone deserves to be enshrined in university history, it's Planto), reading week is everything that it isn't supposed to be. My reading week usually turns into "no way am I picking up a book, I'm on vacation" week after the first 24 hours. I usually return from reading week less excited to be in school than I was before. And no ... reading week does nothing to help keep me awake in lectures. Caffeine is still the only thing that works.
BUT--reading week still rocks. And nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is more fun to brag about than having TWO reading weeks. Nipissing students ... for all the times your friends might poke fun at you for "going up north" to school, or laugh because your school is too small to have a football team or an awesome swimming pool or a humongous library, get ready ... because they're about to be blown away when you tell them you have--that's right--TWO reading weeks!
Nothing makes friends more jealous than when you "casually" mention to them they you won't be heading back to school after Thanksgiving ... you've decided to take a week off. Nothing makes friends more jealous than "casually" reminding them, during February reading week, that this is your SECOND reading week ... and that you're likely to do something even more fun this reading week, simply because you've been planning since last autumn's reading week.
If there is one thing that should stir pride in every Nipissing student's heart, it would be this: that we are so intelligent, so studious, that our professors allow us to have two weeks of vacation every academic year.
Never mind that most of us use one week for a teaching placement, or that there is likely to be a very boring and unremarkable ACTUAL reason that we have two reading weeks. None of that is quite as important as bragging about having those two weeks.
So as you depart for your SECOND reading week of the school year, fellow erudites, try to remember those other students out there who many not have quite as much as we have. Share the love ... treat everyone around you with kindness ... and if a really good opportunity comes up, "casually" mention how great it is to be a Nipissing student and have TWO reading weeks!
After Christmas, New Years, and reading week, and before St. Patty's, there is a huge open gap in the calenders of all Nipissing students. It is these weeks of tormentuous midterms, essays, cold weather, and general lack of anything to get excited for that two of the most important holidays in the school year occur: No Frills Dollar Days and Tim Horton's Roll Up the Rim.
