I went south to visit my dear friend who is attending the University of Tennessee. It took a few days to realize when people ask me “Do you go to UT”, they don’t mean University of Toronto.

For the first few days, I thought Knoxville was boring and uneventful. Students shuffling to class, loud parties in the student dorms, junk food places crowded at night. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting undergraduate lectures, sitting in on Phd seminar and camping out at the library until 7 pm, re-living my student days. Minus the stress and anxiety. School is really fun (but only after school).

People were very friendly to me! I guess I’m used to living in big cities where no one really cares if you look out of place. People in Knoxville look quite happy! I think the sunny skies did help.

One afternoon, my friend and I went Downtown Knoxville, away from the students. I liked the pedestrianized plaza and the free trolley bus!There are also free movies on Fridays, but we had already made plans for that evening.

I visited McKay’s books, which was enormous! I only had time to browse the Philosophy and Fiction sections. On our way back, we found Insomnia Cookies! Best surprise ever.

This is not a typical urban environment I would usually spend my vacation in, but I still enjoyed the thrill of being on vacation at a school where everyone is working way too hard. I do sympathize!