a library memory

I was a freshman, it was still the beginning of fall semester, but midterms were already approaching. I was studying in one of the most inspiring, magical places of the library for me: the Periodicals.

This was the view ahead of me, from this very table. My view then was nearly the same - just add about ten other students scattered between the rest of the tables. All of them were either skimming a textbook, drooling on the desk, or looking bleary-eyed at their lapstop screen in front of them. 

This is what I saw to my side, but add about two more people in those black chairs. They were both sleeping, knees curled up to their chests and necks completely flopped to the side. Brigham stared down at me then just as he is in the picture, which at the time, kind of annoyed me because 

this was the thought that crowded my mind: 

"Bleh. College stinks." 

So negative, I know. I was already so overwhelmed with it all. Midterms approached, research needed analysis, reports had to be written, a quiz needed extra studying for, my stomach ached for real, good food...cereal was already old. 

Then, the switch flipped in my mind. I'm not sure what thought came that made me realize who and where I was - finally a legitimate college student at BYU, studying real-live research down in the Periodicals,  of all the beautiful places on this planet! - but the blues of college-life realities indeed left me. Once again, I felt that magical sense of being (or at least trying to be) a scholar and I was inspired to just keep going.

I was drawn downstairs to the Periodicals early on as a student. Its many bookshelves housed colorful bound books, printed with a font that looked so '70's to me - I thought of my parents and their time at BYU when I saw them. And the bookshelves - they moved! I remember seeing someone shift the shelves for the first time and thinking, "Okay Hogwarts...seriously? Am I really here? Is this really my library?" 

The whole atmosphere of the Periodicals amazed me. Studying in that section of the library always revamped my desire to really study and learn, especially after "waking up" down there that day in the fall of 2009.

So ode to one of my favorite places on campus: you're even brighter and more magical to me today than all those days before. 

(They are already remodeling and changing the places I loved on campus - hence the upturned tables - so I am glad to be capturing the BYU I knew while I still can!)