An Entire Week for Reading?

They call it Reading Week.

By "they," I mean the professors and students at Kingston University.
And when I say "Reading Week," I am referring to a week-long break given to British university students in the middle of each semester. I've been told that this is implemented so that students can catch up on any reading, writing, or studying that might have piled up during the endless slog of college life. This probably works quite well during the Fall Semester, when there is such a long stretch of classes without any extended breaks; I know I always feel burnt out come November. But during Spring Semester, Reading Week falls directly before Easter Vacation, essentially giving us a three-week spring break.

I see no problem with this whatsoever. Personally, I will be spending my time in Angers, France with Jenn. She'll still have classes, so I'm anticipating spending a relaxing week in the French countryside, reading The Mill on the Floss for my 19th Century Novel class, sampling new cuisine and getting some top-notch studying done for my French exam. The relaxation of the week will be a perfect prelude to Spring Break, when Jenn and I plan to hit nine English cities within five days before Mom arrives. But more about that in a different post.

I will be flying to Tours late Sunday afternoon. Jenn is going to meet me at the airport (I don't have much faith in my French-speaking abilities, so I insisted), then we'll catch a train back to Angers. In the meantime, I will be fighting the temptation to take the week's name at its word and purchase two books from Border's that have caught my eye.

They call it Reading Week.

I call it one of the most wonderful ideas I've ever heard of. Why haven't they thought of this in the U.S.?