…and it’s time once again, to talk about one of my favorite activities in The Villages, and that is The Villages Lifelong Learning College. It was imperative that I got home Tuesday, as two of the three classes I had signed up started Wednesday.  Fortunately the storm that swept across Virginia co-operated with my agenda, and I was able to scoot through that area, while the sun was still shining.  I was a little intimidated by one of the classes I had signed up for and that was The Ten Greatest Lessons in History.  I will admit that while going through school I studied to pass a test and then immediately forgot everything I learned.  That really must have been what happened, as I got fairly good grades, but none of what I learned seemed to be that important to remember.  Especially when it came to History, and also Geography.  Sean is absolutely amazed at my lack of knowledge when talking about other countries. And that amazement goes both ways as I am absolutely amazed that all his Irish friends, that were educated in Ireland, know much more than I do about our country, not to mention their knowledge of the political history of all countries. So you can imagine his frustration when I’m not sure where the country geographically is, let alone its’ place in history.  Fortunately I have always felt no home is complete without a globe, so must I say that our globe gets a good workout.  Whenever we start talking about a country, he will say let me get the globe.  He then proceeds to show me where it is and I can own up to not knowing, or nod my head in agreement indicating that I knew that all along.   I think he realized that…I can’t believe you don’t know where that is…does not get a good reaction from me.  Anyway, back to my History class.  The reason I took this class was that I had heard the Instructor speak at our Civil Discourse meetings, and as a former History teacher, his knowledge and enthusiasm for events in History were always exciting to hear.  I thought one time, that had he been my History teacher, I bet I would love History, just as he did.  How could I then, when I saw he was the Instructor, not sign up for his class.  At the time, I was excited about it but as the day approached I thought, what am I doing?  Fortunately I had read an article recently that said you should surround yourself with people that know more than you, as it will stimulate your thinking process, and therefore enrich your life.  Well, I sat in class yesterday, and thought I am surrounded by 27 people smarter than I, and it was very stimulating to say the least.  We started out with roughly 10 trivia questions that we were to answer, and if we did not know,  we were to get the answers from fellow classmates.  We all immediately interacted with each other which accomplished two things, we got the answer but we also made new friends.  One thing that our Instructor said, which I think is the success of the Lifelong Learning College, is that whenever he went to school it was always to get a degree.  That was the main focus, to pass and graduate, to get a Masters, a Doctorate.  However, after he retired he took some classes himself and realized there is a big difference in learning in order  to pass, and learning for sheer enjoyment.  I think there is a lot of truth to that, but I have to admit, that I missed a lot in school because I was busy pursuing friendships, and that is still true today.  I loved getting the trivia answers, but I also loved meeting and talking with my fellow classmates.