This series of columns is but the briefest introduction to my series of adventures in college, in Athens, Georgia, the “Classic City of the South.”

I have read that scions of wealthy families in Europe and the northeastern US used to take a year to make what was called, “The Grand Tour,” a months-long visit to various European capitals, to get that broadening of life experiences that comes from exposure to people and countries different from their own. (A “University experience” of its own, if you will, although much less structured.

And which did not always achieve the desired result.)

I would put up my five years in Athens, GA, against any of those “Grand Tours,” although of course that is not to negate the value of those odysseys. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to get a university education, and am always quick to suggest to others to “Go away to school, if you can,” for much the same reasons. (Also to “get as much schooling while you can, it’s much easier when you’re younger.”) It is useful for young folks to learn to begin to navigate life’s twists and turns on their own, without their parents there to guide or monitor every step along the way. I will never forget one encounter, my first year UGA, in the basement laundry of my dorm, where I had come to wash my clothes.

Being the oldest of five boys in a household of seven, there was always a lot of laundry to do, and my mom taught me and my brothers how to wash clothes, just as we were put to work washing dishes after the evening meals, as soon as we were old enough to do so. Both were annoying at the time; but very useful lessons, later on. (I don’t think that I ever admitted that to my mom. Heaven forbid that she would be right about something!)

She was a) not about to be our servant for any longer than was necessary; and b) smart enough to recognize that we had to learn to take care of our own needs, and not rely on others, who could be unreliable. So we all learned how to do those really basic tasks. What a gift that was! Though unrecognized at the time.

I was therefore surprised, that day in the basement laundry room in Clarke Howell Hall, to have a fellow student come in, survey the washers and dryers, and ask me, “Do you know how to work these things?”

I realized at once, he must have had parents who “did everything for him,” not realizing that doing so was not preparing him for life in “the real world.” So I calmly explained how to separate his clothes into whites and darks, load the machines, put in the soap, insert the coins, etc. He was very grateful.

I was astonished that a young man could get to college without knowing how to wash his own clothes!

(As I remember, those machines were cheap, too.

I think the washers cost a dime, and the dryers were a nickel – although you sometimes had to feed the dryers more than once, depending on the weight of the clothes one put in them.)

Life lessons! Some are small, and some are large; but both important.

(I came home one Thanksgiving break, several years later, and brought a duffel bag of dirty laundry home with me, as I had not had time to wash them before I had to leave the dorm.

When I told my mom I’d brought a bag of laundry home with me, her response was, “You know where the washing machine is!” Of course, I was not asking her to do my clothes for me; I was just letting her know I had to spend some time doing them; but that’s not how she took it. Difference in perspective!)

We learn these things… “Experience is a great teacher! As the saying goes. Some will make you laugh; some will make you cry. But all will teach you something, if you but listen.

I would not change those years at UGA for an ox-cart of gold. They have forever enriched my life, in ways too numerous to recount. I have only shared with you the smallest subset of them, to give you a flavor of them.

I hope you have enjoyed this briefest set of observations, which only scratched the surface of my experiences there.

Rafe Semmes is a proud graduate of (“the original”) Savannah High School and the University of Georgia. He and his wife live in eastern Liberty County, and are long-time Rotarians. He writes on a variety of topics, and may be reached at rafe_semmes@yahoo.com.