golden years

The last few days I've had a temp job on campus at Otago University here in Dunedin.
The job was just helping move books and boxes around the law school offices, although I ended up being conscripted into supervising a final exam as well when a professor went AWOL.
Being on campus brings nostalgia. There are many things I miss about being a student, but in my mind what I associate with college more than anything are empty afternoons.
Afternoons with nothing in particular to do, or afternoons with something to do but doing something else anyway (or doing nothing at all).
In nice weather, afternoons meant soaking in the sun on the grassy expanses on campus, or finding some pointless activity to revel in.
On gray or rainy days held their own attraction, when time really did seem to stretch. There was contentment in simply staying in, or walking around a nearly empty campus in the late afternoon hours, before the activity of the evening.
Even now, during my times of unemployment in New Zealand, the afternoons don't have the same feeling. College is special because you aren't expected to have anything else to do, and so you can not do anything with a free mind.
I haven't been able to capture the same feeling since.