Linda Beare, 77 and John Olafson, 87 have a paper list of all the classes they've taken together at UVic in the last few years and it's pages long. Beare estimates the number of classes to be in the hundreds.
"It was 700. It's probably around 800 now because COVID-19 got in the way for a couple of years. And we haven't really slowed down, but we're not on campus as much as we used to be."
The couple, who are all smiles, take classes through UVic's Continuing Studies program, which offers community and professional programming. To get an idea of the types of classes, they mentioned anthropology, archeology, film noir, Buddhism, and global affairs.
It all started when Beare's elderly parents moved to Victoria after Beare and Olafson moved here in 1992.
"My dad died in the early '90s and we looked after my mom so we couldn't travel. And this was our travel. And it really satisfied that," Beare said. After their first class in '97, the couple couldn't get enough.
It's an "extremely" healthy thing for couples to do together, Beare said. "You certainly discuss a lot," she said. "And you're not sitting there at night watching television. We're into books mostly."
"We haven't had a television set – " Olafson said. "For a very long time," Beare finished his sentence chuckling.
"We wouldn't know what to do with it," Olafson said. "This [taking classes] is much more interesting," Beare said.
While anthropology and archeology classes are some of their favourites, one particular factor makes a class stand out, Beare said. "It always is the instructor." They easily quipped off some examples.
Moronke Harris is an oceanographer who is "off on a ship almost every summer." Or Olaf Kriegel, a neuroscientist who gave comedian Rick Mercer a brainwave assessment when the Rick Mercer Report visited in 2018. Or Andrew Wender who does assessments of elections.
"All these stories that people bring to it" make the classes exciting, Beare said. "It's [also] keeping your interest in local and global and regional affairs."
"The longer we went on, the more countries we travelled to, mentally speaking," Olafson said.
The curious couple has their own colourful history driven by their love for travel and learning. They serendipitously met through Beare's brother after Olafson was stationed in northern Germany and Beare was studying voice.
Olafson was also among the first groups of UN peacekeepers deployed to Asia, and despite being there "crawling around the desert," there was still "much more to learn" in classes on international relations.
Having older students like Olafson and Beare in the classes contributes to the learning environment, said Jo-Anne Clarke, dean of the division of Continuing Studies.
"A lot of our [older] learners really add to the diversity. And they're great for our young people to be around, too ... you get to have this multi-generational dialogue," she said.
Beare and Olafson said it's a joy being back on campus with younger students and that the couple has made new friends from other provinces.
Beare offered valuable advice to anyone hesitant about learning something new, regardless of age.
"It's especially good to sign up for something that you might not even think you'd be interested in because you have that challenge," she said. "You shouldn't be inhibited by anything."
