College wasn’t where I learned the most. It was where I learned how to learn. At a small university in western India, my schedule ran from 10 AM to 6 PM—but the real education happened in the gaps. Classes were skippable; exams, forgettable. What mattered were the hours left uncharted. Without a laptop for half my IT degree, I turned to older tools: books. Three years, 170 titles—paperbacks, e-books, audiobooks. I read not to escape, but to connect. Each book became a conversation with someone who’d seen further, questioned deeper, or failed smarter than I had. Podcasts filled the spaces between. On long walks, voices in my ears dissected politics, science, and culture—a rolling seminar where the syllabus updated daily. My campus wasn’t just a place; it was a mindset. Lectures taught Java and databases. Walks taught how to think. Here’s what they don’t tell you: Structure stifles curiosity. When your schedule is loose, your mind wanders. And wandering minds stumble onto ideas they’d never find in a lecture hall. I wasn’t disciplined. I was bored—and boredom, it turns out, is a remarkable motivator. The lesson wasn’t in the books or podcasts. It was in the act of choosing them. Formal education gives you answers; unstructured time teaches you to ask questions. We overestimate classrooms and underestimate empty hours. The best education isn’t what you’re required to do—it’s what you do when no one’s requiring anything.