This last two semesters I have been building a friendship. A kind of weird one because firstly it is with an object and secondly rather than being able to choose my friend, I was being allocated to it. At first, I did not really believe that I would really get to know the book. I thought that some exercises throughout the semester would not make me truly understand the book. On top of that was the language barrier. But I was lucky, my book mainly contained drawings with little text in Italian. I did get a feeling of the content of the book by translating the text but generally just looking at the illustrations and trying to understand them made me realize what the book is about. And with every task I felt like I get to know a different side of the book. It is like getting to know a person.
The first impression gives you an attitude to the other being. When I first saw my book without even opening it, I already had some thoughts running through my mind. About the thickness of the book, about the scale and mostly about the cover. I did not really expect a lot. Because of that I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the book and saw the beautiful drawings. It took me some time to get an overview and an idea of the main topic. Up to this day I am still not quite sure if I really understood the whole intention of the book. But I guess that is another parallel to friendships with humans. Even though you know all their stories and spend so much time with your friends, there is still always something more to find out. Getting to know someone is a never-ending story. I realized that when I asked myself what the book wants to tell the reader. Once I agreed on a topic, I turned the page just to find a drawing that throws in a totally different perspective. I guess this happened even more because you can read so much into a drawing but the same goes for texts. With every repeated time of reading a text you get another idea of the content.
Not lying, I was not too thrilled in the beginning. But looking back at it, it was a good experience. I never really took my time to look at a book and really analyse it. The story behind the book, the influence it had but also the history the book carries with itself. It is unbelievable to think about how long the book exists and who may have held it in its hands. What probably shocked me the most was when I had to change my book for the last task. I would not say that I was sad, but I did feel a small sting when I had to work with a new book. Overall, I am glad that I had the opportunity to learn about such an old book and get to know what is hidden behind the cover.