<p>That’s actually very similar to a comment my daughter made her first year after visiting a bunch of friends at other colleges: no one ever talked about what they were studying/reading. It sort of cured her of any regret she had about choosing Chicago. Bear in mind that in Chicago terms she and her friends are slacker-bohemians. But they are all fundamentally intellectual kids, and it doesn’t take much for their conversation to veer from “Is twee dead?” to the Frankfurt School.</p>