Pilgrimage to Kalamazoo

I am leaving for the 41st International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo tomorrow.

It's the biggest annual event in the world for medievalists, as I was thus informed. The place name is tainted with an exotic sense. I don't know whether it has zoos there or not, but it is definitely suits the idea of Middle Ages well.

"See you in the 'zoo!", my colleague said to me before her departure yesterday.

It's been an dream for me since I learned of this place and the congress about 7 years ago when I started my career in Medieval Studies.

It's a dream for every medievalist too. Some of my colleagues can talk about it nonstop, and some say that it simply becomes an addiction that they cannot move on without it. It provides necessary fellowship in this discipline as interdisciplinary knowledge is in particular essential.

Kalamazoo has become a legend for medievalists indeed. The four-day conference, as usual, hosts 640 sessions this year and involves thousands of medievalists from the world. It also has talks, exhibitions, book fairs, and performances. Everything is systemized and computerized even though the subject is the Middle Ages.

I am a pilgrim going on my first pilgrimage and hopefully will get addicted to it too.
For this time, my first task is to find out why Kalamazoo is Kalamazoo.