grammar - Would I need a gerund to make this sentence correct?

I have lived my entire life in the United States, and to learn more
about the life my parents had lived as children was an incredible experience.

However, I then asked, "What was an incredible experience?" I realized that there is no noun to define what the experience was. Therefore, would I have to replace "to learn" with the gerund "learning"? Or is the sentence above completely fine? If it is already correct, why?

I feel as if the "to learn more about the life..." does not suffice as a subject for the latter independent clause in the sentence.