Dearest Cobber Beanie Students, this week has been a full week for most. With a lot of us fighting to schedule presentations, group projects, papers and final projects, it is pretty common to notice that you haven’t seen a majority of your friends—for nearly a month! We come to class (sometimes) and feel out of place because we are seeing some people for the first time ever. You notice DS doesn’t have the same rushes, and people are singing in Ivers.
What I am saying is that everyone seems to be hunkering down in their end of year study holes—our foxholes of fortitude and our trenches of tears, if you will. I tend to gravitate to the Maize, but only at midnight. Similarly, music students either start sleeping in practice rooms or move to other more quiet places. Our study habits have a personality, much like us as students.
I mean, as a loud and obnoxious person, I tend to gravitate to places with people because I know myself. I also know that I can’t focus to save myself and have invested in some pretty serious headphones. I don’t mind studying with people around, and I think the Maize has a personality that says, “Hey I study hard, but damn I want me some Cheetos.” I like the Maize. People listen to music and watch TV. It’s kind of like a giant living room. The Atrium is similar, but more like sitting at the island in your kitchen, rather than the living room. People are chatting pretty loudly, but you are okay with it. You still feel connected to the outside world.
Then we have the library, where you don’t talk, and if you aren’t in Serendipity, then you are definitely hiding somewhere you don’t want to be found. The library is like doing homework in the basement of your house. You sit near a window to have some light, and whenever people come near you, you hiss in a bat-like fashion to ward off evil non-study spirits.
Ivers/Jones is where you go if you want to feel awful about how much you’re not doing. Want to procrastinate? Not here. Bring coffee and some flashcards, and go hard. Because if you don’t, know one will make you feel guilty about not studying like the future of our medical force will.
Any of the study lounges in any of the dorms is not meant for studying. The people who “study” here are actually people who mean to bring their significant others, holding hands while surfing Facebook. When all of that gets exhausted, they then complain that they don’t have their papers done at 6 a.m., break the inter-visitation policy and ask their professor for an extension. When you hang out here, it is a lot like studying in your bedroom. You have great intentions, but you end up falling asleep with the lights on and hating yourself with incredible amounts of coffee in the morning.
Studying in the music building is an interesting affair, seems to be upon invite only. I once was brought in as a “plus one” and have been too terrified to ever go back. There were people “opera-ing” until wee hours, and at one a point, a well-known music major took to running laps at midnight. The music building is like studying in the confines of a closet that is over-stimulating. You feel over and under whelmed at the same time and can’t quite function correctly until you have had some semblance of a mental breakdown.
Personally, I vote to study in your own home so that I don’t have to deal with your late night unsightly-ness, or your weird habits. But hey, we obviously can’t have it all. Finals are evidence of that.
Katelyn Henagin graduated from Pierz-Healy High School in 2010, and grew up in both Pierz and Worthington, Minnesota. She is graduating in 2014 with a Philosophy Major and a minor in Psychology. If you feel like talking to Katelyn, striking up a conversation about Harry Potter is always a good choice.
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