Hitting on six years removed from my college graduation, I still find myself fighting for a precious table seat with SFSU students at the local Borders. Though I’m really just here to leech their wifi while sipping on an iced tea, Sui’s the one reviewing notes for her board exam. Due to the supposedly insufficient lighting at my place (I totally spent time trying to fix this), we’ve hopped from cafe to library within a 15-mile radius for four straight days searching for quiet, wifi-enabled places of study.
Call me old-fashioned, lazy, and easily-distracted; I don’t get the appeal of seeking out a crowded public area for study or work.
I’m trying to recall memories of college life. Of course, even back then cafes were popular meeting spots, and the campus libraries were simply packed with students during midterm or finals weeks. The smoke rising from a fresh brew of coffee and endless stacks of census data were merely backdrops for school-related chitchat.
Funny thing is, most of the people there were not trying to collaborate, but merely trying to get work done, head down, headphones in ear and eyes buried within the confines of their laptop screen or small print text. For 90% of the time they stay in the cafe, the lively atmosphere is completely shut out. Once in a while a head peers up to watch someone walk by or stare vacantly at the wall paint. It’s the same way with groups: they’re all focused on their own books, and I’m convinced that most of them aren’t even taking the same classes.
Then there’s that atmosphere of “getting work done”, where people see and are motivated others’ productivity. Insomuch that having noisy people around you not working is a sucky environment for trying to do work, I’ve never had an issue with simply studying alone in my rented apartment. The 10% of the time my eyes are wandering around the room absorbing the study around me, I’d much rather just get up and stretch my legs without fear of a drive-by seating liberation.
If anything, I feel that it’s simply more efficient to stay home and study, granted that it is set up as a place of study. My room has always been a familiar environment; I have all my tools (computer, pen and paper, bookshelf of reference material); I’m situated comfortably in my chair. Sure, I have to fight the distractions of gaming and eating at home, but I’d take that over wasting time to travel to a library and wait for a free table.
And it’s not like the free wifi is discouraging procrastination anyway.
But I suppose I’ll still tag along Sui’s next cafe study trip. For moral support and such. Plus, surfing – uh – studying, is always better with a freshly baked cookie in hand. And I apparently suck at baking cookies.
the picture above makes studying look like hell to me