After a weekend’s worth of festivities and full-blown procrastination, the inevitable Sunday morning panic has arrived. Your alarm clock’s wailing siren punches into your dreams to remind you of your date with reality.
There are three readings due tomorrow, a paper to start and a test you should probably be studying for, yet your pillow feels like a plush magnet drawing you deeper under a fortress of warm blankets.
“But Netflix…” the bed whispers, and it takes every ounce of your willpower to stumble out of your pajamas and strap on your backpack.
Clearly, you won’t be getting any work done here. You need to find the Perfect Study Spot.
Every college student has heard of this mythical oasis — a place where distractions dissolve, textbook pages become double-spaced and laptops never die. If only you could find this hidden paradise, all your work would be done early and you would never again waste pointless hours on Facebook or talking to friends.
Clearly you must avoid second floor Clem, where the volume is cranked all the way up as people gossip about the weekend’s events or the latest episode of “Game of Thrones.” Do these people even have work to do, or is this just where people go to socialize on Sunday afternoons?
There’s always first floor Clem — that soul-sucking, silent level, where pulling out your chair too loudly will earn you three dirty looks and a scowl from the “serious” students who don’t have time for that kind of nonsense. One hour here will force you to get a bit of work done, but be careful — any longer than that could pull you down a spiral of loneliness.
The Alderman stacks are way too hot, not to mention claustrophobia-inducing. After about 10 minutes you realize you won’t be lasting a full afternoon there.
Starbucks, on the other hand, is freezing. Do they think this will make you buy more hot coffee? Once you finish your drink, you’re done with the chilly little cafe.
How about Clark? It’s the awkward “other” library, isolated from the other two and far from any food source besides the tiny Greenberry’s cafe inside. Will you last an entire afternoon in that seclusion?
Continue your search. The Perfect Study Spot is out there somewhere.
Studying on the Lawn is cute, but the sun makes a glare on your computer and all the laughing students playing Frisbee are way too happy while you write your paper.
All you ask for is something close to your house, with easy access to food, quiet but not too quiet, isolated but still near to people in case you need a break, at a neutral temperature and with comfortable seating where you can relax and spread out your books. Is that so difficult?
After a few hours of moving from location to location, you return home to where you started. Shoot your bed a dirty look. Shove a few cups and a pair of sunglasses off your desk and, checking your watch with a sigh, complete all of your readings before bed.
Searching for the Perfect Study Spot is the equivalent of browsing Netflix for two hours and settling on the first show you saw, or reading the entire menu at a restaurant when you know you’ll eventually order your “usual.” Sadly, the Perfect location does not exist.
What do exist are a few “better” locations — places relatively quiet or relatively free of distraction. Unfortunately, if you are determined to procrastinate, no place on Grounds can save you from an unproductive afternoon.
A productive mindset, in my experience, is more important than a productive location. Some of my best work has been completed in the back seat of a moving vehicle or while sitting on the floor of a crowded airport. If the determination is there, the work will follow. So, next time you find yourself aimlessly searching for a Perfect study spot, sit down and decide to make exactly where you are a new oasis.
Alyssa’s column runs biweekly Thursdays. She can be reached at a.passarelli@cavalierdaily.com.
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