Dont get me wrong. I love being back at UWS. For those of you who dont know, Im back at UWS! I really like this school, but to my knowledge there is no quiet place on campus to study. This is really frustrating. This is largely due to the fact that UWS is going through a campus wide construction/remodeling.
It begins with the new student center. The construction cuts right through the center of campus. It has forced the on campus traffic to flow through every building on campus. No building is safe from this traffic save the Health and Wellness Center. This is amusing seeing as you wouldnt normally consider the Health and Wellness Center a nice place to study. However, it really is! More on this in a moment.
The other issue is the Library which is currently getting remodeled. For those like me who use the library as a safe haven from noise, this is a serious issue. I just transferred from UMD where the library is THE perfect place to study. The problems on the UWS campus are making me consider going all the way to UMD's library to study! In fact, on the occassions I have a larger load of homework, I plan on going there to study.
The library here at UWS has been temporarily moved into the student center. This temp library has white tiled floors and is brighter than a taning. The floors reflect the light even more contributing to the tanning bed affect. I would not study in an uncomfortable place such as that.
Then there are the few computer labs on campus. People DO NOT respect the computer labs. People talk, answer their phones, and laugh out loud viewing youtube. It is ridiculous.
My search is not for a quiet comp lab, however. It is for a comfortable chair or table upon which to study and/or do homework. I have yet to find that place on this campus.
There is a lounge, but this lounge has traffic running through it and sometimes even more disrespectful people. Well, I should be studying right now, but I simply cannot. The noise is too much.
So, I have decided the best place to study is the Health and Wellness Center. Yes, the HWC is loud, but its noise volume is perfect: a perfect hum of voices and music over the PA. I found a nice lounge above the track with comfortable tables and chairs. It is here you will find me from now on.
-Jere
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Hey Jere, your post made me think back to the time I was at UWS. When I was there, I don't think there even was a Health and Wellness Center. I get UWS' alumni newsletter. The last issue talked about those campus wide renovations that are taking place. A lot has changed since I went there. Reading your post, I also thought about the differences between UWS and UNF. Man my time at UNF was so much different than it was at UWS. The campus itself is like three to four times the size of UWS. Fortunately for me, I never had a shortage of places to study. The library, like UMD, was the key place. I don't know much about UMD, but if you take Old Main, Erlanson, Barstow, AND the Fine Arts building all put together, that's the size of UNF's library. And make it four floors too. So it's huge and I found plenty of nooks and crannies in which to study.
ReplyDeleteI smiled at your statement that you "found a lounge above the track." In my time at UNF, I took it upon myself to learn the buildings inside and out. Most of the classes I had were in the business buildings of course, but I went out of my way when I had free time, to explore all the other buildings. I'd wander the halls, go in the classrooms if they were open and empty, and walk as much as I could on the upper lever walkway. Most of the buildings had exterior, second story walkways that connected every building on campus. I could access that labyrinth near the sports complex and not have to exit it until I was all the way across campus. Sometimes I would bike all around campus on the ground level. Cheap parking is a ten minute walk from the central campus so to save time and sweat under the Florida sun, I'd bring my bike and ride into campus. I got to know the layout of the campus pretty well.
I call my time I spent at UNF a nomad life. I was used to going to work each day and having my own desk to sit at for eight hours. Going from a full time desk job to a full time student was a big change. All during school I had no permanent desk. I had no place that was my own in which to sit or eat. I had to carry my food and water with me, eating where I could find a quiet place. I had to move from place to place to study. I couldn't rely on one spot to always be vacant. I wandered all over campus with my backpack and bike.
In some ways I miss that life. It was an adventure every day. But in more ways, I'm glad I have my own island home now at work. I have my own desk with my own chair I can do everything at and not have to worry about someone taking the spot. I have my picture of Cyndi and Abby I can look at when I miss them. I have my food I can eat when I please. And I have a little library with my books: a collection of Dickens novels, Life in Christ, my Bible, a pocket concordance, a thesaurus, and a harmony of the Gospels.
At the same time, I suppose life is never the same for too long. You sail from island to island. Sometimes you camp out in one spot; sometimes you wander all over the isle. Sometimes you feel like you've been sailing between islands for days.