Day Two

With the always exciting week of finals in full swing, I have been dedicating my time not to studying, but to pondering various academic phenomena. The most recent and puzzling aspects will be documented for further examination.

1) Social Studying
Though I am known to procrastinate as much as the next guy, it boggles my mind how some people can sit in the most distracting and traffic-ridden places and still expect to actually get something accomplished. I wonder if it is a serious endeavor... Is it possible for a person to pack up their laptop, notebooks, books, calculator, et cetera and high-tail it to the entryway in the Commons (or, better yet, the cafeteria itself) and think they will come back hours later with an essay written, math problems completed, or science concepts memorized? I think not. Yes, some people claim they study better with some background music, or the television on, but I seriously doubt that sitting amongst 500 other students creates an effective learning environment.

This afternoon I had an awkward time situation where it was pointless to return to my dorm after lunch because I would have to be back in the same vicinity in a half hour to go to the parking lot and jet off to a doctor appointment. I decided I would do like the cool kids and sit in the entryway in front of the mailboxes for awhile. In between memorizing the birth and death dates of every Middle English poet who ever wrote something significant, I heard about one girl who didn't study for her exam that morning (and sounded like she wasn't too concerned), one guy who got drunk last night, talked to a friend, and saw various disappointed students leave their p.o. boxes emptyhanded and go upstairs to get lunch. And yet I couldn't tell you when Henry Howard Earl of Surrey was born.

My personal theory is that people go about this social studying thing not to actually learn, but to show off their obscene workloads. For example, if a girl has a huge statistics test, what better way to complain to the world than by taking up an entire round table in the caf, spreading out books, papers, calculator, and laptop displaying a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet graph? Not only is it a great conversation starter - "oh wow, what are you up to?" - but you get the intimidation/admiration factors. In the former, a person is so utterly dumbfounded by what they see they decide you are a God of your given subject for a) being able to study in a public place and b) doing all that work while still eating a peanut butter bar. The latter is pretty self-explanatory... everyone will be like, jeez, that girl has harder work, and therefore, harder classes than me. She must be smart.

... And don't even get me started on the three computers in the very poorly lit corner of The Hill (restaurant-style alternative caf).

2) Library Computers versus Laptops in the Library
I have both used the desktop computers in the library and brought my own laptop there and yet I cannot decide which is better. There seem to be pros and cons to both, and I understand those, but I still can't decide what makes one person more likely to bring a computer than to simply use what is available to them. My lazy instinct is to not lug my laptop all the way through campus only to find out the wireless setting on my fabulous school-sponsored laptop is faulty and won't accept me. Also, I feel like using a desktop almost forces you to work faster. A laptop has a sort of luxorious feel - like oh, I can go sit in that uber comfortable chair and potentially fall asleep with it on a mini-table in front of me while pretending to do something. This is nearly impossible to do at a desktop, mainly because the screen is so bright it seems to cast a spotlight on your entire cubby. Also, I find the risk of potentially losing your work because you got it out of your email and haven't renamed the document to be especially motivational. Or, better yet, who isn't inspired by the awkward, bulging-backpack-wearing person hovering and pacing back and forth waiting to steal your computer? You just don't get that with a laptop.

Anyways, there are less phenomena than I anticipated on this post, but I babbled enough to make up for it. This is the other Ashley signing off... time to figure out when John Donne kicked the bucket.