My favorite place at UNE is a specific table in the Ketchum Library. I love the library because it’s a great environment for studying, which I will find myself doing more in the weeks to come. I usually do my homework and quiz studying in my dorm-room, but when I need to study hard I always come to the library. There’s a couple reasons for this, one of which is because exam prep keeps me busy all day and I’d rather be in the library than in my dorm-room if I’m staying inside all day. Another reason is because there are a lot of distractions in my dorm-room, I could easily stop studying at any moment and start playing video games or hop on a call with friends. In the library I can’t do these things because I see them as socially unacceptable activities in a library, and as such these distractions are removed. The main reason I love studying here is more of a sociological concept, that of the cognitive separation of work and relaxation. Your brain lumps ideas together that it associates with concepts like work and relaxation. For me, my dorm-room is associated with relaxation and the library is associated with work, and as such entering this environment prepares me subconsciously for studying. Now why this specific table in the library is my favorite place on campus comes down to comfort and my studying rituals. When I do homework or study I like to make my own little done where I can spread out and be comfortable, which this table provides. I also like the sense of seclusion this table gives due to being in a corner, it’s my surrogate for those study cubicle which are always taken (although it would be selfish to occupy one of those by myself as they’re intended for group studying). As I mentioned before, my affinity for this table is also based on my studying rituals. This is because this table has seen me through many tough last-minute study sessions, and studying at this spot has never failed me. It’s become a tradition to seek out this spot among the others which usually goes well because no one usually sits there anyways. While other people might have more exciting favorite spots on campus, my favorite spot means as much to me as their favorite spots do for them. I’ll gladly do another 5 hour sociology study crunch in this table again.
