Best Place to Study On Campus

Students at Marist College tend to be extremely partial to where they like to study. Whether it be the bottom, main, or top of the library, Donnelly, or if students prefer to work in their rooms or the lounges.

At the beginning of freshman year, I spent nearly all my free time on the third floor of the library in the Honors Reading Room. However, this was mainly because the library was air-conditioned and the dorms are not. I learned to focus in that area, however, I often found myself to become easily distracted by anyone that walked by or anything that happened.

Then, I tried working in Lowell Thomas. Although being a communications major, I love LT, for some reason, I could not focus there. I think it comes from having so many classes there, I felt like I was spending all day every day there and there was no change in my day. There was also way too much activity with people walking by, and I was being interrupted very often by people I know.

As the weather got colder, I began spending more time in my room freshman year. I tried my best to do all my work at my desk rather than my bed. However, I am weak and enjoy napping, therefore I was never as productive as I would like.

Sophomore year, I spent much more time in my Foy townhouse studying rather than academic buildings. I enjoyed having multiple areas within the house to be able to study. I could do work in my room, then if I felt the weakness coming and the bed calling my name,  I could go and work in the kitchen. All sophomore year I did not venture out to find my spot to study on campus.

At the beginning of junior year, I decided that it was time to really buckle down and throw myself in academics and become more involved with various things. Therefore, I needed to find my place in order to ensure that I was being as productive as possible.

So I decided to try out the lounge in Donnelly across from the cafe. After going there a few times, I concluded that though I was able to focus really well there, I only was able to focus when there were not a lot of people there. Because it is a lounge and is right across from the cafe, there was a lot of noise and people talking. Which, of course, is fine because if I really needed silence I would go somewhere else. So there would be times that I could work there successfully, but other times not. The other issue I had with Donnelly was that, with the exception of later in the evening, it was very crowded. The lounge is not that large, and it is very nice. Therefore, there will be a lot of students trying to work in it. Thus, I had to find another place.

There would be times I did work in Hancock and even Fontaine. But simply those buildings did not provide me with the atmosphere I was looking for. Still, though, I can’t describe what the atmosphere I was looking for was or it, but it was the sort of thing where I knew it was not it when I was in it.

Back to the library. I returned to the third floor for a while, bouncing around from different locations on that floor. It was a few months into November of my junior year, that a friend of mine invited me to work with him and some friends on the main floor. Initially, I tried to avoid the main floor because I assumed it would be too loud or busy. But honestly, I was wrong. For me, the main floor works.

The main floor of the library, I believe, is the best place on campus to study. It is not always that quiet, but it does not get too loud, and you can work with friends and talk with them without worrying about disrupting others as long as you are not too loud. There also is a consistent flow of people so there is a regular change of people, but in my opinion, the change is not too frequent where it is distracting. You can also see people and friends, but because it is the library if you do not want to talk to someone you can just have your headphones in and keep your head down.

Let us not forget about the convenience of the library brew, that is often well equipped with snacks, drinks, and coffee for when you are staying late in the library. Then there also is the sight of the river, and honestly, what can beat that.

Overall, I think the main floor of the library is the best place to study on campus.