My Favorite Study Hideouts!
As much as I love my apartment, it is always nice to get out of the house to study for a bit. In the few months I have been on campus, I have found some prime real estate in terms of study hideouts, and I wanted to share them! Whether you are someone who likes to have lots of background noise or a person who needs absolute silence to focus, I have found a place for you! Depending on what I am working on, I like different levels of background noise, so I sorted these little study areas into categories.
Places that usually have a decent level of activity and background noise:
Cup O' Joe. This is a cafe about a mile north of campus on North High Street. It has a very cute interior with classic small town coffee shop vibes. I really like going here early in the morning to grab a table and do some work with a hot cup of chai tea. This is a pretty popular place so there is a nice steady stream of conversations going on as well as the flurry of coffee-making sounds behind the counter. I would definitely recommend this place for coffee-lovers! Plus, if you keep the cardboard cup slip, they punch it every time you go in and after ten visits you get a free drink!
Kafe Kerouac. This daytime coffee shop and bar/open mic stage by night was named after the novelist who was one of the pioneers of the Beat Generation, so if you're a book nerd like me, you will feel right at home. This eclectic little place is truly a gem: right off North High a few blocks north of campus, it can be whatever you need it to be. During the day you can go in and order a Toni Morrison (all their lattes are named after influential authors), browse their collection of vinyl albums for sale, look through their bookshelves for a new Stephen King book to buy, or just snuggle into one of the comfortably-worn couches and study. At night, you can come here to enjoy a beer for open mic night on Tuesdays, or poetry on Wednesdays, or even comedy shows every once in a while. I almost didn't want to share this place to keep it all to myself, but I hope you check it out!
Study nooks that are usually totally silent:
The top floor of Thompson Library. There is an unspoken rule in most college libraries that as you ascend to higher and higher floors, the rules around making noise become more strict, and Thompson Library here at OSU is no different. When I need to hunker down and be completely focused on a project, I go straight to the top floor of Thompson. When you are here, be prepared to hold in your sneezes, and don't even think about dropping a pencil, because you will get some glares!
Gerlach 3rd floor study rooms. Although you can only reserve these rooms for a total of 3 hours every day, they are a great place to spread out your study materials and get to work! Plus, if you have a group of study buddies, you each can book the room for a three-hour block back to back and camp out for the day.
I hope these little study hideouts give you some inspiration to find new places to work, and always keep a look out for other work places--they are all over campus!
