VERSES: Common Area/Lounge

If you're reading my blog, chances are you know that I am a people person, maybe even a SUPER PEOPLE PERSON - this means that the place in the music building/con where people hang out and chill is really important to me. When CSU started I feared that their common areas (the biggest being near the concert hall) would remain scarcely populated as they were for the first few days of school. What I have come to realize is that it is heavily populated during some parts of the day and empty during others, pretty consistent for times as well. There are two circles of plushy chairs around little round tables (that are perfect feet height) and then there are four tall tables, each with two chairs, near the windows, against the wall to the west. The room area is probably about 25ft by 15ft. I also really like the large quantity of natural light that comes in through the windows.

Lawrence lounge area is HUGE, basically the central part of the basement - in it's entirety. There's a lot more seating areas (two u-shaped areas) with couches, chairs and then in the middle are benches. People pretty much always chill there, as long as it's not a weekend before 11am :) or after 2am...on any day. There is zero natural light source because it is a basement. It seems like a much more used area but that could just be that it is a hallway of sorts and so people go through it all the time. The two different couch sections are also socially separated into jazz instruments/people and everyone else. The positive aspects of this arrangement is that there is intelligent conversation always going on and there is somewhere that is socially similar for everyone to be. Downsides are that there is not a complete integration which disallows some potentially interesting conversations and insights. Another awesome thing about the Lawrence lounge is its location. Since it is near to the practice rooms and the lockers (see practice room post about that) people congregate there ALWAYS and it is a great place to take a 5 min practice break.

CSU doesn't have a segregation based on side of the lounge...but sitting there today for an hour or so I watched the area go from a few instrumentalists to all singers (except me) and then they all left at pretty much the same time, it was crazy. So I would say that it is segregated based on time. The CSU lounge is sort of close to the lockers but it is away from the practice rooms. There are also several different other mini-lounges scattered around the building - this is nice but it doesn't create one central area like Lawrence has. It's hard to say that I like one better than the other because a lot of what I appreciated about the lounge at LU (Lawrence) was the people there. I'm making friends at CSU but I've only been here for 3 weeks (and two days) verses two years. I do find that it is easier to get homework done in the lounge at CSU, due mostly to the fact that there are less people that I am likely to become distracted by on a regular basis. I rarely find people sleeping at CSU, but we're not yet a month in and the building isn't open that late. It's an interesting comparison that I hadn't expected and am now very intrigued by.

Random questions (because I like them): what is your favorite way to eat peanut butter?