Now that my first full week has officially wrapped up, I feel confident in stating that I've become familiar with the university campus. From the FFC to Bloomberg, I've done my fair share of walking, and managed to discover some of the most beautiful places that Johns Hopkins has to offer to its students. Of course with the heavy workload already on my plate, I'll admit I spent the majority of my time trying to find the best places to tackle my math problems, and make a dent in the endless readings for my freshman seminar, and Johns Hopkins did not disappoint.
One of the first places I went to was the Mudd Atrium.
Complete with its own cafe (The Daily Grind), rocking chairs, tables, and couches, the Mudd Atrium is one of my favorite places to get my homework done. A short walk from my dorm, AMR I, the Mudd Atrium is a convenient study place and somewhere I will keep returning to.
On my tour of campus, my tour guides boasted about the Brody Learning Commons--and for good reason.
Brody caters to group study with its study rooms consisting of white-board walls and projectors--encouraging students to collaborate with one another. Along with its own Daily Grind on the upper level, Brody also has roller chairs, seminar rooms, and an assortment of tables and couches available to Hopkins students. Definitely the most social of all the study places, Brody will be the place I go to to get my group projects finished.
Connected to Brody, is the Milton S. Eisenhower Library.
The library has many levels and the further you go down, the quieter it gets. I usually spend most of my time on the upper levels as I like to talk every once and a while with my friends. The library consists of an assortment of tables, cubicles, computer labs, and not to mention the endless resources ranging from textbooks to films.
The closest study spot to me is the AMR I common room. Air conditioned, unlike the rest of my building, the common room provides a nice, cool and quiet area to get work done. With couches and tables, the common room can host a decent amount of people. And since it isn't more than a two-minute trip from my dorm room, I expect to be there when I'm too lazy to go anywhere else.
The last two places are located in Gilman Hall--where most of the humanities classes are located (a.k.a. where I am 99 percent of the time while on campus).
The first is the Gilman atrium which, in my opinion, is nothing short of stunning.
The high ceilings allow beautiful light fixtures and other hanging decorations to hang--filling the space, making it all the more aesthetically pleasing when getting work done. The marble floor along with the wood paneling add to the ambience the atrium has to offer. And just around the corner is another cafe where one can pick up a croissant and an iced coffee before class. In addition, many professors even have their office hours in the atrium. I do confess: I have eavesdropped on a couple of conversations and am always amazing by the intellectual discourse.
And the second, my personal favorite, is the Hutzler Reading Room.
With dark leather seats adjacent to the stained-glass windows, the Reading Room has become my all-time favorite place to go on campus. The Reading Room is known as the spot for quiet study. So it's perfect for people like me who have endless readings to tackle and require the silence to do so. And while it may seem like such a dull experience, spending hours in one room reading one book after another, the openness and the natural light that the large glass windows allow, make the workload all the more doable.
So while Hopkins has lived up to its reputation in academic rigor, it sure has provided with me amazing places to go to get my work done and make it all a bit easier.
P.S. Check out pictures of the Peabody Library. I haven't been yet, but as you'll see, I want to go as soon as possible.
