Who doesn’t love a quiet get away, a warm cup of chai, and people watching? I found that I am more efficient when I am alone, away from campus and intermixed with more than college students. You start to wonder how the indie/alternative music soothes you.

You wonder why not talking to anyone for a good four hours recharges you. You wonder how your coffee has gotten stronger and stronger every time you walk through those doors. I have learned a lot from the Panera right there on P Street. From learning how to warm up your butter to learning how to buckle down and get work done as if there is no one around you, the Panera on P has become my safe place.

1. People are the best show in the world. And you don’t even pay for the ticket.

2. Put your butter packets under your thighs while you eat your entrée, then pull them out when you are ready to eat your bread. Now your butter is perfectly softened to spread. Talk about perks of having thick thighs.

3. You unintentionally find yourself ease dropping on the conversations around you. And now you have live wondering why Chad never apologized to Mary.

4. Their big bowls filled with salads have you eating and gossiping with your friends like you are the Kardashians.

5. You begin to just embrace your love for carbs.

6. You see two older ladies meeting for coffee every day at 3pm, catching up on their grandkids. Talk about goals.

7. When you sit by the glass, you see everyone. The guy who lost his way and is now holding a cardboard sign by the Starbucks. The girl who is missing the world around her because she got a like from her crush on her phone. The business woman who seems like she has got it all going on. And now you have a new perspective on life.

8. You see a first date and you remember how awful small talk is.

9. All of your best ideas come during mid sip of your chai tea.

10. You now wonder what playlist they are playing because you are so into coffee shop tunes now.

11. You secretly see what the person besides you ordered, because it is always nice to change things up.

12. You look and feel like you are a healthy eater. Although you did eat a salad, the baguette, and the cute sugar cookie that make for a good pic adds up.

13. You wonder if you should just stalk up on baguettes and bagels now… restrain, Whitney, restrain.

14. It is okay to order the kid’s mac and cheese with a grilled cheese. If it is good, it is good. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it am I right?

15. The world stops when you are there in your own little world. You feel productive. You feel out of reality, acknowledging that your coffee doesn’t solve your problems but it makes them better.

The staff doesn’t know my name yet, so I am still in the safe zone. Good reads are analyzed and journaled about, blog topics are written down in chicken scratch in a notebook, butter is warmed an unconventional way, a lot of carbs are consumed in record time, and homework is done with pure focus or with a mind that contains a million other thoughts going on.

A lot is leaned from the Panera on P.