The “Things I’ll Miss at Rhodes” Series
Chapter 3: First Floor Lib
We all have different lib habits; PBJ is a dynamic place with diverse people. Whether you call it the Paul “Barnet” Library or sleep under a cubicle every night, we have all encountered the same epileptic carpeting at some point or another.
I already know what you’re thinking. “But the first floor is so loud!” “How do you get any work done?” “There are never any tables available on the first floor!” Friends, I am aware of all of these well-articulated, observant sentiments, and I appreciate the concern. However, I must inform you that the first floor, despite its flaws and tribulations, is a place where I feel free to be myself.
You want to gossip and distract me from my homework? Be my guest. You want to bring your dog into the library? Do it. You want to scream in maniac laughter with your friends by the help desk? Don’t worry about it, I have headphones. You want to buy me a coffee with your lynx bucks because I’ve been out since midterms and don’t want to study for finals? Let’s do it, the Middle Ground is just steps away, and I need caffeine like oxygen.
There are so many unique characters and scenes you may encounter on the first floor. Gossip Nalan is always patrolling (xoxo) with the latest drama and burgeoning rumors. Calli Pinckney will always be sitting at the first table you see when entering, staring you down through the thin frames of her purple glasses. Where’s Hannah Henderson, you may ask? Catch her behind the screened computers between the Writing Center and the computer lab, a perpetually stressed-out visage paired with a 12-pack of Diet Cokes. Bennett Notestine? Don’t even try to find him, he’s hiding on the third floor and definitely doesn’t want to talk to you, because work is work, and the library is the library.
And where am I? Seated on a high chair at the row of computers along the left side of the first floor. I once dropped my laptop off that high counter and the screen shattered into a million pieces. I would advise against recreating a similar circumstance, and I would also advise you to simply be a coordinated human being in genereal. In culmination, I’ve had the best of times and I’ve had the worst of times on that first floor of PBJ. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.