With midterm exam season still looming over our heads, freshmen and returning students alike are desperate to find that perfect study spot — one where they can break down in tears while writing the closing paragraph of an essay or memorizing those last few critical dates (Was it 1878 or 1874?).
Some areas of campus are constantly buzzing with activity, making it impossible to settle in and really get to work. Here are places to avoid at all costs if you're looking for a comfortable, quiet study space.
AMS Nest
Undoubtedly the busiest place on campus is the AMS Nest. It’s one of the newer buildings on campus, making it a popular destination for students wanting to feel like their tuition is going towards something worthwhile. As such, the noise levels in here tend to go off the charts, rising from the depths of the atrium and echoing from every wall — because it's shaped like an oval, it's even worse than most buildings. It’s also a hub for clubs, so you may hear trumpets wailing from the Egg on Monday nights, or a drunken rendition of “My Heart Will Go On” trickling out of The Gallery on Thursdays. Unless you plan to join in on the fun, this probably isn’t the place to be.
Chapman Learning Commons
Chapman Learning Commons inside of IKB boasts stained-glass windows, 35 computers and tables larger than your class sizes. There are printers available for student use (at 50¢ or less per page), which is perfect for anyone taking a class with a pre-Covid-style professor. To secure a seat here, try to arrive before 10 a.m., or alternatively, don't wear deodorant. You'll soon have a table all to yourself.
Life Building
Life? More like DEATH. If you're lucky enough to find a chair, good luck getting back up — the south and east lounges are tight quarters, so you're likely to have people sitting adjacent to you in every direction. One of two Subway locations on campus lives inside Life, as well as a Starbucks and Booster Juice, making it the top spot in town for students on the run. Lines get long at all three of these chains, and you're sure to get blisters while you wait in line with three dozen other students who had the exact same idea as you. Make sure you’re wearing good runners.
UBC bus loop
The UBC bus loop road is honestly okay. It gets quite lively during the mornings and evenings, but as long as you remember to grab your laptop while you're ducking, covering and dodging cars, then you should be fine. Writing your notes on the road gives your paper a really interesting texture, and a gasoline smell that your professors will appreciate.
Ridington Room
Ridington Room — known by many as the “Harry Potter Room” — is on the third floor of IKB, at the back of the Music, Art and Architecture Library. It's named after UBC's first University Librarian John Ridington, who was known as a "rigid authoritarian" — apt naming for a silent spot. Enjoy a comfy armchair? This isn’t the place for you. Ridington hosts what I imagine to be the hardest chairs on campus, which are only helpful if you’re desperately trying to stay awake to finish that group project you forgot about. If you're a study snacker, enjoy working in groups or need to read things aloud, just don't bother. Seating is limited, silence is expected, food is rejected.