Observational Hour

Mike Destefano

ENGL 210

Ms.Rodwell

Due 10/14/25

For the first 5 minutes, it wasn’t busy. Quiet, with some murmurs. A lot of people are busy studying on laptops. Some familiar faces and some not at all, but all of us had a purpose here; to learn. Unless you were security, or the high school guy that passes out lunches to the high schoolers that occupy the NAC lunchroom, who passed by dragging along the thermal bag with the milk cartons inside. I noticed a couple people going to the vending machine, just like I did, looking for a quick bite, though really all that stuff in there is unhealthy. But, a quick snack is a quick snack, and nothing is better than sugar on a dreary morning after waking early to head to an 8-9 AM class. A lot of these people just stayed for the whole hour, studying and immersing themselves  on computer activities. A couple people held conversations, but mostly people minded their own business and went about their day. One guy, seemingly perplexed by his soda, looked at the nutritional label at the back. Maybe he’s like me, tracking his calories so he can control his weight. I notice people having all sorts of caffeinated, energy inducing drinks. Rockstar, coffee, brisk ice tea that has a lot of sugar. A lot of reliance on stimulants is noticeable to manage with the stresses of college and the lack of sleep a lot of people face, like myself, thanks to busy schedules that aren’t made easier by college courses. Some people were just on their phone, headphones on, maybe scrolling due to the smiles they showed every once in a while, with the smile quickly fading as their thumb swiped up on their screen.  Boredom induces mindless scrolling, and when you’re waiting for a class, it’s easy to be bored and sit around. There’s a couple people going to the library every so often, including a construction guy, which is a funny mix to the pool of people. It’s just a cycle of people, into the library, or out. Going down the once again malfunctioning escalators or going up it. I notice one girl smiling profusely at her Ipad,  using a computer pen to write on the Ipad. She might be the only happy person here, as it seems.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.