WHERE ARE YR RESOURCES?

So, sometimes I forget that I actually have a blog and don't write on it for a month. In my defense, I have to say that not having internet at home does make blogging quite difficult. Yes, I have a blackberry, but honestly, can you really blog on that? Nopes. I really felt like blogging while at the library on multiple occasions but I never did because I felt self-conscious.

To those unaware, the Sciences Po library is many things. It's really warm, really warm, like uncomfortable warmth. It's crowded, all the time. It's cramped. You can barely find a seat there. Don't even think you'll be able to get work done if you don't have your computer with you because finding a computer there is pretty impossible. It's hard to check out a book because 1) you need to do it in advance because some books are not in Paris and 2) the library had a FLOOD and lots of books got wet and now are undergoing intense physical therapy, or something of the like. OH AND THE WI-FI there, if there are too many students at the library, it doesn't work properly, so you need to get an ethernet cable. WTF.

Besides being really impractical and small, it's intensetown. I once picked up my phone, that was on silent, near the staircase (nowhere near where students were at) and a woman came to yell at me. I never even talked on the phone, I held it near my face, and I got yelled at. People look at you if you are drinking or eating something there. People will do anything for seats, like anything. They always wait behind you as you are leaving so they can have your seat. So, I feel horribly self-conscious if I'm wasting precious time/internet by writing on my blog or going on facebook. I try to find other ways to procrastinate like wikipedia or cnn. Those two are much more well-received than facebook or blogger.

Writing about that really made me feel how much I miss UPenn. Yes, Penn is great. Europe is great, Paris is awesome, but the amount of resources my school has make Sciences Po seem really useless. Our libraries are enormous, full of books that are actually there, and there are so many study areas. What matters is that you get your stuff done, so you can plug in wherever you want, and work away. In Sciences Po, other things come first.

I really miss Van Pelt library. Those glorious Sunday afternoons, spent writing, facebooking, reading, messing around, eating, and enjoying the 4th floor stacks after brunch at Commons. It was such a good time. Van Pelt was always there, welcoming me, letting me use all of its space, it was never crowded (except around finals), with all those rooms to reserve on the 3rd and 4th floors.

I really miss that. It was so conducive to studying and getting work done.