Every year, college students must frantically hunt for a new place to live in a race to secure the best leases. Whether you and your closest friends get your dream apartment, students often don’t always spend most of their waking hours at their place.

Aside from attending class, the library is where actual work gets done. Unfortunately, popular study areas like the Undergraduate and Main libraries can be stress-inducing environments. Grainger Engineering Library, on the other hand, can be downright traumatic. It’s commonplace to see students run out of the Computer-Based Testing Facility crying, and the ambiance is akin to the WorryFree factories from the movie “Sorry to Bother You” where employees are treated as feudal serfs and actually live inside the factory.

If the weather lately has been making you reluctant to leave the comfort of your couch and put your binge-watching on hold to trudge through the snow to the library, here are some ways to make horrific library vibes feel more like home. 

Make it your mailing address

Remember how much more convenient it was freshman year to simply go down to your dorm’s mailroom to get Amazon orders and care packages from your mom? Well, if you’re not at home in the afternoon when mail usually gets delivered, there’s a higher chance it can get stolen off your doorstep. So, just make the library where you pick up your packages! I’m sure the librarians won’t mind at all.

Bring your toiletries

Midterm season is right around the corner, which means more all-nighters and fewer $1 wells at Monday night Lion. But a rigorous courseload isn’t an excuse to stop taking care of yourself; in fact, self-care is more important in stressful times. If engineers at Grainger are able to find time to shave, brush their teeth and bathe with a sink, so can you. 

Hygge 

Hygge (hoo-guh) is the Danish and Norwegian word meaning “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.” In practice, hygge is about finding a way to make yourself comfortable and relaxed in everyday situations but also enjoying the little things, like a freshly brewed, overpriced cup of coffee from Espresso Royale or comradery with peers in a common struggle. It’s even embraced as a remedy to fight seasonal depression. So, go to the library, find a good spot in the smoking or non-smoking section you prefer, and get cozy to incorporate more hygge into your life.

Noah is a junior in Business. 

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