Every Saturday morning, during the school year, I make an early morning trip to Starbucks. Each time I go, I order the same thing--a grande Pike Place coffee and a blueberry scone warmed up. This is something I look forward to every week. I get my hot cup of coffee and warm scone, and I camp out at a table all morning getting homework done. It is the most productive and enjoyable time of the week for me. This blog post made me think hard about why I find this time so enjoyable.
While I am being productive, I am still drowning in assignments and papers and drinking an over priced coffee and scone. That doesn't sound very enjoyable when I really think about it, but it always is. Why?
The simple answer could just be that I am drinking a large cup of caffeine which makes me feel good. It is just an elegant setting and way of consuming a drug in many ways. Maybe this is why I don't think twice when I pay the high price for something I could simply make at home.
Or maybe it is that this idea of a coffee and pastry in a coffee shop playing soft indie music while on my laptop has become idealized. Using a lens similar to Goodwin, it is interesting to think that maybe I enjoy this combination because it is heavily advertised to me through movies and/or various commercials. It is an odd idea to do critical thinking and write research papers in, basically, a restaurant. Yet, I do it often. In college, it seems like everyone frequents the coffee shops to get homework done. Maybe it is just the caffeine that keeps people coming back, but maybe it has just become idealized over the years. Heck, maybe we should start doing homework in shops that sell caffeine pills.
ReplyDeleteI really loved the way you described your habit. I can feel the taste of coffee and scone even sitting in my room. I think that you're really productive in that environment because of some instinct. You came to Starbucks, bought coffee and started to do your homework once, twice, three times, and then your mind started to think that it will happen more and more, brain got used to it, so it gets prepared to the moment it needs to work hard. And the coffee and the scone work as a signal for your brain to switch on.