Beside Welcome Wednesdays, there is another reason to get jazzed about the middle of the week – $2.25 latte days at Espresso Royale Cafe (ERC). (They used to be only $2, but they bumped up the price by a quarter last year. 😦 ) Now, being a coffee-drinker (an excessive one at that!), studying and coffee go hand-in-hand for me. (For some people choose energy drinks or soda as caffeine source of choice, but if you’re a coffee drinker, you might want to read about this dangerously perfect study spot.)

So here’s the deal with studying at ERC – it’s not good for “silent” studying. There will be noise in this place: music playing, coffee beans grinding, people ordering, workers yelling out orders up, conversations of people meeting over coffee, and so on… That doesn’t mean this place should be neglected. If you have some great noise cancelling headphones, this could be a silent spot; if you haven’t invested in these headphones (then you’re like me…) you can still be productive in this spot. It’s best for when you are actively working on something. I personally found it very soothing to have those noises going on while working on some Math 425 (probability) practice problems. It kept me sane and connected to reality when trying to figure out what the words/letters/numbers on the page meant.

Here’s the secret to getting a good study spot/seat/table at ERC – GET THERE EARLY! (So, you might need to get a morning person…) I went in minutes before 8am and it was perfect. The good booth seats upstairs were taken by that time, but downstairs there were only 2 people there. I was able to get a booth for 4 all to myself (greedy I know, but there wasn’t anyone itching to sit down). Although upstairs would be great to meeting people for coffee and having a conversation, downstairs is where studying happens. The floor/ceiling between first floor and downstairs provides a buffer for the sounds perviously mentioned. Although you can still hear them, they’re much quieter. You also don’t have constant movement of people entering/exiting the store so there are less visual distractions downstairs (there aren’t even windows down there).

Being a coffee lover, studying in a coffee shop is definitely a dangerous, but oh so wonderful idea!

Bottom Line: Morning Person + Coffee-Lover + Background Noise Studying = College Student Heaven