Pet Peeves: Library

Along with most of the student population I have spent the last two weeks, confined in the library, surrounded by people, and somehow managed not to kill anyone, if you have also achieved this feat, pat yourself on the back, it’s not easy!

Going to the library everyday has convinced me that some people should have signs around them saying “don’t sit here!!” This irritableness may have been caused by exam stress but as I am nearing the end of my exam season and I know I’m getting out pretty soon, I can laugh at these people and things that bother me but, just in case, you’re one of these people, I have put together a list of annoying things, these will hopefully assist you in being slightly less irritating next semester!!

·        The snifflers: If you have a cold, or a sniffle or, even a tickle in the very back of your throat that you don’t think is going to be a problem, STAY OUT OF THE LIBRARY!!! It is more than annoying for the people sitting around you that have to listen to you sniffle, snort or cough and makes me shiver in disgust every time. Also, the persistent running out to the toilet to get a tissue to wipe your snotty nose. Is not ok either!

·        The Mouth Breather: It is an inevitable fact of life; some of us breathe through our nose, some of us through our mouth. Bu the time you’re in college you’re probably aware of which one you are, so please, if you insist on studying in the library choose a seat where either no one else can hear you or you’re surrounded by similar breathers. The number of times I have avoided the intense desire to hit a mouth breather is uncountable. On the off chance you might be the next mouth breather sitting beside me, please, don’t.

·        The friends: When most of us go the library we go to study, we go to learn, to ensure that we’ll pass out exams. When you go to the library and surround yourself with a gaggle of friends and spend the whole time talking to them, you’re not learning anything! I have also noticed that when there’s always one friend that ends up on a table alone and therefore her other friends find it essential to come over to her every twenty minutes to “see how she’s getting on.” She would be “getting on” a lot better if you just left her alone!  They then proceed to have a twenty minute conversation, that everyone can hear and show each other things on the internet. Which brings me nicely into my next point:

·        YouTube Videos: We all enjoy a bit of procrastination, heck, I’ve gone full days in the library sitting on Facebook refreshing the homepage every ten minutes and that’s fine. Except for when you’re disturbing your neighbours or people around you. The chief offender of this is YouTube videos. I don’t care if you’re looking at “funny cat videos” or the latest comedian to do the circuit when we’re all confined to our desks, if you’re not going to be able to hold in your laughter, please, please don’t do it, the final year trying to figure our his psychics across from you will not appreciate it, even the first year learning Porter’s will get irritated with you. It’s just not acceptable behaviour in the middle of study week.

·        PDA’S: My final point is probably one of the most irritating things people can do. We are in a library, some of us haven’t slept in weeks, most of us haven’t been eating very well out of necessity for speed and all of us are looking pretty rough. The last thing in the world any of us needs is to be sitting across from “that couple”, you know who they are, they whisper sweet nothings in each other’s ears between questions, they hold hands when they’re typing and they kiss all the time, all the time!!! This can only result in the sleep deprived, unhealthy students suffering from low self esteem as a result of their exam induced skin breakout to get the urge to puke, hit the couple or cry. None of these are good and will only serve to disrupt the study process further.

Now that you have a list, look at it as a guideline, if you do any of the following things on a regular basis, leave the library, at least leave your study spot cause I can promise you whoever is around you wants to hit you.

 With all these distractions I’m not quite sure how we ever pass any exams!

 Thank God I'm nearly out and I will be starting on this blog seriously then :)