I am an introvert. Don’t get me wrong, I’m friendly and outgoing and love to connect with people, but I need my alone time to recharge. Being on campus for a full day with no car and hundreds of students can make this difficult. If I’m lucky, I can find a quiet place in SUS’s failed attempt at a restaurant, the Canoe. But it’s usually packed. Even worse is a day where the negligent person who controls the sound in there has it cranked to horrible American news or god-awful pop music that even headphones can’t drown out. (Somebody please stop Panic at the Disco from making music. They should stay in their places, as cheesy emo quotes on our Facebook photos from 2007.) Even the quiet study area on the second floor of the library is too busy for me. I couldn’t possibly share a four-desk cubicle space with another person. Personal space, please.
I do recall a time before the Student Union Building (yes, I’ve been here that long) when I read somewhere that a proposed nap room was to be built on the third floor. But who knows, maybe I misunderstood. I also thought the Student Union Building would be tailored for student’s use, which clearly didn’t happen either, seeing how pretty much all student spaces get shut down after a year. It seems that that idea of the nap room was lost in the hollow abyss of SUS promises and plans.
Honestly, if the SUS and UFV staff members get their own offices in our Student Union Building, then we should have quiet-time offices that we can book to have a quick snooze between classes. Although, I do have a feeling these would probably get overcrowded by students desperate for study space, and theses spaces would most likely turn into cram-session rooms that one fights to the death for.
Maybe we could get those weird sleeping pods that seal you off from everyone in your own little egg-shaped world. Heck, I’d take anything to get a little bit of peace and quiet. We could put them in the empty resource rooms on the second floor of the SUB. (What exactly is SUS planning to do with those again?) Either way, students are constantly overstimulated and have a million things to worry about, with social media, neverending due dates, the impending social, economic, and environmental doom that our society is inevitably heading toward — you know, all that hustle and bustle of everyday life. It’s too easy to burn out if we don’t get a bit of downtime and alone time.
If we can’t get sleeping pods, maybe we should turn Fair Grounds into a cat-cafe or a dog lounge. This would definitely help students relax and calm their minds for a little while. I think the money that was used for the basketball court that’s hardly ever used should have went to that instead. Not everyone plays sports to feel better, but everyone would be down to chill with some dogs. (Unless you’re allergic, then I got nothin’ for ya.)
But really, where can an introvert go on campus? Well, I am glad to say that with a little fluke luck, I’ve found a great place to be alone where very few people go. Sure, it’s freezing, full of car exhaust fumes, and there’s nowhere comfortable to sit, but ah, sweet solitude feels like victory there. If you wanna check it out, it’s just behind Building A and to the… just kidding, I’ll never tell. I don’t need any overstimulated introverts poking around my quiet space anytime soon.
Image: Kayt Hine/The Cascade
Darien Johnsen is a UFV alumni who obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with double extended minors in Global Development Studies and Sociology in 2020. She started writing for The Cascade in 2018, taking on the role of features editor shortly after. She’s passionate about justice, sustainable development, and education.
