Public Library Adventures
The majority of my summer has been focused on studying for the MCAT (August 16th, here I come!) and in my pursuit of a decent score, I have been scouring the city for a decent place to study as my ability to focus at home is severely hindered by the fact that there’s pretty much always something to do that doesn’t involve Newtonian mechanics or organic chemistry.
So far my search has turned up a number of interesting (although not completely useful) spots, such as Coffee to the People, the UCSF Library on Parnassus and Tart to Tart (note: contrary to what their name suggests, the latter makes horrible fruit tarts). Today I ventured just a few blocks from my house to the West Portal branch of the San Francisco Public Library. It’s proximity and free wifi were the main points I was attracted to, and I hoped for it to be a nice, peaceful place to get work done.
It turns out that like other public libraries I have visited in the past, this one attracts the usual variety of mothers with small children, senior citizens and crazy people, each adding a little to the unusual character of this establishment. Perhaps I should have realized that this would be the case but in my defense, I haven’t visited a public library in years.
Shortly after arriving a middle-aged woman sat down across the table from me and took out a stack of miscellaneous papers, some of which were filled with nonsensical words, written in large, block letters. She carefully wrote letter after letter, filling numerous pages with a script that apparently made a great deal of sense to her. After about 50 minutes (I was doing a timed MCAT practice biology section) she started to get agitated with something that none of the other library patrons could seem to grasp, gathered her papers and stormed out.
Shortly after her disappearance, a older gentleman wandered around the stacks, looking at the floor and quietly mumbling to himself. I couldn’t tell whether he was anticipating a cold front, an impromptu tennis game or a casual Friday at work, but his attire demonstrated that all his bases were covered.
And thus, my search for the perfect study spot continues. Hopefully Yelp will guide me to the perfect spot and in the mean time, I’ll work a little more on my understanding of all things o-chem and my appreciation for the variety of life that seems to present itself at the West Portal branch.