To those who enjoy and feel comfortable working in their own room: Congratulations! To those for whom a few hours of desk-side studying feels like being locked up in Alcatraz: Join the club. My three years at Stanford have changed me from someone who wrote at his desk to someone who writes on lawns with a legal pad and reads in coffee houses with friends across the table. This article is an ode to those restless many who roam campus searching for a decent place to work. Finding another place to study when you need to escape from your room is liberating and endlessly rewarding. It may even help you befriend a few of your fellow Stanford inmates.

The best place to study is wherever you feel comfortable. For me, that means avoiding the normal study hot spots, such as the Lane and Bender Reading Rooms and Meyer Library. I like to start near my roost, inching outside my door and testing the hallway for studyability. In some dorms, the hall is too social to be an adequate study area, but, late at night, it is often the best place to be. Areas close to your room offer all the comforts of home — and easy access to study materials — without the distractions of your room. If the hall doesn’t work out, I highly recommend the lounge or the dining hall of your dorm. Depending on where you live, these areas are often desolate and offer a reprieve from the stress of working because they are large, open, well-lit and familiar. I’ve written more papers sitting at dining hall tables than anywhere else.

If you need to be in some kind of library, I suggest the carrels on the third floor of Bing’s East Wing. They may be a little worn down and dated, but they offer the quiet of the library with the privacy of home. The protection they offer from the prying eyes of other worker bees makes the experience comfortable rather than intimidating. During Dead Week, the library has extended hours during which one can almost completely move in to a cubicle and make it a kind of second home for studying.

At some point, though, you’ll have to leave the indoors and get some vitamin D. When the weather is nice, the shores of Lake Lagunita can’t be beat. Rarely visited by those who do not intend to jog around the perimeter, Lake Lag offers abundant quiet and space to spread out and get some reading done while enjoying the sounds of nature. Birds dodge in and out of the grass, and rabbits race through the bushes. If you’re afraid of getting dirty, make sure to bring a blanket or towel. The wise Lake Lag studier will bring snacks and make the whole experience a picnic for one.

Those interested in not being completely alone while studying outdoors can find lots of grass across campus, but possibly no better spot than the patch next to the Claw in White Plaza. With leafy trees providing ample shade, and a cool floor of well maintained grass, it’s a perfect place to while away the hours while sipping on Jamba Juice and cracking open the HumBio reading that magically piled up after the last problem set.

For those who really want to get away, a quick jaunt to the CalTrain station opens up a world of possibilities. One station to the north is Borrone’s, a popular café and study spot adjacent to well-known independent bookseller Kepler’s. If, like me, you sometimes need the gentle motion of travel to facilitate the reading process, you can always ride the CalTrain north to San Francisco, or south to Gilroy, and then ride it back to create two to three hours of solid, movement-filled work.

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