The Gates Center: My New Hangout
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Julianne is a a 2013 MBA student at the Tepper School of Business. Her blog, Sleeping Between Spreadsheets, aims to showcase her unique experiences at the Carnegie Mellon University. |
Over year 1, because of both the peculiarities of my schedule and the notion that I would do more work at school than at home, I spent all my free time in the Tepper Master’s Lounge. I had a chair that I would always go to, a well-positioned seat that gave me access to two armchair-connected tabletops as well as a side table and a platform for my feet. A lot of people knew to find me there when I wasn’t in class. It also allowed for easy access to hot water (for my cups of tea), as well being able to stick around until the last minute to get to class. I chatted with people in the Lounge, and was one of the first to grab the free food that came by after corporate or club presentations.
This year, things have changed. I am no longer a frequent presence in the Master’s Lounge. In fact, I rarely even stop by. I could blame the fact that the first years have taken it over, that my class schedule doesn’t require me coming into school until later in the day, that I now walk to and from school instead of relying on my partner to pick me up after work (which required me waiting until he was finished). I could even point the finger at the fact that a half of my classes are in the school of Computer Science (due to track-specific courses being cross-listed with SCS). But the real reason is actually quite arbitrary: Posner Hall has become an icebox.
Someone, somewhere, decided that 62F was the perfect temperature for a building to be at. Last year, the rooms were adjustable with their own thermostats, but it’s not the case this year. I start shivering as soon as I step through the great glass doors. The classrooms, it seems, don’t suffer as much, but the Master’s Lounge collects all the cold air!
Fed up with needing to put on eight layers just to be in that one room, I went wandering around campus to find a suitable place to spend a couple of hours. I found it almost by accident.
The Gates Center, which is the newest building on campus, is very accommodating. I walk through it on my way to my Track-specific classes. Driven by curiosity, I explored the center and found my new hangout – it’s a lunchroom/lounge with plush seating, well-stocked coffee bar, an outdoor patio, outlets galore, quiet students, AND more importantly, a 72F temperature.
