Ethnography

Ethnography

October 19, 2014

Immaturity

I woke up late today so I was not able to eat anything for breakfast. I know how important breakfast is since it is the first meal of the day; however, I was not worried since I was on my way to the cafeteria. I hate having to spend money on food that I do not enjoy, but I have heard that skipping breakfast is like trying to run a car with no fuel. 

As I walked into the cafeteria I noticed it was a little more packed than on my previous visits. As usual most of the people were working on homeworks or studying, others were just enjoying a meal while looking a their phone. There was something different this time; there seemed to be a lot more conversations going on than ever before. As I took a seat I was trying to decide which group of people to observe first, but it was a hard decision to make since there was so many people this time. 

I sat my things down instead, and went to go get something to eat while I decided which group of people looked more interesting. My attention was then caught by this one group who kept laughing constantly. It was a group of three girls and two guys. There was one voice that stood out from the group, It was one of the guys. It was almost like he was telling joke after joke because the others would laugh at everything he would say. I noticed that his voice was not only the loudest in that particular group, but in the whole cafeteria. I was able to listen to some of the things he was saying, and it was all silly and very immature. His conversation began to annoy me, so I decided to observe another group. 

I saw a group of three guys that looked very studious. They were all doing school work, and did not say much. I had gone from observing the loudest group of people in the cafeteria to the quietest one. The three of them looked like drones, typing into their laptops with no gestures or emotions. I started to doubt if they even knew each other, but then one of them turned off his laptop and started talking to the guy on his right. I tried to eavesdrop and listen to what they were saying, but as much as I tried, the only voice I could hear was the one of the moron I talked about earlier. I seriously could not understand how the others could find his conversation so amusing. It got to the point that I could not even stand the girls' laugh. I knew I was not the only one that was annoyed by this group. I saw how others kept staring at them while they were trying to study, just waiting for them to be quiet. 

I tried to observe other groups, but I simply could not concentrate. Just when I was about to give up, I saw the group that was being loud and irritating get up and leave. The cafeteria felt very quiet and peaceful now even though there were a lot of conversations still going on. I continued to observe the group of three guys and by the time the three of them were done with their work I was done with my meal. The three of them had shut down their laptops and were now just having a quiet conversation. The cafeteria then started emptying. I looked at my phone and realized it was time for me to go to class, so I picked up my things, threw away my trash, and left.

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