Ethnography

Ethnography

April 10, 2016

Sleepy Time

On the second floor of Corbett I find a seat against one of the walls to be able to easily watch people. A couple minutes after sitting down I see a girl who is passing a friend of hers. They don't seem to be very close because the way they say hi is awkward and it's followed by an awkward hug. It kind of makes me feel embarrassed for them. Once again I notice that many people are looking at their electronic devices. Being at a place on campus probably explains why I see so many electronic devices. In the background I hear classical piano music. There are two girls sitting to the left of me who are working on an assignment together. One of the girls has her laptop out looking up information for their assignment. From what I can hear one of the girls has some sort of accent. There is a group of four who are sitting across from me. To me it appears as if they are meeting for a class assignment because they don't seem as if they would be hanging out together if it wasn't for the assignment. The group consists of one guy and three girls. Two of the girls are Chinese. A guy just stopped to talk to one of the girls that is sitting to the left of me. I hear that his name is Patrick. He tells the girl that he had just went to see her new house which makes it clear that she has roommates. She tells Patrick that she's paying more money so it's more her house. He tells her "well at least you have the biggest bathroom." The next thing that I hear is her asking him if he's going to live with them, it would be cheaper and she's studious so it would be mostly quiet. That's about all I could hear and about thirty seconds later he tells the girl bye and leaves. The two girls then begin to talk about the new house. The girl that the house belongs to says that it's located near the mall, it's a four bedroom and that it's cute.  A girl sits in a chair to the right of me. She takes out her computer as if she's about to do some homework but then she turns her attention to her phone. After awhile she starts to mess with her computer.  She makes some noises as if she's frustrated. She's not completely focused on anything. She turns her attention back and forth between her computer and cellphone. As I sit here watching and listening to people, I notice myself getting sleepy which I assume that the classical music has something to do with it. No wonder there's a guy who's laying down asleep on one of the chairs. I notice that the group that's sitting across from me went from four people to three. The Chinese girls seems to be trying to explain something to the other two. By the looks on their faces they seem to be confused of having a hard time understanding what she's trying to say. It's kind of hard to hear what they are saying but it seems like she is trying to help them say something in her language. Maybe they are in a Chinese language class which would explain them meeting and her trying to help them. As I'm getting ready to leave, I notice a group of girls at the help desk who seem frustrated because they have been waiting to be helped. 

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