It's the second day of classes. You're just collecting syllabi and books galore. There may be a few readings, but you don't really have any work. You're in an optimistic daze, telling yourself that this semester, you're going to be on top of deadlines and your overall schedule.
And that's all well and good, but let's be serious—by some time next week, many of us are already going to start tearing our hair out. It's a fact of Columbia life that we be in an almost-constant state of elevated stress. And you know what? That's ok. We can hack it. We've done it before.
But what isn't ok is having part of that anxiety be over finding somewhere decent to study. Even during non-finals season, Butler proves for many to be a source of stress, not study solace. It's already a pretty miserable atmosphere—add limited seating, cutthroat outlet hunters, and questionable smells and it's downright dismal.
Don't worry, though. There are alternatives. There's no need to be a slave to Butler.
