Five Senses of the ZSR Starbucks

It’s Black and Gold Friday in the Parent Programs office – and, we hope, with your family as well.  We encourage you to dress in black and gold colors or in WFU apparel every Friday to show your school spirit.  And because it’s Friday, we send you the reminder to talk to your students sometime today; if you forget why, here’s the reason.

Your students woke up today to this (see picture at right).  Overcast, needle-fine drizzle.  It’s not cold but not hot either.  Just sort of an icky day weatherwise.   The Daily Deac hadn’t done a Five Senses in a while, so this morning I strolled over to the ZSR Library and after taking a look around the stacks and the atrium (and seeing not a ton of activity), I decided to perch myself in Starbucks.

Here’s your Five Senses of ZSR Starbucks, 8:40-9:05 am.

I see…

–   all but two downstairs tables are occupied.

– one of my advisees.  Later, a second one comes in.  One of the two stops to chat with me, and I am happy to hear this advisee self-reports doing well in two difficult classes.

– all of the people seated downstairs are women, save one guy.

– lots of workout gear, sneakers, and rainjackets.  I’d say 90% of the female students are dressed on the grungy side.  I don’t mean unclean – they all look good – just very casual tshirts and exercise pants.

– one young woman in a very bright shirt-and-scarf combination.  The colors are very becoming on her.

– some guys finally trickling into the line to order.  Still, I see only one other guy that’s taken a seat downstairs.

– a girl in a cute dress.  Later I see a couple of girls come in jeans and dressier shirts.  I am starting to suspect that the workout clothes I am seeing are from women who have already been out and exercising and are grabbing coffee post-workout.

– surprisingly few ZSR staff in line.  They must have come prior to my arrival.

– two tables have students with open laptops.

– most guys dressed pretty casually.  One guy has a great pair of nautical looking shorts that I want to compliment but don’t.

– the line growing longer as it gets closer to 8:50 and people are trying to get to 9 am classes.

– a couple of people in earbuds as they walk through toward the exit.

– baristas filling empty milk gallons with steam to clean them out; presumably they will squash them to make the containers smaller for recycling.

– a tall, thin student holding his phone high.  Can’t tell if he is checking messages at an oddly high angle or taking a selfie.

– lots of splashes of hot pink as accessories on women – scarves, backpacks, coats, water bottles.

– one of my favorite baristas and one of my favorite managers.  They always knew my drink order and I loved being a regular.

 

I hear…

– the crackle of Starbuck’s pastry bags as they are being opened.

– ice cubes hitting the bottom of the plastic drink blender.

– the ssssfffffffttttttt sound of the coffee steamer being used.

– bits and pieces of conversation; occasional laughter; one student talking about the various counties near his hometown up north.

– the clickety-clickety of a girl’s fingers on her laptop as she types.

– laughter of a girl who is retelling a story about something that happened at lunch.  I can only hear snippets.

– the loud and metallic CLINK of the door as it latches as people walk out of it and leave it to close on its own.

– a long and lingering squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak from the door in the back of Starbucks.  It needs oil or something.

– people greeting each other as they see friends in line or at tables.

– a nasal and tired sounding female voice telling her male companion “because I have a test in an HOUR!”

– the scrape of the wooden chairs across the tile floor as people sit down and scoot the chair in.

– soft and jazzy music.  I try to use the Shazam app to tell me what it is, but there is too much background noise.  It is reminiscent of Sade, but it isn’t her.

– favorite barista telling people “have a good day, baby!” as they get their drinks.  I swear, stuff like that always made my day as a student.

– same person telling students to watch out for the rain, because it’s ‘sick weather’ and they need to stay healthy.

 

I feel…

– hot.  I just hoofed it across campus and had to drop something off on the 8th floor of the library.  Heroically, I took the steps for exercise, and now I am sweaty.

– a merciful cool breeze as students walk by me on the way in or out of Starbucks. This does not happen nearly enough.

– another breeze (THANK YOU!)

 

I smell…

– coffee.  When I first arrive, it just smells like the generic Starbucks coffee smell.

– a much stronger smell of coffee as I am about to leave.  There have been a lot more students arriving the closer it gets to 9, and it smells like they have just opened a lot more bags of coffee.  (Strangely, I never heard them grind any, but there was definitely a stronger smell).

 

[No taste this time – I was too hot to drink a coffee]

 

There’s your Five Senses on a Friday morning.  I actually have a bonus Five Senses from another location, as well as some other pictures of campus, but since this post is long enough I’ll leave that as a teaser and bring it to you on Monday.

I took this shot of the ZSR hallway as I exited.  There are a ton of places all over campus where they have these kinds of handouts.  Have a great weekend, Deac families!