I will be the first to admit my raging coffee addiction.
By the end of last semester, I needed at least three large cups of dark roast to get me through the day. Although I’ve since cut back on my daily coffee dose, I’m still very groggy and unfocused if I’m not adequately caffeinated.
This inability to focus without caffeine is especially a problem when I, like so many other students, have to stay up late in order to meet my daily responsibilities. Inevitably, the fact that there isn’t any coffee on campus after 8 p.m. begins to severely impede upon my work ethic after a certain point in the night. The lack of coffee on campus after such an early hour (early by college student standards) is utterly inexplicable.
Of course, there are a few late-night coffee options off campus, but none of them are particularly convenient or practical. I’m not too fond of having to trek through Laurel Heights around midnight, hoping that I can find a seat at the 24-hour Starbucks, just so I can keep doing my homework or Foghorn assignment.
I know I’m not alone in this problem. If you go to any local place that’s open after the cafeteria closes and serves passable coffee, there is always at least one USF student seeking out a caffeine boost. The symptoms of this problem are very evident on campus, if you look around the library at night, there are a noticeable number of people either glancing despairingly at their emptied coffee cups or suppressing a yawn.
I have absolutely no explanation as to why USF insists on limiting the amount of coffee available on campus. Most students lead incredibly busy lives, trying to balance work, a social life and studying. It seems unreasonable to simply not have something that might help people get their responsibilities done, especially when Bon Appetite has the resources to provide students with coffee past 8 p.m.
The adverse effects of caffeine withdrawals are prone to striking at the latest hours—and at the least convenient times.
Anyone who has been even mildly dependent on caffeine (like me) can recall at least one time when they went too long without their fix and describe the crippling migraines and waves of nausea. Trying to complete assignments and battle the urge to just curl up and focus on not getting sick is an almost impossible battle, but one that is commonplace amongst college students. It’s frustrating to feel like I’m racing against my own dependency on coffee in order to get my homework done, but it’s even more aggravating to know that this problem could easily be fixed if Bon Appetite simply chose to make coffee available in the evening.
USF has at least two options in providing students with coffee; Outtakes, which is open late, and the coffee bar. Outtakes more than likely has the capacity to keep their already existing coffee machine running on a consistent basis, and the coffee bar can surely be kept open later. If the needs of students are held in high regard, why is something this basic being ignored?
Brew your own coffee.