©HAWKEYE image credit: Seras Bryner

🏆 Seras’ Top Photo: February🏆

Juniors Seble Daniel and Elliot Orange portrayed an engaged couple in the drama program’s showing of Almost Maine

Life is hard. School, is sometimes even harder. But you know what never fails to make your day brighter? A treat. More specifically, a sweet treat.
Especially around finals, students need to study. Some study at school, some at home, but some prefer places like cafes. Take me for example, I desperately needed to study for my Algebra 2 final, but I didn’t want to stay in this cement building for any longer than I needed to, and if I went home, I would’ve fallen asleep before I even opened my notebook. Because of this unfortunate predicament I found myself studying at a cafe.
While it’s not the cheapest studying habit, studying with a friend or two (or five) at a cafe is very effective.
As I’m writing this, finals have just ended and it’s the last day before the second semester. Last night, I went to Urban City Coffee with a few friends and studied for about an hour and a half before we got distracted. That being said, people get a lot more progress done when 1) with people they feel supported around, and 2) when there’s a type of reward system.
‘What makes cafes so great?’ you might ask. Well, think about this: You’re sitting in your room bored out of your mind and your dad just told you that you need to study because you have a test tomorrow – would you rather sit in your room and do exactly that but inevitably get exhausted and fall asleep at your desk OR go to the nearest cafe? Yeah, your dad might be upset with you for spending $6.50 on an iced matcha latte, but you deserve that treat! You made the effort to come to school and now you’re pulling yourself out of your cozy room to study! Out of all the things you could’ve done, you studied. (See what I mean? Reward system!)
Sorry, I didn’t mean to go into motivational speaker mode. But I’m not the only one who thinks this either! I surveyed students – DeMiero’s 4th-period class – and they agreed that boba and coffee are better than tea, and I think a sweet treat like that would be better than absolutely nothing. Anyway, Urban gets so busy sometimes, and it’s a small-ish place, so what are we supposed to do when we want to study but Urban is full!? I’m so glad you asked! There are so many options for cute places to study because even though you’re doing the same thing everywhere, your environment influences your mood a lot. A few free options could be studying at the public libraries or in the University of Washington library (By UW library, I mean the Suzzallo and Allen libraries) on a day that they’re open. The only real ‘downside’ to studying at UW is that you can’t connect to their WiFi unless you’re a student. It makes sense but is still a bit lame.
If you’re more interested in getting a few snacks or a sweet drink along with your study session, there are plenty of Caffe Ladro stores in the general area. Along with cafes, there are plenty of boba places nearby (Sharetea, Oasis Tea Zone, Ding Tea, Cafe Kleo, and Bobalust for example) that you could get together with your friends and study at!
Now, if you’re not a usual boba enjoyer and therefore don’t know what to get, don’t worry! I asked a group of teenagers (my friends) and we have our go-to orders as recommendations for you.
To start off, if you’re at a boba shop there are usually the options for fruit and milk tea, as well as slushies. For example, Op/Ed editor Lucas Barquin likes to get strawberry or taro milk tea. To add to the milk tea theme, junior Elio Isley said he likes to order wintermelon milk tea with lychee jelly! Next, junior and online manager Kaylee Miyamoto agrees that a classic black milk tea with boba pearls is always nice. As a last hurrah to the boba section of these recommendations, senior Owen Thorpe recommends taro ice blended tea with mango pudding, boba, and lychee jelly as toppings. But if you’re looking for something more specific, there are options like junior Ruth Asheber’s suggestion of an iced white mocha with caramel and sweet cold foam, or junior Ellery Garrett’s go-to order, a decaf iced vanilla latte. Not a coffee fan? Don’t worry! There are options for everyone. Senior Sarah Al Maiahi, along with many other readers (like myself) enjoy a simple matcha – iced or hot, based on your preference. With this, there’s also hot chocolate if you’re still enjoying the chocolatey taste just not the espresso part. And lastly, if you want an extra kick of caffeine, but are not a coffee fan, you can never go wrong with a lotus. A plus side of getting a lotus – you can add any syrup flavor you want!

Along with these drink recommendations, when at cafes people order much more than refreshing beverages. Snacks like almond croissants and banana bread are popular sweet treat options.
But if you’re looking for something more specific, there are options like junior Ruth Asheber’s suggestion of an iced white mocha with caramel and sweet cold foam, or junior Ellery Garrett’s go-to order, a decaf iced vanilla latte. Not a coffee fan? Don’t worry! There are options for everyone. Senior Sarah Al Maiahi, along with many other readers (like myself) enjoy a simple matcha – iced or hot, based on your preference. With this, there’s also hot chocolate if you’re still enjoying the chocolatey taste just not the espresso part. And lastly, if you want an extra kick of caffeine, but are not a coffee fan, you can never go wrong with a lotus. A plus side of getting a lotus – you can add any syrup flavor you want!

Is there a moral to this story? Not really. Actually – it wasn’t even really a story, more like an info dump about how much I love cafes. But I digress. With the new semester starting, remember to treat yourself while studying.

Your mental health is worth more than your grades, even if you spend a few dollars to get there.
With love, Terina