12.10, Alnarpsgården, Pause Room: What do you have? Lasagna? It smells delish, maybe I will cook that tonight! Thanks for the hint.
In Alnarp, we have common pause or lunch rooms where you can sit, eat and heat up your food. Equipped with dozens of microwaves, a coffee and vending machine, fridge, sinks, kitchen counter – it’s not like a high school canteen. I would call it a lunch hub.
According to its name, the usual routine is that all students gather there at around 12 and it becomes far more crowded than any other lecture halls or classrooms. Everyone rushes to the fridge, takes out its plastic food box (which all carefully squeezed in there in the morning) and tries to catch a free microwave. The resourceful students never have to wait, but the majority of the people always end up in a long-long queue. In good weather you can combine eating with being outside in the courtyard and fetching vitamin D, in a cold grey day, you can just simply socialize with your classmates at the lunch tables.
Besides the always nice company and practical equipment I also prefer to eat there because of the room itself. I especially like how they preserved the character of the former barn in this premises of the main building (apart from the library, my ultimate fave). The old features like the high ceiling, the wooden beams and the fodder storing structure, and how they introduced the modern with the industrial style of the visible pipelines and the white paint.
There is only one drawback about the concept of the lunch hub which is the smell. The concentrated smell of all dishes heated up. So if someone brings something intense, the whole room has that special scent.
Anyways, I like it that can cook or prepare food in advance in order to consume it there or just take your leftovers from last dinner. It is a simple and cheap way to get warm food in your stomach. But if you don’t have the feeling for being a star chef when getting home after a strictly scheduled day, there is an option – the restaurant in the arboretum can save you from starvation or from being uncreative what to cook. By grabbing a sandwich or a menu what you can even take away… and eat in the common room!
Besides the rush between 12-13, there are some other functions of the room too. Most of the time the space and the microwaves stands empty and quite. So it becomes a suitable spot for a study circle, a group work or just a short contemplation on the couch (yes, couch). Once we even had a class randomly designated there.
So pack your lunch and queue in! 😉