Last Tuesday, the lowly 1Ls converged upon Lerner hall like an innocent flock of sheep brought to the slaughter.  We had our midterm mini-exam.   As the voice of the class of 2013, I felt compelled to investigate on how to prepare for exams based on my experiences.  I asked a couple of 1Ls in the hall what area of exam prep they would like some in-depth reporting on, and they replied that: 1) they weren't 1Ls; 2) I was stupid; and, 3) my time would be better spent doing my own studying.  So I went back to a time tested method of polling the thoughts and feelings of my compatriots - I asked the three people who sit behind me in Criminal Law.  They gave a wealth of suggestions on what to look into, including outline formats, time management, study group tactics, etc.  Yet, I feel compelled to give the people what they really want, and so today I want to share with you the best places to nap in and around the law school.

If you only study at home, the rest of this article is most likely not for you, otherwise, it really is the info that everyone needs.  It is my understanding that around exam time, everyone slightly becomes zombies and many live in the law school for twelve hours a day or more.   If you are one of those living dead, read on to find the perfect spot for that thirty-minute cat-nap.

The first place I tried was the soft lounge, for no other reason than it contained the word soft.  This was effective for me, but it can tend to be noisy in there during the day, and others might get irritated if you lie down across a whole couch by yourself.  So if it is early in the morning or late in the afternoon/evening, this might be your spot.  Next time I felt tired I moseyed on over to try the hard lounge.  It was kinda like the soft lounge, except without the soft. Looking back, this should have been obvious to me.

The biggest problem with the lounges was the noise, so I immediately set out to find somewhere quiet.  My mind immediately turned to that place with a lot of books, you know, Barnes and Noble on M Street.  This didn't work as expected because Mel, the busboy at the café woke me up and told me some guy had taken the hot chocolate I had left on my table.  I wouldn't recommend sleeping there.  In search of another quiet place with books and more security, I went to the Library and found all kinds of napping options.  One of the librarians then came up to me mid-snooze and started talking.  In my half-awake daze, I said "shhh, this is a library" to which the librarian replied "get out, this is my office."  I wouldn't recommend trying that: The librarian got kind of mad.

This doesn't mean the library isn't a great spot.  If you take the elevator down as far as you can, you might end up in the bottom of the library. (If you can't tell, I like bolding words, for emphasis, it really makes me feel like what I'm writing is important.) The lower stacks of the library are some of the quieter places I've ever been, and a great spot for a nap if you don't mind sleeping in a chair/desk combo.  Coincidentally, this is a great place to study, so you could knock out both proverbial birds with one stone.  For those who refuse to plumb the depths of our law school, there are more options.  You can nap on the patio, which is like the hard lounge, but with weather.  For the more outdoorsy types, you can catch a nap in the quad area, under some bushes.  This will provide cover, but will probably be chilly in the exam month of December.

I found Room L202 to be particularly nap-friendly during mid-day because the sun warms you up. Unfortunately, many classes take place there, and professors don't seem to care that you're not in the class; it is still not okay to nap.  Other classrooms will probably have similar problems.  The Second Floor Reading Room solves many of these problems.  It is quiet, has no classes, no (as far as I know) adult supervision and the only one who minded me napping is the guy whose shoulder I fell asleep on.

So there you have it, it seems the Soft Lounge, Library Basement, and Second Floor Reading Room, might be the best spots to nap, depending on your preferences.  I hope this information is useful to you later on when studying for exams.  I don't think it helped me too much for my midterm.  I spent most of my study time trying to nap in different places, so I wouldn't recommend doing that.  Maybe I should have done the research on time management.