At 11:45 p.m., the lights in Van Pelt Library go off for 10 seconds. If you sit outside on the benches and watch, the window slits flicker off floor by floor, leaving Van Pelt in temporary shadows. If you're inside, chances are you're gathering your belongings from a private study carrel and hauling ass Penn Relays-style to the basement. It is time -- as they say -- for Rosenparty.
Rosenparty has no invitations, no dress code and no cake. It is not a celebration, especially during reading days. It is a place where the procrastinators sip Red Bull like fine liquor, where circadian rhythms are thrown off quicker than a stripper's clothes at Wizzards and where there are no Office of Health Education posters reminding you to maintain normal bodily functions. That would be cruel.
When The New York Times reported a year ago today that a homeless student had spent eight months living in the NYU library, the media went wild. How could a student spend that much time in a library? Didn't anyone notice?
Obviously, the media have never spent a considerable amount of time in Rosengarten during reading days. They would quickly realize that everyone is in his own little world. People bring their own pillows. They set up reading lamps, coffee pots and suitcases full of books. It is unusual not to see students sleeping on chairs. If someone decided to move in, no one would ever know, aside from the possible body odor. Even then, you could probably soap up in one of those fancy urinals.
I decided to check myself into Van Pelt for 24 hours last Sunday, the way that some people check themselves into a clinic. I needed the lack of diversions in order to catch up on some Jane Austen reading, and I thought Van Pelt would be desolate enough to keep my short attention span in line.
After all, spending even a small amount of time in Van Pelt is a lot like prison. The food at Mark's Cafe is bland, you can barely see out the windows and you're practically given a full-body pat-down every time you leave. Reading Emma should have been a piece of cake.
But spending considerable amounts of time in Rosengarten is anything but boring. Wharton junior Adam Wyden calls the atmosphere "quasi-cultish." Wyden and his friends don't just go there to study at night. They go to be seen.
Studying in the library on a Sunday night is like seeing a who's who at Penn. And it is one of the few places on campus where socioeconomic status is meaningless -- because everyone in Rosengarten at 3:30 on a Sunday morning is screwed, whether they're wearing Old Navy or Versace.
Around 3:30 is the time when people crack. "Right around 3 in the morning I saw people breaking down all around me -- it was a madhouse," College senior Sahang-Hee Hahn said. "I saw a guy take out all of the cushions from the couch and he was sleeping right in the middle of the library floor."
It didn't take until 3:30 for me to crack. It happened around 11:30 p.m. A tip: Never wear noise-reducing headphones in Rosengarten when your cell phone plays "It's a Small World" and you're waiting for a cookie order. When you finally figure out that everyone's staring at you and laughing, it will be difficult to keep a straight face and study for the rest of the night.
Wharton sophomore Brett Thalmann, who was studying political science, finds it difficult to study for other reasons. "I've been the victim of the mad rush to relocate to Rosengarten at midnight," he said. "Now I plan ahead and get here early to get a seat." Unfortunately, there are far more students circulating like vultures for an available laptop plug than there are tables and ports. That's just wrong.
Rosenparty shouldn't be the most exclusive party on campus on Sunday nights. Penn needs to add additional late night study space in the library during reading days, so that students can spend more time studying and less time looking for a place to study.
When I left Rosengarten, the middle of the night had already passed. And as I watched the sun rise, I hoped that after studying all night, I would, too (especially Jane Austen!).
Melody Joy Kramer is a junior English major from Cherry Hill, N.J. Perpendicular Harmony appears on Wednesdays.
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