The lunchroom

The first week, everyone knows the significance of the lunchroom in those first few days. As you walk in on day one you don't even think of food, the only thing you think of is staking your claim. Finding the table that you and your friends will be residing for the rest of that year. The first day is always the fastest, people pour in to the room as everyone tries to spot the table that their friends have gathered around. Only after this is done and everyone is sitting do we stop and look around at what the lunch room actually looks like. The walls are plastered white as is the ceiling. Random posters placed around the room attempt to encourage students eat healthy add some color to the room, but are otherwise ignored. As one walks into the food line the color changes to a dusky brown, matching the railings leading to the dull silver hot plates that have been sitting there faithfully we came and will be there long after we are gone. Four television hang around the room, although they are rarely on its does add a dash more color against the plaster walls. A series of windows located on the far side of the room opens up the room, allowing sunlight and wind to pass through. The room continues to fill as more students enter until every seat is taken. Then the room comes alive, there are dozens of conversations at each table, the hustle and bustle of students leaving their seats is reminiscent of walking around a large city. After a few weeks everything settles in, tables have been "reserved" and every one knows where they sit and who they sit with. If someone was to draw a map of the lunch room at the end of the first week, complete with every student and where they were sitting. That map would be reasonably accurate for the remainder of the school year. After all of this hustling and bustling over seats people begin to inspect the food, each student has a different level of trust in the cafeteria's food. Some students will partake in everything from the custom made sandwiches, to the slightly dried out hamburgers while others have refuse the food entirely, bringing their own lunch each day. As the weeks go on the lunch room begins to have a more relaxed feel about it, people have settled into the rhythm of things. The once unassuming plaster walls and posters have developed an air of familiarity and conversations among friends are carried from day to day. People start to figure out the subtle timings of the room, the best time to arrive and the best time to leave. Eventually the apprehension that was felt on the first day becomes a mere memory. From there the room the room takes on a life of its own, becoming a place of comfort and reprieve from the studies of the day and a much preferred place then the classroom.