How to build a nest
As much as we try to strike work-life balances, the truth is that work becomes easier when your office is like a home. Many of us call Noble Hall our office-homes; here are some ways our neighbors have made their offices pleasant spaces to work.
The hallway is usually bustling with activity, and office doors often stay open. However, that doesn’t mean your personality has to remain inside – you can fill your bulletin boards with comics, or a poster you designed distilling your research into its essentials:
Stier lab folks explain why their work matters with a useful infographic (left). 2125 is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room (right).
Once you’re inside, decorate your walls! Ours are stark white, but can be easily dressed up with postcards, magazine clippings, posters, or even old calendar artwork.
Arrange your postcards in a random yet organized manner for that #aesthetic. Arrange your hag stones for that #witchyvibe
Your desk doesn’t have to be devoid of personal items for you to work. As above, you can use treasures from the ocean to remind yourself why you came to grad school in the first place, or have plants to bring some green into your life.
Tatum Katz of the Briggs lab has some plants on her desk shelf (left) along with some seminal texts in theoretical ecology (right) and the distressed students response protocol #requiredreading
Our offices are usually packed to capacty of four or even five people sharing a space, but you can usually find an empty corner for a couch, a coffee/tea table, a minifridge, a microwave, and a small pantry.
2125 is colloquially known as the “Victorian tea shoppe” (left), 2127 has a straight up kitchen (right).
Lastly, your office is made complete with a surfboard corner. Lean in to the UCSB life.
Wavestorms are perfectly good beginner surfboards!
Hopefully these tips are helpful for you to start nesting in your own office. And remember: when the funding situation gets dire, you can always rent your newly furnished office on Air BnB.
