If you’re anything like me and find that you’re mostly unproductive at home due to the many distracting things on your study desk, or your gaming console and (non-academic) book always in reach to pull you away from actually getting work done, this is a blog post for you. I’m always in search for new study spots around Visby to get my work done, both by myself or together with my friends or group members. Changing up my study scenery easily boosts my productivity levels and helps me mentally separate “home time” and “study time”. Without further ado, here’s my list of favourite study spots around Visby!
Almedalsbiblioteket – The Library
The library is right next to Campus Gotland, so you can enter both from the street or through Campus. There are individual desks, shared tables, soft couches, and separate study rooms alike, where you can sit with your laptop and work with other students or focus by yourself. Café Foaje is also connected to the library, which means you can easily take a fika break or grab a sandwich if you feel the need to refuel.
Wifi: Yes – eduroam
Pros: The variability of study spots means there’s bound to be something that fits my mood, whether I’m studying alone or need to get group work done.
Cons: It’s a public library, so it can get noisy when there are groups of friends or children around. Luckily, the separate study rooms are always silent!
Productivity rating: 4/5
Study rooms on Campus
When I’m looking for a spot to work silently, or a place to gather with my group members and doodle ideas on a white board, I book a study room in the E Building. These rooms are all different in regards to size and furnishing, which either means I can change up my scenery with ease, or I get very disappointed if my favourite one is booked up. What they all have in common though, is a lovely view over Visby! There are microwaves too, so you can take some food with you if you’re planning to work longer. Bring your campus card to enter during weekends!
Wifi: Yes – eduroam
Pros: You can stay for as long as you need to. Even past 10PM on a weekend. I promise it doesn’t feel spooky, only your procrastination would haunt you.
Cons: The study rooms are often fully booked, so you’ll need to plan ahead from time to time. You can try to walk into an empty study room and stay until the person who booked it kindly asks you to leave, but you didn’t hear that tip from me.
Productivity rating: 5/5
Gather with Gamers in G Building
If you study Game Design, you can access the G Building with your Campus card. Alternatively, if you befriend a Game Design student, you can ask them nicely to let them into this secret lair of theirs. Here, you can almost always find Game Design students working on their projects or playing videogames together to escape from work. There’s even a kitchen, so you can warm up your food.
Wifi: Yes – eduroam
Pros: You can make new Game Design friends and play with board games you can find in this building, or sit together with your laptops to play something together. Wait, am I still writing a post about study spots?
Cons: There aren’t that many places to sit for silent individual work. On an even more tragic note, I can’t enter with my general Campus card, so visiting the building makes me “kinda sus”.
Productivity rating: 3/5
Espresso House
If you promise not to buy the last caramel cheesecake before I arrive, I can recommend studying in Espresso House by Östercentrum. It’s a cozy café where you can always expect to find a free table. You might get jealous of those who only come here to drink coffee, but you can find comfort in the fact that you deserve a cup as well for your hard work. It’s a public space, so the public will be here to chat and be noisy, but I’m usually not distracted by it.
Wifi: Yes – you can connect without a password
Pros: There are many plugs for your laptop. Also the caramel cheesecake is amazing.
Cons: Unfortunately, there is no natural sunlight here, except for that one table by the window. The lamps are great though.
Productivity rating: 4/5
H10 Café
If you wish for lots of sunlight in the early afternoon, bring your studies to H10. In this café, you can sit by the window and occasionally glance out to people coming and going along Hästgatan while you ponder over some new theoretical concepts or try to come up with a fun title for you essay. They even serve lunch here, if you’re in the mood.
Wifi: Yes – ask for password
Pros: Sitting by the window is lovely.
Cons: There’s not a lot of space on the tables, so I’d honestly just bring one book, or my laptop.
Productivity rating: 3/5
S:t Hans
This is a popular café because it has a back garden that’s situated amongst old church ruins. If you’d like to work with your study group, this is the best café to meet up in, because it has big tables that will fit all of you comfortably. When it’s warm out, you can even choose between studying indoors or outdoors. If you’re looking for a snack, the carrot cake is really tasty!
Wifi: Yes indoors – ask for password
Pros: Perfect for group work, and the candle-lit tables are extremely cozy!
Cons: It’s hard to predict how full the café is, sometimes it’s relatively empty and quiet, other times there’s a lot of people and it can get noisy.
Productivity rating: 3/5
Almedalen – The Park
There’s no better way to channel your inner main character energy than to take your book or laptop to the park. This one time on a sunny and warm day, I settled down on a picnic table in hopes of getting work done, and it was equally relaxing and distracting to study at Visby’s most famous pretty park.
Wifi: No
Pros: Ducks. You can’t possibly stress about studies when you’re surrounded by ducks!
Cons: Ducks. You can’t possibly focus fully on studying when you’re surrounded by ducks!
Productivity rating: 2/5
That wraps up the study spots I can recommend! Of course, as you settle into Visby and discover more places, you will soon have a mental note of your very own favourite spots where you can be productive both on your own and with a study group. There’s so many cozy cafés within Visby’s walls, and numerous comfortable tables along the halls of Campus. Good luck with your studies!
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