Economics and Espresso (Passion #1 Spring 2018)

All of my friends know I’m one of the most indecisive people out there.  When it comes time to choose a location for dinner, a Society of Women Engineers event to sign up for, or a weekend activity to enjoy, they know consulting with me proves useless.  Resultantly, such tentative tendencies emerged as I created my schedule for the spring semester.

Initially, my Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays began at 8:00am with CHEM112, followed by MATH251 (which meets Thursdays as well) and EDSGN100H.  My Tuesday, Thursday classes would be ECON102, ENGL138T (indisputably the best course of my spring semester!), and MUS080.  However, I ended up changing the times of a few courses, putting myself on 4 waitlists, signing up for 4 different math courses (all of which satisfy my major), and swapping a few classes (including BIOL141 and MUS004).

After various aforementioned revisions, my schedule boasted two large differences: enrolling in MATH220 instead of CHEM112, and moving ECON102 to Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:00-5:15.  While the idea of a light Friday seemed amazing at the time, my lack of stamina never occurred to me regarding other days of the week.  I wouldn’t classify myself as either a “morning person” or “night owl,” but it turns out I am not the greatest at trying to be both.

 

On the first day of classes, I stopped by the HUB Starbucks on the way to the first of my math classes.  My Iced Blonde Americano quickly awoke me and the caffeinating effects kept me focused until the end of my Engineering Design class, which let out at noon.  Then, I returned to my dorm, watched some Netflix, and read a book until it was time to leave for Economics.  It wasn’t until I sat down in 010 Sparks that sleep began luring me in.  In order to remain attentive and engaged in that class, another caffeine fix was a must!

On Wednesday, I set about finding a location for coffee before that class.  Since I chose to practice my flute around 3:00, I cut through the library on my way to Sparks.  As I passed the Knowledge Commons, I remembered some friends of mine mentioning how much they enjoyed MacKinnon’s Cafe, especially during finals week.  Therefore, I set about searching for it, but landed myself in various areas of the Pattee Stacks along the way.  Following 10 minutes of fruitless searching, dead ends, and unusual elevators, I found the cafe.

Housed in the basement of Pattee Library, McKinnon’s Cafe serves myriad basic Starbucks beverages, pastries, and sandwiches.  Additionally, they offer limited seating and the ability to purchase items with meal points.  Since I had about half an hour free, I ordered a caramel iced coffee and a chocolate chip muffin to enjoy while documenting my assignments for the next few days.  After enjoying my consumables and observing the overall atmosphere of the cafe, the only word which really comes to mind is “fine.”  The service proved satisfactory, my coffee tasted much like it would at Starbucks, the muffin paralleled your average processed bakery treat, and the ambience served as acceptable.  The seating area tended to be on the noisier side (very likely since the vast majority of the library is not), tables were quite close together, and the lighting was not the greatest

While I was not amazed by my experience at McKinnon’s Cafe, the coffee shop serves as a suitable option for an iced coffee to-go in the near future.  Its convenient location and recognition of a campus dining plan serve as all I really need in order to be satisfied with a takeaway purchase at Penn State.

1 Comment on Economics and Espresso (Passion #1 Spring 2018)

  1. lzn5110
    January 20, 2018 at 11:33 pm (6 years ago)

    First of all, thank you for informing me that McKinnon’s Cafe even exists. I had no idea that there was a coffee shop in Pattee Library and as a fellow coffee lover I will definitely be going there in the future.
    I really like how you started the post talking about yourself, and how you worked the coffee shop review into the story of your day. It made the post feel a lot more personal, less like a restaurant review on Yelp and more like a conversation with a friend. I also like how readable your post is — it flows very well, the vocabulary is varied, and it holds the reader’s attention until the end.
    I think that you could have expanded a little more on the “coffee-shop review” part of the post. Any additional descriptive details or funny observations about the people working behind the counter or the other people at the cafe or even the art on the walls would help continue the anecdotal tone of the first part of your post. Plus, who doesn’t like to people-watch?

    Reply

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