And now a word from Dr. Bow

Guest post graciously provided by Dr. Bow. Please support her by checking out her blog at the very bottom!

So this past Fall, I had a unique opportunity presented to me. I had just come back from TLoTH and had a 3 month period that I needed to live in A² Town before I left for South Africa for 5 months. It's really hard to find a short term lease and my parents only live 2.5 hours from A² Town...  and I had a ton of work to get done as I was finishing up my thesis... so I did what every ridiculously poor student thinks about doing at some point ... I lived in my office.

Like literally lived in my office. I used a refrigerator down the hall to store food and cooked all my meals out of a microwave. I showered in the rec center 3/4 of a mile away every night. I had a sleeping pad and sleeping bag I kept in the office along with a pillow and a suitcase full of clothes. I share my office with 7 other people, so it took some finessing and schedule arranging to make it work. I also slept on friends' couches for periods of time when I needed a shower or a break from living where I worked.

Here's my Top 5 Pros and Top 5 Cons that I found come with living in your office. 

Top 5 Pros:

1. Obviously you save a ton of money on Rent. 

2. You get a ton of work done. I would wake up around 7 AM (nothing like fear of your office mates finding you in your pajamas drooling on your pillow to wake you up early!) and immediately start working. My work day usually ended around 10 PM and had a 0 minute commute. It was ridiculously efficient to live in my office; I was able to write 3 papers this Fall, travel to 3 conferences (1 in another country), job interview in West Virginia, and recruit in Boulder. This is not a reasonable amount of work for a graduate student, but living in my office provided this opportunity. 

3. People find it fascinating. I swear, people looked at me differently once I started sleeping in the office, and in a good way. Sure, they questioned my sanity, but I also started getting this gleam of respect. Like I was clearly so committed to my work that I would do anything (i.e. live out of the office) to get it done. Huh. 

4. You can always find your advisor because, you know, you live there. 

5. You can get used to anything, and getting used to sleeping in the office is a super power. If you can work where you sleep, that's like the definition of efficiency. This is a powerful feeling, and I know I was proud of myself for doing this. 

OK, now the real fun... the 5 Cons:

1. Yeah all that money you saved on rent? You spend that on eating out when you know, you're sick of eating out of the microwave. As someone who normally cooks her meals in bulk at home, I spent a ton of money on prepared food this semester. Came out in the black, but not by a large margin. 

2. Dating? Yeah, that's not going to happen when you sleep on the floor of your office. Not a great pick up line. I guess it's a good way to find a bed for the night though. But if you're in a long term relationship, married, or want to date someone, you should not try living in your office. 

3. Your peers judge you. You become the graduate student that no one wants to be, and your peers will let you know that they think there is something wrong with you. You're setting a high (re: low standards) bar for everyone in the office, and no one likes that. 

4. Everyone pities you. Despite the fact that you're happy and people seem to respect you more, everyone will try to mother you and will openly worry about you. It's partly because you're skin looks like it's falling off your face and your hair always looks a bit greasy (comes with the territory), and if you're in the 20s and sleeping in the office, you've made some questionable life decisions leading you to that point. 

5. Floors are not comfortable. Do not delude yourself into thinking otherwise; I only slept well because I was so exhausted after working all day and sleeping only 5 hours a night. Mmm. 

Ah, and here's a bonus: A Thing That Surprised Me

1. My officemates were surprisingly OK with me obviously living in the office and hanging my towel on the coat rack. It did help that I would do essentially 1 week in the office, 1 week on the road or at my parents. I had no negative encounters or early morning surprises (only 1 close call!). 

So, is it something you can do? Sure! Do I recommend it? I mean it, it's definitely fun for a bit, but keep it to about 10 days tops. Past that, people are really going to judge you. 

Also a shameless plug: This is a link to the blog I keep on little adventures like sleeping in the office and other shennigans :) - check it out if you have time: Dr. Bow’s Blog And here is a recent picture from her adventures in South Africa:

*Sara's edit* And none of my blogs are complete without a video so here goes. The textures in this video are amazing!