The door is so nondescript you probably missed it when you walked by. (It took me a year to find.) Or if you’ve been inside, you didn’t realize it had a name. (I can’t remember how I first learned it.) For the uninformed, the tiny room to the right of the piano in the Forbes College lobby is called the Science Fiction Library, and it’s the best spot on campus.
I didn’t spend time in the library until my sophomore year. My friends and I needed a new hangout spot; we chose the Sci-Fi Library because of the cozy feel of its bookcases, the comfy chairs, and the large television. I fell in love with the tall, bright window looking out at the Graduate College’s Cleveland Tower, the tiny paper cranes that magically appeared in corners of the bookshelves, and all the sci-fi and fantasy paperbacks that I spent my high school years reading.
We used that little room for everything. The TV was great for movie nights, when we managed to fit 10 people on four seats to laugh through The Princess Bride together. It’s usually a quiet space, a requirement for the night I could no longer put off internship applications. Occasionally someone would play the piano outside, and we could all relax to music as we plowed through Milton for the next day’s precept. However, I think I love the room most because that’s where I spent the most important moments of my sophomore year.
More Favorite Places
Nikita Dutta GS, Tiger and Tigress, Adams Mall
Gabriel Fisher ’17, Atrium, Princeton University Art Museum
Jennifer Shyue ’17, Murray-Dodge Café
Emily Erdos ’19, Class of 1887 Boathouse
Nina Sheridan ’19, Public Table
Alexandra Markovich ’17, Track and Field Locker Room, Caldwell Field House
Matthew Silberman ’17, Common Room, Whitman College
Kevin Cheng ’17, Dante Room (East Pyne 111)
Mary Hui ’17, Cleveland Tower, Graduate College