Observation Field Assignment: Hawks Nest

In between classes, students begin to fill up Hawks Nest, the popular on-campus dining area that has multiple options for food. You can smell the aroma of Subway and Chick-fil-a as soon as 11 a.m. turns on the clock and Hawks Nest starts preparing for the routinely busy rush hour.

Industrial sounds, like metal beating against metal, are heard from the kitchen where workers are preparing the food in the back. Aramark workers switch out the food from breakfast to lunch, which will be ready for ordering and for grab-and-go. Other workers walk around the dining floors to wipe down the tables and sweep up the floors from breakfast messes. Brooms make a thud as they continuously come in contact with the broom pan when many workers are tidying up the sitting areas. This daily routine ensures that Hawks Nest is prepared for the mass of hungry students.

The doors that lead from outside squeak as they swing open, letting in an abundance of students at one time. People either head to Subway or to the main food court for lunch. Many students linger the sound of boots clicking as they hit the ground in a repetitive pattern. Some students bare the look of worry, assumingly to get lunch in enough time before class begins; others look around watchfully in search of meeting friends for a sit down lunch. Nearly every student that passes by carries a book bag on their back, which is packed full of the necessities for class.

The main area where all of the food options are located overflows with students that are trying to push their way through to whichever vendor catches their attention first. People then make their way to the seemingly never-ending lines at the registers. Once they have made it through checkout, students glance around in search for whomever they are meeting or for the best seat to enjoy lunch at. There’s a jangling sound of the spring when students push the button to get a spoon, fork or knife from the utensil dispensers before taking his or her seat.

Once people take a seat, chattering begins to blend in the many conversations that form at every table and it all meshes together to portray a sort of static. Keys clink as they’re tossed onto tables in the hurry to get to or unwrap their food. Aluminum cans clank as they pop open to wash down student’s lunches. Paper bags rattle and sound like the leaves outside crunching as people walk over them. Lunch is eaten simultaneously as conversations continue.

Other are glancing at their cell phones and making clicking sounds on their laptop’s keyboards. Lunchtime appears to be a multitasking hour among the students that chose to eat at Hawks Nest. Once people are done eating, bags start crunching one last time before students stand and toss them into the trashcans. Shoes click and clack against the tile floors and doors swoosh open again as student’s head back out of Hawks Nest.