by Angbeen Abbas
Welcome back to campus, assuming Omicron doesn’t fuck up this term! For most of us, Lent Term isn’t going to be easy. As things ramp up, you’re bound to start living on campus, drinking coffee by the litre, and hate-stalking people on LinkedIn while stressed. And so, I have compiled a list of 8 places for my favourite leisure activity: crying! Being at LSE is tough, and when you’re spending all your time here, you need to know where to run to when you’re feeling utterly shit.
- CBG basement bathrooms
If you go down the steps leading to the CBG basement, you’ll find some pretty spacious and quiet bathrooms that offer the most privacy you can get in the building. These are probably also the cleanest bathrooms across campus, and my personal go-to spot for when I’m Going Through It™️.
- The Library study rooms
These spaces are ideal for when you’re so busy being a girlboss that you have to start scheduling cry sessions. Book a room in advance, and you’ll have a space to yourself where you can let it all out in relative privacy. My personal recommendation? The third floor spaces.
- Fawcett House study cubicles
Apart from being a bit cramped, these cubicles on the third and fourth floors are a fairly standard, reliable space to go sit and have the space you need to yourself. They’re never too busy, and they give you just the privacy you need.
- NAB roof terrace
Everyone loves talking about the views from the roof terrace, and in my opinion, that makes it the second most scenic spot for a cry (the first being Shaw Library, but it’s disqualified from this list for being a ‘quiet space’). While it isn’t exactly the best place for privacy – if you face Kingsway as you sob, you can imagine yourself as the main character of a coming-of-age film set in London. You have to start romanticising your life!
- The Marshall Building, literally anywhere in there
If you need a reason for letting out a good, long, cry in public, you can just look around and think about how much of your tuition fees LSE must have spent on this building over, like, actual student wellbeing services.
- Tuns
Perhaps one of the less embarrassing things that can happen in Tuns on a night out is actually just sobbing into your drink. On a busy night, it’s always noisy enough that no one will really notice. And the best part is that you’ll have a slightly less drunk friend’s shoulder to cry on.
- Office hours with your favourite academic
The university experience isn’t complete without crying in front of an instructor/PGT/ academic mentor. When life becomes too much, there’s not a lot of places on campus that beat a small office while your academic of choice hands you tissues (which they probably keep around for situations like this). It’s okay I promise you, your instructor has definitely seen worse.
- Royal Courts of Justice Pret
Infinitely better than the Kingsway one: much prettier interiors and not too far from campus, but far enough that you’re not likely to run into people you know (like you would in Kingsway). The downside? Having to see KCL students.
