The Faces of my Workspaces

Before Covid-19, I was someone who tried to avoid working at home as much as possible. I had a hard time focusing in the place I associated with relaxing, so I spent many hours in public libraries, coffee shops, and UVic’s McPherson library.

These days that’s not so easy. The whole point of UVic being online is to stay home and minimize the spread of Covid-19 as much as possible. I fully understand and support this, so I learned a skill that’s important for a student: adaptability.

I thought having a dedicated workspace in my house would solve my problem: somewhere I could lay out all my books, calendars, and sticky note reminders without having to worry about moving them a couple hours later. But again, things changed and adaptability is important.

Throughout the fall semester, I’ve found that I actually work better when I shift my work environment and don’t stay sitting in the same seat day at the same table day after day.

I decided to document this journey during first semester here:

My Bedroom

For Zoom calls when my family is home I usually head upstairs to my bedroom so I won’t be interrupted, especially when I’m going to be talking and having my camera on.

I usually use this desk as a vanity and a place to hold my extra books when I’m not using them, but it’s cleared off for these purposes.

In this photo, I was preparing to do a presentation for my journalism class, so I have my notes set up beside where I’ll be on camera.

On Vacation

The weekend before reading break, my family and I took a trip to Saltspring Island (pre Covid-19 lockdown measures).

We stayed in a cozy log cabin, and the sunsets were beautiful as you can see.

I still had some assignments to finish up on this weekend, but I didn’t mind because the new workspace was a nice change of pace.

Dining Room

Then I moved to the dining room table which worked well for me because I like to spread out my books and papers.

I work best when I have all my visuals out in front of me at once.

Here I was finishing my leftovers from Pagliacci’s for lunch and doing readings for my English class.

Displaced from Kitchen Renovation

The dining room table worked great until my house became a construction site.

About halfway through the semester, my family decided to renovate our kitchen which involved ripping up flooring, turning my dining room study space into the coffee maker and toaster station, and putting our stove in the middle of where the dining room used to be.

For a little while I moved my workspace to my mom’s desk. I loved the natural light here but it didn’t last long — it was my mom’s workstation and unfortunately not mine.

The Beach

When I was assigned Beloved by Toni Morrison to read for my English American Literature class, I decided to take my reading to Esquimalt Lagoon.

Although it was cold and rainy outside, even sitting in my car and listening to the ocean was a perfect way to get lost in a good book. I even ended up finishing over 100 pages while I was there!

Photos by Maddy Morrison