We miss you UoL campus: An ode to our favourite buildings

With UoL now announcing that all teaching will be online till the end of October, it may be longer than we anticipated until we’re crying walking out of the SJ library or stopping off at the Sphinx for a post-lecture pint.

If like me, you’re missing all of the pretty and sometimes ugly buildings that our campus has to offer, then look no further. Here we have created a list of all of our favourite parts of campus that can be viewed from a safe distance inside your home.

University Square

The main backdrop for all dissertation and graduation pics. On the rare day it’s not raining, the view of the Victoria building is enough to slightly improve your mood, that or the Greggs which is about 10 metres down the road. The main square provides enough Insta-worthiness for any UoL related post, so it’s only fitting that it should be the first place on our list.

The SJ Library

Arguably the best of the two UoL libraries, the Sydney Jones library, despite all it has to offer, doesn’t look the prettiest from the outside. Exteriors aside, it’s what’s inside that matters. Now that the libraries work on a booking only system, it’s easy to miss the long nights spent cramped at a desk in the quiet study area desperately trying to get assignments in on time with the ‘study breaks’ that lasted longer than the actual studying. Despite all the sadness, we’re feeling about not having the library open 24 hours a day, the absolute carnage that unfolds inside during exam season, with everyone desperately trying to find a desk will gladly remain a distant memory.

 

Abercrombie Square

Now that we’re all stuck inside for the next few months, running past Abercrombie Square to make it to your seminar feels a million years away, despite us always taking the view for granted in the panic of arriving at your 9am on time, the big open space made perfect room for a leisurely sit down between lectures or for when sitting in your box room became too much to handle.

Central Teaching Hub

After living in Crown in first year, I feel like I have a particular dislike for huge grey building that was my primary view for the duration. Despite how unattractive it was to look at, the fact that lectures were literally a minute away is enough for anybody to feel reminiscent of.

 

Starbucks

The home of sitting with all of your books out, coffee at the table and getting absolutely zero work done. Now that the Starbucks in the Guild is take-out only, procrastinating for hours on end with the same empty coffee cup discarded on the table isn’t possible for the time being, sure coffee shops are still open but they’re just not as fun without the academic pressure from your empty notebooks staring back at you.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIueJfeDn_A/

 

The School of Law building

I mean, you have to feel sorry for the people behind the renovation of this building, now that all teaching is online and no ones allowed to go inside. For those two months, it was actually open, the ultra-modern study spaces slightly helped relieve the stress that is being a law student, even if it was just from not having to fight for a desk in the SJ library.

 

The Quadrangle

For all those lucky people doing a BSc, walking through the Quadrangle was a daily occurrence, even if the view was clouded by the stress of the fact you’re doing a science-based degree. Like university square, on a rare day when it’s sunny, the view is actually alright and something to flex on your Insta story. Hopefully one day soon you’ll be back walking through to your lecture still not appreciating any of it.

 

The Guild/Student Union

Even though, technically this is still open, the novelty of the £2 pint in the Sphinx is a thing of the past now all drinking has to be accompanied by a proper meal. The Guild really did have it all, from the Monday night quiz to the freshers’ fair which is basically a completion to see how many free slices of dominos you can steal, hopefully, this will resume some point in the near future, purely because no student can actually afford a Domino’s normally.

 

Greggs

Even if this isn’t actually a UoL building, the long queue outside Gregg’s on a Friday lunchtime is greatly missed. Nothing could cure a delayed hangover quite like finally reaching the front of the queue to realise you only had 10 minutes till your next lecture. Sure Greggs is still open but the panic of having to run across campus clutching your vegan sausage roll really adds to the overall experience.

These buildings are pretty and missed and all, but nothing beats being able to wake up just a few minutes before a Zoom lecture. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose.

Want to write for The Tab Liverpool? DM us on our Instagram today!

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Crowds gather in Liverpool City Centre for anti-mask protest

• The best and worst chefs of Smithdown: October edition

• Find Lockdown Love with The Tab Liverpool