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For as long as I can remember, listening to music while studying has been my method of choice, so long as it’s classical music. I know not everyone feels this way. I’ve got a friend who hates classical music but can study while listening to hard rap, which would do nothing but distract me. Then there are the people who can’t listen to anything while studying, and need absolute silence to focus.

For me, though, theres something about classical music that grounds me; it allows me to get outside of my own head while also staying focused, finding a smooth rhythm as I write. One of my (possibly weird) secret pleasures is sitting in a café, headphones in, classical playlist on, the scent of coffee in the air as I type, aware of my surroundings yet blissfully absorbed in whatever it is I’m doing. Productivity like that isn’t easy to come by, but when you find it—sometimes unexpectedly—you have no choice but to run with it, to let it consume you. 

These days, I spend less and less time studying, as I move away from university and into full-time work. It’s possible that I might be gleaning my memories of studying through rose-coloured glasses, as all of the stress, the frustration, the early mornings and late nights begin to fade, leaving only the the good things: the soft piano, the scent of the coffee, the steady hum of a cafe on a Thursday afternoon. That’s what I’ll hold onto.