The Glenn G. Bartle Library Information Commons: the fluorescent-lighted mecca that never sleeps. Well, at least during finals week.

It’s an interesting place to be after 1 a.m. The hustle and bustle ends, leaving only a few brave souls left to conquer the night. The question lingers: Who will make it to the morning?

I often find myself pulling ‘all-nighters’ in the Bartle Commons, sipping on some cold Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and staring at a blank Word document. Where I’d really like to be is the Hinman Night Owl ‘ stomach stuffed with pizza rolls, undercooked sugar cookies and alcohol following an outing on State Street.

But Bartle it is. It’s these last two weeks of school when all the essays and projects I should have been doing all semester come crashing down on me. And no matter how much I may promise myself, ‘I won’t put it off this time,’ I always find myself at a computer desk at 4 a.m.

If you thought the Information Commons was a scary place mid-day, just take a stroll in the land of computers when the sun goes down. The Commons during the day resembles an overcrowded and stuffy inferno, but at night it’s reminiscent of a cold zombie wasteland.

First of all, everyone gets a little weird. Maybe it’s the excess of sodium intake ‘ two bags of Cheetos and an Easy Mac from the vending machine. Or maybe it’s the excess of caffeine ‘ a Vault, coffee and/or a 5-Hour Energy.

Students are helplessly jittery, yet exhausted at the same time. Their eyes are red and glossy from the glare of the computer screen and general lack of sleep. Social interactions are usually futile; everyone is so engulfed in work that once he or she is forced to communicate, awkwardness ensues.

Stress levels are at dangerous levels. Cigarette breaks are aplenty and probably far too frequent. Even the usual non-smokers head to the sketchy crevices outside the library to bum off the regulars.

Facebook and online games provide means of distraction from the looming amount of work due the next day. This is also done far too frequently, pushing back productivity by hours. I curse the day they invented Facebook Chat ‘ the culprit of my procrastination and strife.

After 4 a.m., the weak have fallen asleep on their desks and numerous heads are buried in sweatshirts. At this point, even the information desk people have fled the scene.

With two hours until sunrise, it’s crunch time for those of us who have managed to stay up. Irritability reaches peak levels here, for a tapping of a pen can be heard from across the room.

People wearing headphones sometimes miss the fact that their Lady Gaga cell phone ringtone is going off over and over again in the otherwise silent room. My fellow night-crawlers and I stand up with hate-filled eyes, ready to search, then destroy, the culprit.

And then there are the people that bring in Taco Bell. It’s the only fast food place open until 3 a.m. ‘ go figure. The stuff tastes so damn good, but smells so damn bad. A mere whiff of it next to you can provoke disgust and temporary loss of thought.

The Information Commons, as you can probably tell, isn’t the place I want to be spending the last few nights I have here at Binghamton. Yet, fate has always dragged me back to this place, for better or worse. And instead of cursing myself for this self-inflicted torment, I decided I’m just going to just accept it this time.

No matter how daunting the task of finals week may seem, every paper, project and test miraculously gets done. Walking out of Bartle Library at 6 a.m. to the tranquil sunrise makes all the anguish seem a little bit better.

So dear student populace, don’t stress too much. It always amazes me how things just have a way of working out, no matter how grim they may seem at the time.