The Best Hangout Spots on Campus

My name is Bridget and I am a senior here at CMU. As a senior, I’ve studied and hung out at all kinds of different places both on and off campus, so I wanted to give you guys some of my favorite hangout spots on campus.

So, starting with something basic, I’ve always loved hanging out with my friends in the floor lounges of the residence halls here. My first year, my floor mates and I would spend almost every day hanging out in our floor lounge. We’d have meals there, do homework, play music, talk and so much more. It was a great way to get to know each other, and we all ended up becoming very good friends. This is how I found one of my best friends. When I lived on campus my sophomore year, I still hung out a lot in the floor lounges with my friends. Not necessarily with the people living on my floor, but I invited my friends over a lot, and I went over to their residence halls, too, to hang out. We had a lot of movie nights over in the Fairfax TV lounge, and we even did a karaoke night there. In the floor lounge in my residence hall, Resnik, we did our secret Santa exchange and just sat around afterwards talking. 

Another really great space to hang out is in La Prima located on the third floor of the Gates and Hillman Center. There is a gorgeous open space to sit with your friends. There are tons of windows surrounding the café area, so there is a lot of natural light. I’m there a lot with my friends, especially on the weekends. We like to do work there or just talk and catch up after a week of classes. There are tons of outlets everywhere, so it’s super easy to spend hours there just having fun with my friends and getting some work done if I need to. One of my favorite memories there is one time during the spring 2025 semester when my friends and I were just hanging out doing some work. At some point, my friend Autumn and I both needed a break, so she decided to French braid my hair right there. My friends and I are all in different majors, so seeing each other during the week is harder since our schedules are all different. That’s why we always make time on the weekends to hang out somewhere like La Prima because it’s important for us to have a good balance between our academic lives and our social lives.

These are just a couple of my favorite hangout spots on campus. Some honorable mentions include: the hill next to the tennis courts during the sunny and warm weather days, the biology undergraduate lounge and the Mellon Institute Library (although that’s more for when my main focus is doing academic work with friends). I’d definitely recommend checking these places out, but also exploring campus to find your favorite spots. Maybe it’s the same as mine or maybe it’s somewhere completely different. The important thing is to find your favorite spot on campus and go there with your friends as often as you can.