New Habits

When I first began this project I was expecting to see the same patterns everyday. I mean how much do I expect to observe in a food court besides students eating, wasting time and socializing. I didn't expect to make new observations, so everyday  I would visit the food court and write down the same things I seen previously. I had already noted students habits such as what they ate, who they sat with, the technology they used and how much time they spent there. This wasn't helping much I was on the rode to having a very vague ethnography paper. So I decided to change my patterns. Instead of sitting where I usually sat I sat near the window. Initial all I seemed to notice was the obvious, such as students socializing, their eating habits and there social grouping. So I decided to focus on the people who sat exactly where I sat. People who sat near the window were mostly people from foreign countries. Blacks and whites barely sat alone near the window. I also noticed that everyone who sits at a two seated table near the window are not eating with friends but in fact sitting there studying alone. These students are very focused, completely engaged in there work. I observed  three students at once. None of which stopped studying to look at there phone, socialize, eat or do anything else. This was strange to me because majority of college students always check there phone repeatedly. Once they were completely done with there work they then looked at there phone and went to get food. I didn't understand why did these students choose to sit by the window alone? Why did these students chose not to multitask? Students who did eat and socialize sat in the middle of the food court in the mix of everyone else. These students were studying too but they were multitasking. These students were mainly white and black. This is when I came up with  the question, is multitasking not normal for people from other countries? or do they rather get their work done before doing anything else?
I never expected to notice something like that when I initially started my research. I now know that I need to change my habits and pay attention to the little details and patterns. I decided that every time I visit the food court I will change one of my habits. For example next week I am going to try new foods and observe the people who tried those foods. After I examine everything about the food court I will then start my interviews, prepared with a lot of meaningful questions other then why are you here ? and what are you eating?
-Ayinah S