The dining hall at Patton Hall is a place where students, staff, faculty, and visitors can dine. To enter the dining hall, first enter through the lobby of Patton, where you can already smell the food being cooked, to approach the three clear gates that are solid and waist high. These open down the middle once your finger print is approved by the scanners that are located in between the gates. Once you are in, you can smell the strong coffee being brewed and the bacon being cooked, along with the sweet smells of fruit.  After walking in, immediately walk down a few stairs into the main dining space. On the right and left, the walls are covered with large, floor to ceiling, windows that let in light from the city. Also on the left is a variety of small tables with only two chairs to large tables that seat up to twelve chairs. All of the tables are white and the chairs are either sky blue, turquoise, or a lime green. In the sea of tables are tiled cylinders that reach the ceiling that hold silverware and condiments on stainless steel platforms around the cylinders. These thick, pole-like cylinders are coated with blue and green circular tiles. On the right are the booths that stretch down to the second set of stairs. These booths have plush seats that can hold at least six people per booth. The second set of stairs leads down to the serving area. Dessert items, ice cream, coffee, and waffle makers are to the right and on the left is a serving station that typically serves hot dogs and hamburgers. Around the corner from the hot dogs and burgers is a salad bar. On the back wall is a sandwich bar and other serving areas that serve different food every day and for every meal. As you turn the final corner to go back up to the main dining area, the dish disposal is on the right just after the cereals and milk tables and another serving area that normally has fries and pizza is on the left. Up the stairs into the main dining area and to the right is an assortment of drinks: sodas, juices, smoothies, and water. Also in the dining area, are televisions that are mounted on the ceiling above the windows that show previews of dining events on campus.

Many different types of people occupy this space. First of all, there are the staff that occupy the dining hall. The staff are people of all ages, gender, and race. The staff dresses in a uniform with a distinctive blue collared shirt with the GSU symbol that reads “Panther Dining” over where whoever is wearing its heart would be. The staff make omelets for students, refill cups by the drink dispensers, wipe off tables, set out fresh food, and many others tasks that are required to accommodate to the students using the dining hall. Today, one dining staff member is refilling the steaming, yellow scrambled eggs. The woman has hair dark brown hair pulled back which contrasts with her pale, sand colored skin. She is wearing the blue Georgia State collared shirt and wears clear gloves on her hands as she carefully places the pan of eggs into the steaming water on the counter. The other people that occupy the dining hall are mostly students on meal plans or have paid to eat at the dining because these are the only ways to have access to the dining hall. There are girls and boys coming in through the clear gates. Each person pauses while they wait for their fingerprint to be approved. Two boys similar in appearance are carrying book bags and skateboards. One of the boys is about 6 feet tall with short curly hair the chocolate and the other boy is only a few, maybe 2 inches, shorter has bleach blonde hair slicked back and parted on the left. The taller boy already mentioned piles his plate with a biscuit and gravy, bacon, and mixed fruit. He walks slowly, eying his plate with every step, to a table for two where the other boy is already sitting. One of the booths is occupied by only one person. She has no food on the table only her drink and an open notebook that she is flipping through. She has straight, black shoulder length hair and wears circular framed glasses. With every turn of the page in the notebook, she flips her hair behind her shoulders.

It’s the morning so the dining hall is filled with fewer people and is quiet. There is a slight humming noise that can be heard from the people in the space that are talking and the occasional sirens and horns from the traffic on the street outside. There is a girl that was walking in from the first set on stairs into the main dining area. She is holding her phone in her right hand as her left hand traced down the rail on the stairs. This girl has her dark brown hair pull back underneath a cameo baseball cap. Cayla is a student at Georgia State and she is on a meal plan. Cayla said she comes to the dining hall to eat when she doesn’t go to the other dining halls on campus. She said lives in Patton Hall so this is the most convenient dining hall for her personally. Cayla mentioned she liked the dining hall because there are tables big enough for her to sit with all her friends. She also mentioned that along with coming to the dining hall to eat, she views it as a place to hang out. After talking with Cayla, she goes to a table where 3 girls are already sitting down. She immediately pulls out a lime green chair, sits down, and begins talking and laughing with the other girls. Cayla is one of many other people in the dining hall today that is eating and talking with people at a table.