Am I a smoker? Nope. I just like the atmosphere.

If you live on campus, you are very aware of all the hang outs. The Commons is a popular one, sometimes the library, and sometimes the common room on dorm floors. All are very usual hot spots. How about an unusual one?
I will start out by saying, I am not a smoker. I tried it once and I coughed so hard my entire diaphragm hurt for the rest of the afternoon (needless to say I don't inhale a lot of stuff into my lungs, and have no intentions of smoking anything ever again), but occasionally on a nice night, I'll go out with some of my smoker friends and sit on the balcony of the Patapsco building. Before college and this became a normal practice for me, I wouldn't have done it. Why would I risk second hand smoke inhalation just to delay homework for a while? But then I began to notice all the little things that made this small delay of productivity worth it.
The first thing I noticed was the comradery between smokers. It's like... a cult. Once while sitting outside, one guy came up to my friend and asked him for a cigarette. My friend said, "Sure" and gave him one. The guy said thanks and went on his way to a different part of the balcony. I didn't understand this little transaction at all. Cigarettes are relatively expensive even more so if it's a habit. Why would you just give one away? I saw a similar transaction with a different friend and a different stranger, in which my friend only had one cigarette left. The stranger saw this and said, "Oh never mind. I don't want to take your last one." and walked away.
Another aspect of the balcony is the different spots. The most popular spot is in a corner down a ways from the doors. There is almost always someone there smoking. But there are also other designated spots that specific groups always go to. One for example is a particularly large group that always goes even farther down the stairs than my friends go. They often are there before we get there, and still there talking and laughing after we leave. Across the ways from them a smaller group resides. They smoke and talk, just like the other group, just in a slightly quieter way. Both groups are friendly. Sometimes one of my friends will say "hey" or "what's up?" to a member of the group, and the group will say hello back, sometimes even initiating a more meaningful conversation. It's as if to say, "Hey! I'm a smoker, you're a smoker. Let's be friends."