Finding What Gets Us Outside

Trinity Iwicki: Finding What Gets Us Outside 

Outside Argo Tea 

By Adriana Nguyen

Outside Argo Tea at one of the umbrella-shaded picnic tables, I ask Trinity Iwicki what their go-to order is. After all, their favorite space on campus is a table right outside the tea café—a Starbucks competitor, even as Trinity takes a sip from a Starbucks cup. 

“My favorite opportunities with my work are when I get to interact directly with FSU students,” says Trinity. “I know my writing reaches them, but it's a lot different when I get to actually talk to students. I tabled every week last semester and never felt more productive.”

But, it’s at work with Sustainable Campus or just walking through all the campus tabling that Trinity finds themselves encountering people that don’t always see eye to eye with them. The conversations that ensue are often uncomfortable. They’re ones where an excess of respect and tolerance are critical but can oftentimes be left out.

“What I have found is best is really to just talk about it,” they say to me now. “Being able to have those conversations helps connect you to other people because if you just shut them out, you’re never going to be able to have that understanding of each other. In a world that seems constantly at odds, it’s easy to get caught up in the emotions of disagreement. It’s also just as easy to walk away and avoid the courage it takes to engage in a conversation with someone that disagrees with you on something you feel is fundamental. 

“I’m very picky about my teas.” Trinity tells me with a laugh. 

Picnic tables like these pepper our campus—in the courtyard in front of Strozier Library, outside Dittmer Chemistry Lab, right by The Den and here: just off of Landis Green, sandwiched between the Innovation Hub and Montgomery Hall. Though it’s not unlike other picnic table clusters around campus, it’s Trinity’s favorite for many reasons. 

“This was the first spot that I would go to and kind of hang out and collect myself.” Trinity tells me. “Being outside is important to me, and I feel more connected to FSU and to other people when I'm near nature.” 

It’s a very typical late-spring day in Florida: 85 degrees without a single cloud in the sky. Trinity and I aren’t the only students taking advantage of the sunshine. From our vantage point, we can see all the hustle and bustle of life at Florida State: the sunbathers, the skateboarders, the random pop-up ice cream stand across Landis, arguably one of our campus’ most recognizable spots. 

Just past the energy of the green, Trinity sits in a coveted spot shaded by the brick building behind us.  

When asked about why these picnic tables over other (more air-conditioned) spots on campus, Trinity replies, “If I spend too long indoors, I feel like my attention span suffers and I get more put off by having to do a lot of work. It just helps me feel more at ease.” 

Since their first year back in 2021, Trinity has followed a long FSU student tradition of getting themselves heavily involved on campus. In joining White Mouse Productions, a theatre group on campus, Trinity realized the importance of seeking out a community early in their college experience. 

“I knew people that went here, and the connection to campus that they felt was the reason I chose FSU,” Trinity shares. “If I’m not connected to this place or if I don’t have people to feel connected to, then in a lot of ways I’m not here.” 

Nowadays, Trinity spends many long hours with friends as part of the Swing Dance Club. They tell me about getting to see those friends regularly and very late nights spent still on campus, chatting and laughing so much it disrupts swing lessons. Like many FSU students, it’s in their chosen organization they’ve found a community of people that makes this big campus feel like home.  

“A lot of us are very similar,” Trinity tells me, “so we never run out of things to talk about.” 

Trinity also works with Sustainable Campus, a department dedicated to engaging and educating the FSU community on sustainability and environmental action. In their role as a member of the student communications team, Trinity writes for the blog and gets to flex their knowledge as an Environment and Society and Media Communications Studies student. 

“My favorite opportunities with my work are when I get to interact directly with FSU students,” says Trinity. “I know my writing reaches them, but it's a lot different when I get to actually talk to students. I tabled every week last semester and never felt more productive.”

But, it’s at work with Sustainable Campus or just walking through all the campus tabling that Trinity finds themselves encountering people that don’t always see eye to eye with them. The conversations that ensue are often uncomfortable. They’re ones where an excess of respect and tolerance are critical but can oftentimes be left out.

“What I have found is best is really to just talk about it,” they say to me now. “Being able to have those conversations helps connect you to other people because if you just shut them out, you’re never going to be able to have that understanding of each other. In a world that seems constantly at odds, it’s easy to get caught up in the emotions of disagreement. I

t’s also just as easy to walk away and avoid the courage it takes to engage in a conversation with someone that disagrees with you on something you feel is fundamental. 

“Talking to students about what I'm passionate about to start and continue important conversations with them makes it all feel worth it,” Trinity says. “It generates a sense of community to be able to actively see and interact with students about bigger issues.” 

I think about this each time I find myself walking across Landis, venturing through Market Wednesday, stopping by Argo Tea to pick up a pastry. It’s true—from Trinity’s favorite spot on campus, it’s hard not to feel the gravity of being a student at FSU and a person in the world. Between working on blog posts, class assignments and more, taking one look at the green just yards ahead reminds us that there’s connection to be found in the space between us: the space where we might disagree with another person, but where we should make the effort to understand them just a little bit more. 

“If I feel connected to a place where I’ve had these conversations, then I understand these people that I work with and therefore I understand where I work,” Trinity says. “It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight, and expecting it to is just going to ruin any connection you have with somebody.”