The Encounter Space, located at the center of the fourth floor of Pardee Hall, is stocked with  shelves of foreign periodicals and a 52″ plasma screen TV, providing students with access to satellite entertainment and news channels in Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Russian, Spanish, and 20 other world languages. It is not uncommon to see a group of students watching a French-African soccer game, a German detective story, a Latin American soap opera, a Japanese music lesson, or a Russian cooking show before heading into class. The Encounter Space and the two lounges are examples of how Lafayette creates a number of all-important, informal learning areas where students can study, “hang-out academically”, or interact with professors and other students, who have similar interests in language and culture.