After registering for classes for the fall semester, I nearly jumped for joy. I had labs on Mondays and Wednesdays, finished classes before noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and only had one class on Fridays. Best of all, my school day started at 8:30 a.m. four times a week. It was perfect for an early bird like me.
Or so I thought.
Before bed, I set my alarm for 6:40 a.m., excited to wake up with the sun. I could have a nice breakfast, get ready for school, and walk to class while the morning was still fresh and new.
This got old pretty fast.
As the semester went on, waking up for my 8:30 a.m. classes got harder and harder. Autumn advanced, and the days grew shorter. The sun rose a few minutes later each day, and eventually, I would wake up to a pitch-black room. My alarm would go off at 6:40 a.m. as always, but it felt more like 4:00 a.m. Last fall was the first time I ever looked forward to the end of daylight savings. I counted down the days until it was time to turn the clocks back an hour, just so I could get a little more orange in the sky when I woke up. I realized that yes, I am a morning person, but by morning, I mean the morning that doesn’t feel like the middle of the night.
I still set my alarms for 6:40 a.m., but the time I actually got out of bed got later each day, shifting closer to 7:30 a.m. by the end of the semester. I couldn’t wake up without any sunlight, and I started to feel more sleep-deprived. The later I woke up, the less time I had before class started– time I needed to eat breakfast, brush my teeth, wash my face, and make myself look presentable for class. Breakfast shifted from a nice bowl of cereal with fresh blueberries or a piece of toast with butter and jam to a mini Kind bar. You might say, “Carrie, just get some bigger Kind bars,” but that still wouldn’t have worked. I only had enough time to eat the mini ones.
I began to notice my sleep deprivation as the semester went on. I craved caffeine, but as I got up later and later, I didn’t have enough time to make a cup in my Keurig or stop by Blue Line. I tried to make sure I could get a sufficient amount of sleep each night, but doing so required me to go to bed at 10:30 p.m. I tried as hard as I could, but going to bed that early was entirely unfeasible for a college student. You can’t submit an unfinished essay with a note saying, “Sorry I couldn’t finish my paper, I had to go to bed.”
If I did finish my homework earlier on, when the night rolled around, I craved time to do my favorite activities. I had no time to write, draw, read, or do my skin care routine. At 10:30 p.m., I had no time for self-care. Instead, I had to get in bed and hope I didn’t feel terrible the next day, but I always did.
Because of this lack of sleep, it grew increasingly difficult to stay focused in my 8:30 a.m. classes and the ones that followed. It was hard to pay attention to lectures and to participate in discussions. I believe my other classmates had similar issues.
When I planned my schedule for this semester, I was grateful to see that I would only have 8:30 a.m. classes twice a week instead of four times. Three days out of the week, I can wake up at 8:00 a.m. and start class at 10:00 a.m. What a relief.
So, when we complain about 8:30 a.m. classes, it’s not always because we’re up all night and want to sleep until noon. Even morning people like me hate them. We can try as hard as we want to get a good eight hours, but it just doesn’t work. We don’t have enough time before we go to sleep to finish our homework and take care of our mental health. Then, we wake up and go through the day like zombies. It just isn’t healthy.
Long story short, I hate 8:30 a.m. classes. I long for the days when the sun rises before I do.
Junior Carrie Teti is the Arts and Leisure Editor. Her email is cteti@fandm.edu.