By Amanda Campbell
It’s bound to happen. It’s basically a rite of passage. Did you really go to college without at least having one 8 a.m. class?
For some reason, I thought I could make it four years without having to be up before the rest of the world, but boy was I wrong. Spring registration consisted of me frantically putting together a schedule in the car on the way home for Thanksgiving Break. In order for me to take the professor I wanted for statistics, I had to take English at 8 a.m. There goes all my sleep…and sanity.
What I soon learned is that this could be the best or worst thing of my spring semester, it just depended on how I approached it. So after too many mornings jumping out of bed 10 minutes before I had to leave, I knew something had to change, and it wasn’t going to be the class.
Here are some tips for surviving your 8 a.m. class, and even making a productive day out of it:
Wake up at least 30 minutes before you have to leave.
I know it’s so much easier to hit snooze three times until you really have to leave, but getting up a little earlier and letting yourself wake up in the comfort of your apartment is so much better than in the presence of 20 other people in an uncomfortable desk.
Make coffee at home.
Not only does this save you money and time (the line at Starbucks or Jit Joe’s is just way too long), it gives you some more time to wake up. I like to sit on my coach and sip my coffee and watch the sunrise while listening to some music. Simply getting up and spending a little “me” time centers me so much and makes the rest of my day that much more peaceful. Also, coffee gives me motivation to actually get out of my bed.
Enjoy no lines at Bolton.
Breakfast at 9 a.m. is so much less chaotic than at 10 a.m. when the line is wrapped around the building. Although I’m an extrovert, that 1-hour breakfast before my friends get there is really good for me to start my day off.
Even though waking up before 8 a.m. feels like death most of the time, that doesn’t mean you have to feel like that the rest of the day. Enjoy the sunrise, the quiet peaceful campus and don’t knock it ’til you try it. I feel so prepared to take on the rest of the day, and by that, I mean a nap (and shower) as soon as I get home.
