How To Survive 8AM Classes In College

Ah, the dreaded 8AMs. As most people do, i have avoided early morning classes throughout my college journey like no other. That is, until I had to take a class this summer and my only options were to either register for the class at another campus which was farther than my regular commute, or take the class at 8am sharp at my usual campus.

Lord knows i looked for every alternatives in order to avoid the dreaded morning class, but in the end i had to give it up and take the 8am class. While sobbing of course (okay not really but i felt like it).

As someone who’s used to going to sleep late and waking up even later, the first week seemed like hell on earth. Peeling myself out of bed suddenly became the hardest task known to man. I probably had 27 alarms with 3 mins intervals because i could not wake up to save my life. I walked around campus like a zombie.

And then, slowly but surely, getting out of bed became a lot easier day by day.Having a bunch of alarms turned out to be more annoying than helpful, so i sized down to 3 alarms. My zombie look disappeared and sometimes i would catch myself singing my way to class!

I still don’t understand how i did it for 4 years in high school,yet the thought of attending a class that early in college was like asking me to climb mount kilimanjaro. Makes no sense.

Go to bed early!!

As a night owl, my bedtime hours typically ranged from midnight to 3am. So the first week of school, my genius self thought it was okay to still go to bed at these hours. Let me just tell you,  the STRUGGLE taking myself out of bed was very real. This is when i had to set up a million and one alarms along  with a live band to get me out of my covers.

Having to wake up a lot earlier than usual is already pretty hard enough. Learn from my mistakes and don’t make things worse. Breaking my habit of not going to bed until after midnight was not easy but it was definitely worth getting a couple more hours of sleep. A restless night is a recipe for a disastrous day.

Have your outfit ready the night before

Do this and thank me later. I seriously didn’t realize how long it took me to pick out an outfit until my 8am class started. It amazed me because i would take the longest time to choose an outfit, as though i was getting dressed to meet the queen. But after all that time, i would come up with the most basic outfit i could find. Yes, i took me 20 minutes to come up with jeans a shirt. Don’t ask how.

I saved close to an extra hour more of sleep for myself by simply taking  a shower and picking out an outfit the night before. Instead of waking up earlier the next the day to do all that jazz, all i had to do was wash my face and brush my teeth. This definitely helped improve my mood in the morning.

Also, do yourself a favor and have your bookbag ready to go the night before class. I used to leave all my stuff scattered on the table after studying and it would take me too long to put everything back in my bag before school. Especially if you’re rushing out the door.

Don’t skip breakfast

Guess what? “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” isn’t just something people say for the heck of it, it’s actually true! Even if you only have time to a grab a banana or a nutrition bar, do so. Eating a nutritious breakfast will give you the energy you’ll need to get through your class and the entire day.

Do your work during the day

The good thing about having morning classes is that it makes your day seem longer. After your class you still have a good amount of time to get some work done. This was definitely my favorite thing about having a morning class. I loved knowing that i still had the whole day ahead of me after getting out of class.This was great because i could get most of my work done after class instead of doing it in the evening and not going to bed until midnight and after like i used to. Getting myself out of bed in the morning became a lot easier to do, along with staying awake in class.

Set your alarm clock

I like to set my alarms  for an hour before i actually have to wake up. So let’s say i have to wake up at 6:00am, i will set up my alarm at 5:00am, then 5:30am, then 5:45am, then 5:55am and finally 6:00am. The way i see it, i’m slowly waking myself up so when the clock does reach 6:00am, getting up won’t be as brutal. I also have a couple alarms with 5 minutes intervals for when i lie to myself by saying that i’m only going to sleep for a couple more minutes then find myself sleeping for a whole hour more. This may seem like a lot, but my professor would not let you hear the end of it if you came late to class. I didn’t want to take any chances. It’s also a pretty good idea to set your phone away from you so you’ll force yourself to get up and turn off your alarm.

Have a positive attitude

This is may be the most important one of them all. A positive attitude makes some of the hardest things a little easier to deal with. Waking up early in the morning may be a big pain in the you know what but try to associate something positive with it and  watch what happens.

See? Morning classes aren’t THAT bad. You can totally pull it off as long as you discipline yourself. Good luck with your morning class!

-Yvanne

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