Freshman-year me really thought I was built different. I looked at the course schedule, saw that wide-open 8AM option, and thought, “I did this all through high school. I’ll be fine.” Spoiler alert: I was not fine. I was humbled in every possible way.
The first week wasn’t terrible. I set five alarms. I laid out my clothes the night before. I even made a cup of coffee and sat in the front row like I had my life together. But by week two, the mask started slipping. Alarms became background noise. My outfit became whatever was closest and least wrinkled. And the coffee? It turned into the only thing keeping my eyelids from fully closing mid-lecture.
By the time midterms rolled around, I wasn’t attending my 8AM — I was surviving it. I’d roll out of bed 12 minutes before class, throw on a hoodie, and zombie-walk to the lecture hall, praying I wouldn’t be cold-called on a reading I definitely didn’t do. I wasn’t retaining information. I was just trying to stay vertical.
And here’s the thing: 8AM classes aren’t just early — they’re wrong. They go against everything the college ecosystem is built around. Late-night study sessions, club meetings, last-minute assignments, and conversations that spiral from jokes to existential crises at 2AM — none of that mixes well with a 7AM wake-up. Waking up that early feels like being yanked out of another universe. No amount of caffeine fixes that.
I used to think people who avoided early classes were just unmotivated. Now I know the truth: they were visionaries. They were wise. They were protecting their peace. I look at them now the same way I look at someone who remembered to bring a charger, snacks, and a water bottle — with admiration and a little jealousy.
So shoutout to the few who are still voluntarily doing the 8AM hustle. You’ve got more willpower than I do. But I’ll be over here, sipping a late-morning coffee, in a class I’m actually awake for, wondering why I ever signed up for that chaos in the first place.
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