Sunday, July 8, 2012

Morning Classes, Alarm Clocks and Caffeine Overdose

Summer II classes begin tomorrow, July 9th and I'm signed up for Gen Chem II and its lab component. And guess what? It starts at 9am! 
And guess what else? Summer I classes were supposed to finish last week but for Calculus II, it didn't- it's extended for 3 more weeks because of the heavy course! Which means... my Summer I and II classes will clash for 3 weeks. That's 3 hectic, sleepless weeks for me. (Both classes are held Monday through Friday).

The biggest challenge for me is waking up so early in the morning. I don't know how morning people do it. I just don't. Before 11am or before I've had my dose of caffeine, my brain is still usually asleep and I'm usually this cranky monster. I had a 7:30am class last spring and I had to bring two thermoses of coffee to class just to get through it. My classmates joked that one day I would just drop, overdosed on caffeine.

If you're like me and have difficulty getting up in the morning, here are a few pointers that helped me:


- Morning people should, as much as possible, just enroll for afternoon classes! It's so much better for us and it makes sense because we'd be more aware of the lecture. However, sometimes, the universe works against us and there's only ONE SECTION for that class we need to take and... it starts at the crack of dawn. (Gen Chem II and another class last spring for me! :( ) In this case...

- Set more than one alarm clock and place it far away from your bed. This works because you'll have to get up to turn it off and getting up means waking up. 2 alarm clocks didn't work for me so now, I have 5 alarm clocks that go off consecutively, all far away from my bed. Sometimes I place them in random places at night and at 7am in the morning when my brain is still asleep, I have to walk around furiously, screaming at my inanimate furniture to find the source of the God-awful sound. By the end of all that mess, I'm awake. Success!

- Caffeine. Caffeine is the answer to everything. Well not really. Maybe for java junkies like me. But yes, caffeine helps. It's probably not healthy but sometimes, you have no other choice. Coffee's been helping me get through morning classes and stay up for all-nighters for years!

- Sleep earlier. Get more sleep during the night and make sure you have at least 8 hours of sleep. Sometimes it's not an option for students who balance 16+ credit hours as well as a job and social life but still... try.



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