How did I wind up in the dreaded 8 a.m. chemistry lecture as a senior? With first priority when it comes to picking classes, getting stuck in the worst time for a 1000-level class sounds like a nightmare, right? Well, I put myself in this situation.
We’ve all gotten advice from our older siblings, read blogs like these, or seen videos online describing things older students wish they knew before their freshman year. And they all seem to revolve around one common piece of advice: don’t sign up for 8 a.m.’s.
Avoid them at any and all costs, actually. They say things like, “You might think you’ll be ok because you started high school even earlier, but 8 a.m. college time is really like 6 a.m. high school time.”
When I registered for classes in my first semester of freshman year, I would have agreed with that. I signed up for a class in the 9:20 a.m. slot, thinking it was late enough to escape that morning dread everyone kept warning me about.
But the fall of my freshman year was in 2021, right after spending about a year and a half locked in my bedroom doing school fully online because of COVID-19 restrictions. My sleep schedule was so backward during that stretch of time, I could count on one hand how many times I actually slept during the night. I usually pulled all-nighters and then slept it off through the day after Zoom school.
So yeah, choosing the 9:20 a.m. time slot as my first “Welcome Back” into the real world was not the smartest move. But that was okay, there was another chance to find the sweet spot. Lo and behold: the 10:40 a.m. sophomore year.
By that time, two years into college, the lockdown all-nighters were a distant memory. The latest it was fun to stay up until anymore was only one or two in the morning. It was enough time to sleep and enough time to wake up. 10:40 a.m. was the perfect, and I mean absolutely perfect, time to start class. So perfect that all 44,000 other students at FSU seemed to agree.
Good luck trying to park anywhere on campus for any class at or after 10:40 a.m. It’s not impossible; I’ve done it, and you can do it too. The “perfect” class times just come with the little, tiny, huge caveat of fewer student parking spaces available than the number of cars registered. May the odds be ever in your favor.
But these times keep getting later and later, how did it come back around to the 8 a.m. chemistry lecture?
Well, I’m a senior now. I’m a completely different person than I was four years ago when I made that very first schedule. I probably wouldn’t even recognize that version of myself if I walked past her on the sidewalk.
Over the last couple of years, when I started dipping my toes into the waters of those other class times, I eventually made my way into some of the late afternoon and evening classes. With my mornings free, I discovered I’m a morning person!
I like waking up early. I like going to the Leach for a morning workout session, and I like taking a morning shower after (controversial, I know). I like running errands and still having the entire day ahead of me.
It’s when I have the most energy and the most motivation. I have a good attitude in the morning! I’m good at waking up early.
While catching up with my friends when we all got back to Tallahassee after summer break, I told them about my 8 a.m. situation four out of five days a week, and the overwhelming consensus was, “Yikes,” and, “How are you going to cope with that?” But there was no coping necessary.
When walking to class on the first day of the semester, all I was thinking about was the sunrise view and the chill in the breeze. There was a chill in the breeze in August! In Florida! It was 73 degrees and windy outside that morning. And everything great about the morning would still be there after 50 minutes of my chemistry lecture!
But am I really telling you that you need to be taking 8 a.m.’s? That the 8 a.m. itself is what’s going to turn you into a morning person and act like some magical key to success?
No, not at all. (Although my sleep schedule has never been better.)
I’m not telling you to do what’s good for me, I’m telling you to find what’s good for you! When are you going to be most engaged in a class? Picking the right time will make the difference between that class feeling like a total snooze-fest or being something invigorating.
What activities are a priority to you outside of the classroom, and when do you like to do them? Take advantage of the freedom of not having to take all of your classes consecutively.
Do you thrive on a repeating daily routine, or do you like each day to be completely flipped from the last? Once you find the flow that works for you, you can start to plan class times around your life instead of planning your life around when you have class.
It’s a lot of self-reflection, I know. But what works for you doesn’t have an all-encompassing, finite answer. So don’t be a schedule sheeple!
Throw that “avoid 8 a.m.’s at any and all costs” attitude out the window, and think about what adding something into your day at that time means for you. Does it sound unimaginable to you? Or does it sound like a good, productive start to your day?
And if that still didn’t convince you that taking the 8 a.m. chemistry lecture might not actually be the end of the world, the parking lot’s empty that early in the morning.
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Pinterest!