Getting enough sleep is supposedly quite important. Without it, we don't function well; we get fat and cranky. Try as we might to replace sleep with Starbucks, the fact remains that in college, sometimes there are only so many hours in the day. Sometimes sleep just can't work its way into any of them.
This shouldn't surprise anyone; we've all been at Clemons at 3 a.m. sitting in the dungeon with the depressing florescent lighting wondering why we didn't start this project just a couple hours earlier. Point of fact: We've all been there at 3 a.m -- but have you ever been there at 8 a.m.?
Getting up early in college simply does not happen. I know -- I tried it. When I've accomplished it (all three or four instances) no one else has been around.
All summer long I got up at 7 in the morning. I did stuff like eating real breakfast foods at breakfast times of day and cleaning my room and reading for pleasure and things that just don't seem at all possible once I get to Charlottesville.
Here, the only morning action this city sees is from those still out from the night before. One can always see people meandering about in the wee hours of the morn after bars have closed and the White Spot is still open. But when I get up to go to the library at 8 or get an early Bodo's breakfast at 7:30, everyone has disappeared into their little holes. I was order No. 6 at Bodo's the other day. I kept the ticket for a souvenir. Want to bypass the lines? Wake up early.
Personally, I'd love to see the University bump up everyone's life about two hours ahead of what we do now. I work way better at 9 a.m. when there is sun and no line at Bodo's than I do at 3 a.m. when I have to settle for a Little John's bagel and cream cheese. Their cream cheese is not satisfactory after having the gooey goodness of the herb cream cheese on an everything bagel.
This problem is inherent in the system. We live on a schedule that almost forces us to sleep in and stay up. Part of that schedule has been set by bars, yes. But part of that schedule has also been set by the 10 p.m. dance rehearsals and group meetings that start at 11:30 p.m.
The academic element gets perpetuated by the social scene. Good luck trying to party hard at 8 p.m. here -- well, unless it's Thursday. But generally, by the time things really get good, midnight has already come and gone home drunk. At this point, it's too late. Literally.
And so the cycle continues from one Sunday to the next: I try to get to bed early and do other good stuff too, but then I have to stay up late to finish my three labs due tomorrow or to celebrate the Hoos beating the Seminoles. Both of those are non-optional. (As a side note, the win made all the heckling that much better.)
What's a girl to do? I try sometimes to get up early, get work done, eat healthy, things of that nature. Maybe for a more dedicated, slightly less stainful person, that plan might work. But it's been a week since I've gotten to bed before 2 a.m., and these upcoming days don't look any more promising.
We should figure out a way to start and end our days earlier. There is a plethora of advantages to calling it a day, while it's still that actual day.
We'll see more sunlight, proven to be good for you!
If we started drinking earlier, we could hit up more drink specials and get to bed at a decent hour -- it's more economical and healthier. Well, healthier is a relative term in college, anyway.
We, as college students, would attain some normalcy that we have to get ready for post-mortem, (oops! silly me, I mean, post-graduation).
Maybe this issue is weighing heavily on my mind because it's only been six hours since I went to bed. For any FSU fans reading this, I'll explain s-l-o-w-e-r -- that means that I've woken up since then and have started to do lots of work on little sleep. I had to write about something pertinent, and it was either this or the topic of the ever-lasting poison ivy on my arm. I thought the latter might have gotten too graphic -- and itchy.
So tonight, whilst in Clemons -- again for a long, long time -- my eyes will droop and I'll daydream at 3 a.m. about my bed, imagining a world where I'll never have to hit snooze again.
Then I'll eat my sub-par bagel and cream cheese and get back to work.
Clare's column runs bi-weekly on Mondays. She can be reached at ondrey@cavalierdaily.com.
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