Up until recently, in fact this year, I have been staying up quite late or quite early in the morning depending on how you view things. My roommate can testify that my sleeping/ napping schedule is not something to be proud of- and having my first 8:30 AM class in college really doesn’t help my cause.
What happens, especially since I have more readings this year for classes and a bigger load even though I am taking the same amount of hours is that I come “home” (A.K.A the dorm) around 7:30 PM, proceed to watch Youtube videos for about three hours while sometimes glancing briefly at my homework, and then take a “short thirty minute nap” beginning at 10:30 or sometimes 11 P.M. I strategically put “thirty minute nap” in quotations because, lets be real, I don’t wake up until 2:30 or 3 AM. And that’s when the party starts.
Having only around five hours until my first class, my thoughts are abuzz with both a jumbled commotion and a fearful panic. I curse myself for giving into my desire for a longer nap but reassure myself by saying- it was so wrong, but felt so right.
At 3 AM, I get a sense of immense hunger. It’s as if my last meal wasn’t eight hours ago, it was 500 years ago. I thank my parents for making sure in the beginning of the school year that my snack bin under my bed was fully stocked to the brim of both animal crackers and oreos- a very healthy option. And fruit snacks. Whose could forget about those?
My roommate, like a normal human being has stayed up until 3 AM doing homework, and is always preparing to go to bed when I am preparing to find the strength to truck though all of my homework that didn’t seem pressing enough only four hours ago.
The weirdest events from class pop back into my head and the weird conversations I had with my friends come flooding back to me during the beginning of the day. Did my friend tell me she liked to smell people when she met them or was that all in my head?
Sometimes, I question my existence, wondering if it’s too late to have superpowers or even take a ticket to Hogwarts or even go in the closet that leads to Narnia. Why can’t my life be an unrealistic adventure at this hour or any time?
I wonder what friends are up this late. I know everyone in my suite already went to bed around 12 AM. Maybe we can suffer together or maybe I can text them and complain about my sleep cycle. These are the times when I’m vey thankful my roommate doesn’t mind the lights being on in the room.
I question my napping choice, and ask myself what on earth happened between the hours of 7:30 to 10:30 PM, as I swear time just skipped over them. I always pledge to myself I will be a productive human being and work during those times, but it is always a lie. I understand why people talk about taking naps after 4 PM is a bad idea.
Is it too late to drink caffeine at this hour? I want to enjoy the comfort that my bed brings me, but I don’t want to deal with the grogginess of waking up for the first time.
Where is the sun? It is pitch black outside, and the only light source I have available is fluorescent. I wonder if that is a good thing for your eyesight. Oh well. My thoughts are less focused on my schoolwork than my homework at this point.
In order to make sure I don’t fall asleep, I listen to very upbeat music. The music I listen to almost sounds a bit angry. What was the artist thinking when he or she wrote this? Did they didn’t get enough sleep too? I feel their pain.
Even though staying up until 3 AM is never a good idea, sometimes it is necessary. I always get the best grades on certain essays for English class when they are written at 3. I share this fact with my suitemate and she will always roll her eyes at me. College: you do what you have to.
