The Night Before/Morning of Ritual
Everyone does things a little differently because no one’s mind is the same. Different routines work for different people because you mightn’t need to worry about something they do, or you might have to factor in certain things. This is a breakdown of the things I do and think are relatively important the night before and morning of a day at uni/college.
The night before a class I:
Make sure I’m up to date with the subject’s readings. If I haven’t done this week’s and it’s early enough I might do a bit, otherwise I make a note to do it after class or during a break between lectures.
Make sure my backpack has all my stuff in it. If you’re like me you have a small handbag for day-to-day, a gym bag with any gear/towel in it, and then your uni bag. The night before I make sure my uni bag has my purse/glasses/pencil case/notebook/the class/es in question’s binder/iPod/headphones whatever it is you like to take with you. This means you aren’t running around all morning (especially if it’s an early lecture jesus)
Check for the lecture handouts. The vast majority of lecturers will post a pdf or the ppt file of the lecture slides up the day before the actual lecture to give you the opportunity to print it out and have it ready for class. If you prefer the old school paper and pen way, this is the time to print that out and get it organised. If your lecturer doesn’t, ask them if they’d be ok doing so. Some don’t but have the audio of the lecture go up afterwards (I had an Lit lecturer who would put up the audio as well as the pdf of the ENTIRE LECTURE like he had it word for word written he just would read that shit out, that was a great thing to have for assessments lmty). If you prefer taking notes on a laptop or tablet, this is still a good time to get it downloaded onto the device.
Put everything in an obvious place. If in the morning you get up and the first thing you see is your desk, put it all there. If you’re far too bleary eyed and/or as blind as I am without my glasses on, put it somewhere you can trip over it or see it once your awake like next to your clothes.
Set your alarms. I have alarms on repeat on specific days for my timetable so I never have to worry about it. For example, I have a 0715 alarm that goes off every mondays and wednesdays due to 9am lectures, and on tuesday, thursdays and fridays I have a different alarm that always goes off at 0930 because I either don’t have classes or I have an afternoon lecture (I still set one to make sure I don’t get into bad sleeping habits on my days off, I can sleep in on the weekend). Even though they’re set to go off automatically on those days/times without me touching them, I find I always double check. Eg. Today I was up at 0430 with a migraine and flicked the alarm off when I finally managed to fall back asleep because that would have been a terrible idea. So always good to double check.
Go to sleep at a reasonable time. I’m not your parent, but seriously do so. You know far better than I do what you can do on what amount of sleep but as I know from an actual study I had to look at for class you want 7-8 hours and to make sure you’re awake about 2hours before your first class to make sure your brain kicks in in time for it. Getting out of bed, half an hour before class, changing and gunning it there in time for it to start isn’t good especially if you take as long to be coherent as me.
The morning of a class I:
Have a shower. “A shower”, she says, “as if she doesn’t normally. Ew.” The truth is I don’t, I typically shower at night before bed unless I’ve done some kind of exercise because it helps me settle before sleep. But for a 9am lecture, having a shower helps me wake up far faster than not. Have a cold one, use that shower gel that smells how the scary morning people look.
Have breakfast. I hate breakfast. I do. I’m yet to find breakfast food that isn’t pancakes or waffles I enjoy. But you need something. Grab some bread, or an apple, just something. Grab something for when you get to Uni as well. I’m never hungry when i first yet, in fact I normally just feel ill in the morning trying to eat. But guaranteed, half an hour later on my way to uni that food’s kicked in, my body’s on track and saying I didn’t feed it enough. Grab something like fruit or idk cheese, just something else quick to snack on before class.
Pack the perishables. If it’s a long day (for example, Monday I’m at Uni from 9 til 6 at night. 9-11, 1-3, and 4-6) make sure to account for lunch and snacks. It may seem like a good idea to just get food from the refect/cafe/whatever your campus has but that kinda money does add up and I’m broke. This could be a night before thing if you prefer, but usually not long before I leave the house I scour the fridge and pantry for things I can throw in my bag. Fruit, a sandwich, cheesecubes, LCMs, museli bar, whatever it is you’ll eat, grab it. Please amke sure you do eat or else in the later lectures you aren’t going to be paying attention, you’re going to be thinking about dinner.
BRING WATER. I’m in Australia but anywhere lecture theatres are dry, dead places. It’s easy to forget to drink when you’re paying attention or not paying attention in class but you’re more likely to remember with a water bottle. Also if your campus is like mine if you can even find a bubbler when you’re thirsty they look real dubious and you usually don’t go there. Again, bringing it’s cheaper than paying 3-4$+ for bottled water when you inevitably get thirsty.
One last check. Check your bag’s got everything. Did you leave a notebook out cos you were looking at it before you went to bed? Did you pack your phone after charging it overnight? Is your charger in there? Where are your keys?
Lock up. Remember to lock the house when you leave, close the gate so your dogs don’t get out...oh is this just me? I just need this reminder? oops.
Get there early. In the first weeks, parking at my campus is super over prescribed. As in the only reason it gets better is because some students decide everything they need is in the textbook or online and stop coming to classes. I usually have to leave an hour early to have a prayer of a parking spot but even if you’re on public transport or whatever, getting to class early means you can find the class (especially if it’s not a building you’re usually in and are unfamiliar with) with plenty of time to pick a good seat, get your stuff out and arranged nicely, you can have a laugh with someone else that’s early and wither make a new friend or at least share a story you’ve heard about the teacher/subject/how’s your assessment going that kinda stuff. The main thing is if you’re running late you might be way at the back or just as terrible in the front row, you may be that person that comes in once class has started and interrupt everything, you’re gonna feel awkward the whole lesson. Get there early, save yourself the trouble. Enjoy your snack. Get any tumblr-ing/game missions on their way so you can put it away for class.
Enjoy. Look some classes suck, yes. But you’re there. You made it to/back to uni. You’re alive. You’re learning things on your way to doing whatever the fuck you wanna do with your degree. Learn it, love it, embrace it.