I’m a college student, and I don’t like staying up late. I know, that sounds weird. Everyone always looks at me funny when I’d rather go to be before midnight and wake up two to three hours before class to get my work done, but it doesn’t matter to me. I’m a morning person, and I’m OK with that. It definitely has its perks.

When you’re a morning person in college, all of your classes are in the morning. 8 a.ms, 9:30s, usually you’re done with class before lunch. There’s no fooling around. You have to get up the first time that alarm goes off and start getting reading while the sun rises (if it’s just before daylight savings). The other good thing about it is that no one else is awake. Sure, you have to be courteous of your roommate or housemates and be quiet while you get ready, but the whole room/house is yours for a few hours before anyone else is awake. There’s no need to wait for the shower or fight over the coffee pot in the morning, but I’d never do that anyway because I’m also one of those weirdos who doesn’t drink coffee.

Once you’ve gotten up, gotten ready for your classes, and gone to them all, your day’s over before anyone else’s have even begun. I’ve actually had it happen to me where I’ve come home at 11:30, done with classes for the day, and I’ve started to make lunch while my roommates are having breakfast. It’s a weird thing to see but it’s like we’re running on completely different clocks, in completely different time zones.

Since I’m done and they’re just getting started, now I have the house to myself for a majority of the day. For someone like me, who’d rather do nothing with my friends than be alone for an extended amount of time, it can kind of suck. Yet, at the same time, you’ve got no one to distract you from getting that paper done on time and no one’s going to bother you while you’re watching the next episode of Game of Thrones.

Sure, this sounds all fine and dandy, but the weekends as a morning person in college is a different story. Even if you’re out late partying, your biological clock wakes you up before the rest of the world is up, or so it feels. Sometimes you can fall back asleep and stay in bed later than you normally would, yet somehow you’re still awake before anyone else. Sometimes it’s two hours until someone in the house is up and moving. You can either take your time on a nice Saturday morning and flip some pancakes or go get food by yourself.

Other than that, the weekends can be agonizingly long if you’re up for twice the amount of time as your friends who sleep until the afternoon. It still feels good getting so much accomplished early in the morning so the rest of my weekend can be dedicated to relaxing.

Although a majority of college students would prefer not to see the sun, being a morning person has it’s benefits. It’s a whole different life as a morning bird, but it’s one that I prefer.