This week, I began my dream internship with the junior senator from my state. It was my first choice for summer plans. I have been learning so much. I am always excited to go and learn something new. I get to explore Washington D.C. for the next eight weeks. I am set up in a great housing complex and even have the fortune to really like all of my roommates. What could be better than this set-up, right? Oh yeah, I am a huge night owl. And I chose a beautiful apartment with an hour long public transportation commute to my internship that starts earlier than I've woken up in months. (Don't blame me; I'm a college kid.) I knew that this internship would give me the opportunity to immerse myself in the work world. I just forgot that the work world starts at 8AM, so my biggest adjustment to my internship for the first week would actually be readjusting my sleep schedule.
On Monday morning, things seemed fine. I was nervous to start my internship the next day, so I knew that I wasn't going to sleep well anyway. No problem. Obviously I would just make it through the day and go to bed early. The problem with this plan is that even though I was tired, its a lot harder to tell yourself to go to bed at 9 when you usually stay up until 1 than you would think. Spoiler alert: Your mind has other ideas. When 11:55 rolls around, it MIGHT give in. But then again, maybe not.
On Tuesday morning, my alarm went off for the first time at 5:30AM. Then I remembered I set that at 9 when I laid down to "sleep," so I cried for 3.5 seconds and then went back to sleep until 6:30. Once I was awake, I cried inside just a little bit more when I realized that I should have stayed awake at 5:30 because apparently enjoy taking half an hour showers when I'm groggy. This problem was definitely going to have itself sorted out tonight though. There was NO WAY I was going to be alert enough to sleep past 9 tonight. Ha. Wrong. On the bright side, I think I only stayed up until around 11, so at least things were starting to adjust.
On Wednesday morning, I refused to push the snooze button on my alarm clock. I used the metro ride time to pretend like I was getting in a good nap. This actually amounted to me waking up every 3 minutes when we got to the next metro stop, but it was better than nothing. I think my office also has a problem with Wednesday mornings though because we have constituency coffee right away and load up on the early morning caffeine. I made it through the day, got home, and went to bed at 9. Just kidding, I was still awake until 11. Readjusting your schedule is hard stuff.
On Thursday, the circadian rhythm gods decided to smile upon me. I had just about reached my breaking point with the whole lack of sleep thing. (My parents will happily tell you that this is not a pleasant side of me.) I grumbled awake, used the metro to find my happy place, made it through another great day at work, and then went straight to sleep when I got home. Let me repeat that: STRAIGHT TO SLEEP. I'm talking 7PM-out-like-a-light-sleep. It was marvelous. It was spectacular. It was basically the most fulfilling night of sleep I have ever gotten.
On Friday, I was so energized I didn't even need to stop at Starbucks. At night, I was ready for bed early. I actually had to make myself stay up to talk to my parents. I don't even think I can stress the gravity of this accomplishment.
On Saturday morning, I woke up without an alarm at 7AM. And then I couldn't go back to sleep. Oh great, now I'll probably have a whole new problem when I go back to school in a few weeks.
