_Emmett Ferguson is a freshman journalism major at MU. He is an opinion columnist who writes about student life for The Maneater._

College brings about many fears. Whether you’re afraid about passing that final or if your fake ID will make it past the bouncer, there is one thing that trumps all others: the 8 a.m. class. There are very few students who, when signing up for classes, will seek out anything that starts before 10. However, an 8 a.m. can be one of the best things to have, especially as a freshman.

I’ll be the first to admit that the idea of an 8 a.m. can seem daunting. When I made my schedule and ended up having a class twice a week from 8-11 a.m., I thought long and hard about whether college was really worth it. After several hours of introspection and reading some Nietzsche, I decided to continue with my education despite the early-morning plague that fate had cast upon me.

I made it to my 8 a.m. in the first week of class, and the second, and the third. It wasn’t even all that bad. Just a boy with his dreams, a dedication to education and a Nalgene bottle full of black coffee against the world. I’ve gotten better at waking up, and I am not a morning person. My own mother won’t even try to wake me up anymore because she accused me of trying to hit her whilst unconscious. But I still make it to my 8 a.m., and I have learned a lot in the process.

One thing that having an 8 a.m. did teach me is to value sleep. I liked sleep in high school and even dabbled in napping. Now, I’d climb the highest mountaintop just to shout my proclamation of love for sleep. While it seems like an 8 a.m. would hurt our newly intensified relationship, it has only been strengthened. Having an 8 a.m. taught me how to schedule my sleep. I know how many hours of sleep I need to be at full capacity, how much I need to just barely be able to make it through the day and how much until I am a zombie, shuffling around in search of caffeine.

Having an 8 a.m. also forced me to have some semblance of a schedule to my days. I’m able to get all my homework done relatively early, partly because the seductive allure of my messy sheets is only feet away. In very few situations have I been attracted to anything more than my bed while working at 1 a.m., so I find it very easy to motivate myself to get my work done at an earlier hour.

Having an 8 a.m. has also made me learn how to say no. When it’s late at night and something fun comes up, it was at first hard to deny going. That is no longer the case. No matter what is happening I can say no, and that has proved to be an invaluable skill. Peer pressure no longer has any effect on me. The entire student body could be egging me on to go be the starting quarterback in a homecoming game against Kansas, and my response would be, “Sorry guys, it’s already 9; I’m late for a snuggle with my comforter.”