I recently pulled my first all-nighter. I knew it would be a rough night when I decided to get down to business and start my midterm essay — which I had told myself I would do all week — the night before it was due. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how rough it would be, but I learned a lot and chronicled my experience hour by hour in this column.
11 p.m.
All of my readings were sprawled out, my earphones blasted my “study/late night” playlist and I was ready to commit a few hours to crank out this behemoth. But instead, I spent the next half hour reading really old Cavalier Daily articles from the ’70s.
12 a.m.
Feeling hungry, I left to go to the Castle for a late night meal. Once I arrived at the Castle, they were closing and in the midst of cleaning up. Heartbroken and desperate for food, I made up my mind to go home, get some snacks and change into warmer clothes.
1 a.m.
I arrived back at Clemons, and it was seriously time to buckle down and start this essay. I finished my outline during this hour and churned out a good paragraph while munching on bread slathered in cookie butter and drinking Capri Suns. During the past hour, I had been texting my friend, Christine, because we were both struggling on this same paper.
2 a.m.
The first page was finally complete — a huge milestone. I realized I had heavily underestimated this assignment. To be more realistic, I told myself I would finish at 5 a.m., so I could get at least two hours of sleep for my 8 a.m. Organic Chemistry class. With fewer people in the library and my eyelids growing heavier, I began to work more efficiently.
3 a.m.
At the end of this hour, I wrote almost half of my essay. With pressure, I became a machine and was pretty satisfied with what I was writing. Christine and I were texting back and forth occasionally seeing how each of us was doing. Everything was going alright for now.
4 a.m.
I saw a guy I knew all too well walk into Clemons. This guy would frequently come in late at night, fall asleep and snore, disturbing the entire fourth floor. I prayed he wouldn’t do it again tonight, but he did. I’ve woken him up in the past, but he always ended up falling back asleep. Learning from personal experience, I decided to go down to first-floor Clemons. The essay was two-thirds finished at this point and came to a halt after being distracted by late-night social media.
5 a.m.
I continued to grind. Staying awake grew much more difficult — my typing slowed down and I had to take more frequent breaks to walk around, drink water and use the bathroom. Christine and I were still in communication, and it was nice to have someone else going through exactly the same thing.
6 a.m.
I was nearing the end and had to finish my conclusion and works cited, both of which took forever to put together, considering my brain had deteriorated into mush by this time. No one else was on first floor Clemons at this time, and I would have felt lonely if it weren’t for Christine’s text messages. I cut off my music at this point in order to focus entirely on the essay.
7 a.m.
I finally finished my paper, packed everything up to go back to my dorm and came out of the library seeing the sun. I printed out my essay, brushed my teeth and washed my face, and took off for Newcomb Dining Hall to get some breakfast and study for my chemistry quiz, which was in half an hour. I saw Ms. Kathy’s smile and hugged her, making everything feel better.
8 a.m.
I showed up to my Organic Chemistry class and looked for Christine. I saw her grinning at me, and we hugged and laughed at how rough both of our nights went.
And that was how my first — and hopefully last — all-nighter for a class went. Even though I learned a few lessons — like don’t start a midterm paper the night before it’s due and know when The Castle closes — the biggest lesson I learned was the importance of a friend who will be with you through difficult times. In some weird way, I’m glad it happened, because this shared experience made Christine and me much closer, and we’re going to laugh about it for a long time.
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