Hi, Notre Dame. My name is Alyssa, and I’m a first-year student in Ryan Hall. A little about me — I am very first-year. Very student. I pull up Google Maps every time I leave Ryan Hall. If you use a bike or skateboard or anything with wheels, there’s a 90% chance you have or will have run me over by the end of the semester.

 

My first few weeks here have been lovely — the people are kind, the land is flat and the weather is quite good. I like the grass here — it is very green — and the squirrels are surprisingly friendly. My classes are interesting, clubs and extracurriculars are exciting and I feel content as a first-year student adjusting to college. However, I have encountered a slight problem with regard to my involvement in the Notre Dame social scene.

 

I love sleeping. I love sleeping so, so much, and, preferably, I like to be asleep by 10 p.m. Part of this schedule is because of extracurriculars I did in high school that forced me to sleep early, but most of it stems from a lack of will to stay awake. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will come between me and a bed past 11 p.m. And, at Notre Dame, where so many social activities occur (at the earliest!) after 10 p.m., this has posed an obstacle for my social life.

 

My first spat with my sleeping schedule occurred (quite unfortunately) during my first day on campus, via Domerfest. I was holding the event to mild-to-high expectations — I had been told by Reddit I would meet an unbelievable amount of people, and (maybe!) that I would find the love of my life. What Reddit did not tell me, however, was that Domerfest begins at 10 p.m., and at that time, I don’t think a single coherent word or thought was capable of leaving my body. By 10:10 p.m., I was staring at a bench outside Duncan Student Center and heavily contemplating a power nap.

 

I did not find the love of my life at Domerfest — however, I did find myself in bed by 10:45 p.m., settling in for a solid nine hours of sleep. It was only the next morning, when half my floor went to breakfast together to break down the four hours of socialization I had slept through, that I realized maybe, just maybe, I was missing out.

 

But that’s not all — since Domerfest, I’ve slept through dorm socials, disos and (perhaps most fortunately) the aftermath of the NIU football game. Every day, I meet new floormates I’ve never seen before, because I’m usually already asleep by the time they come back.

 

For research purposes, I decided to take my sleeping situation to the court of public opinion and pose it to friends, family and floormates. So far, I have been compared to a farmer twice, a grandmother once and received variations of, “Have you tried melatonin?” on several occasions. I am, to be honest, a bit concerned.

 

Am I missing out on formative college experiences? Absolutely. Should I try a bit harder to stay awake? I probably should. But I get so sleepy, and it is so sad and I do not know what to do. If you would like to be friends and also be asleep by 10 p.m. (I can do 10:30 p.m. on weekends!), my student email is asiricho@nd.edu — reach out!