Who needs an alarm clock?

Now entering our second week back at school, my body is faced with the stress of not yet having a solid eight hours of sleep. Chatty roommates? Rude neighbors? Late night cram sessions? Nope. Construction.

Now, I will not complain about the need for construction on our lovely campus. Living in Badin Hall, I was getting tired of looking at a desolate and abandoned old bookstore building. I wanted a decadent

building as grand as the new Eck Center in its place just as much as anyone else did. In my starry-eyed imagination, I would leave school in May and return in August to the grandeur of a new slate-roofed and

marble-floored building.

However, at 6:45 a.m. on the first morning of my return, reality screeched, beeped and pounded into my dreams. No longer in the comfort of my unconscious, I succumbed to the construction demands of the

Notre Dame community and whined through breakfast with my just-as-irritated roommate in our peaceful breakfast nook.

Now in this community lifestyle we all share during our days and nights at Notre Dame, one thing seems to be stressed more than anything: respect for that community and the needs within it. I couldn't agree

more with that philosophy. However, it seems that whoever is behind construction projects at Notre Dame fails to see it in the same way our rectors so vehemently enforce it.

Quiet hours are supposed to extend until 10 a.m. within the dorms, as to ensure that everyone has the opportunity for a healthy night's sleep. Logically, I figured that some sort of respectful quiet hours would be

enforced on the outside. Now, I wasn't expecting 10 a.m., but 7 a.m. surprised me.

In an unofficial, but valid, survey throughout my cozy dorm, I learned that all of us are rudely shaken from our sleep as cement trucks reverse, the crane operates, and construction workers discuss their previous

night's activites. We are all on the verge of mental and physical breakdown as we operate on auto pilot throughout the day. Eye circles. Headaches. Sickness. Loss of hand-eye coordination. We are suffering

here.

And to make matters worse, we can't just slam the windows shut, thanks to the generous and abundant August heat.

When I learned that not only will construction crews be working six days a week, but also into the winter months, I fondly daydreamed about the many hours of luxurious, glorious and precious sleep I acquired

during the lazy summer months. As I recalled the comfort of my own fluffy bed and the security of my pink-painted room, I longed for the sweetness of my mother's awakening voice. However, my daydream was

rudely interrupted by that consistent beeping sound of the reversing cement trucks.

• Who needs an alarm clock?