Lowell House, for instance, seems to offer more early-morning conversation. Students tend to sit in pairs, chatting quietly over coffee or quizzing each other for tests later in the day. Some pairs share a companionable silence.

At Eliot House, people space out one to a table to study or simply gaze around.

Lee M. Paolillo, the Lowell checker, says she opens the hall by 5:45 a.m. every morning and makes coffee. A few students show up to study, she says.

The Quiet

For all the chapters of the breakfast club, the quiet is the most noticeable difference between the early morning and the rest of the day.

The silence is the reason most people refrain from hitting the snooze button one more time.

"It's quiet," says Laura T. Meyer '98. "It's the most normal meal."

The peace makes early-morning breakfast a good time to study, students say.

"I'm the most productive in the morning," says Barak Ben-Gal, a junior in Quincy House. "I wake up an hour and a half before breakfast begins. [I like] the quiet. It's a private time. It lets you organize your day."

Leah J. Kronenberg '97, also of Quincy House, agrees. "It's quiet so I can study. I feel like I've done something in the morning."

The Food

Another attraction of early breakfast is the food. There are no lines, and every menu item can be found. At the Union, the basic foods table has full containers, and trays of doughnuts and muffins are still full.

"There are always enough bagels," says Brooke S. Donovan '98. "If you come at 9:30, there aren't enough. It's important."

Bradford agrees.

"The bagels, they're good," she says. "They don't have them at other meals."