She wakes up early on Tuesday morning and heads off to her 11 a.m. class. After that she goes directly to the law firm where she works from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Then she goes home quickly to let out her dog, Jack, and take a quick breather before going to work at 9:30 p.m.

“My dog is on my bartending schedule,” said Jesika Wehunt, a senior from Douglasville.

Wehunt won’t be done bartending at Magnolia’s Bar until 3:30 a.m., and then on Wednesday she will wake up for what feels like a painfully early 10:10 a.m. class.

“You have to learn to budget your time,” Wehunt said of being a student and a bartender.

Wehunt has bartended for a year and a half in Athens and, like most other bartenders, got her job through friends who worked in the bar.

But it takes more than a good agenda book to balance work and school, especially when working at a time when most students are sleeping, studying or enjoying a night out.

“It’s definitely stressful,” said Erin O’Hara, a senior from Peachtree City and bartender at Bourbon Street bar. “If you have early classes, then you run on very little sleep.”

O’Hara’s schedule looks similar to Wehunt’s. On Wednesdays she wakes up for a 9:05 a.m. class, then goes straight to her internship in Atlanta from noon to 5 p.m. She drives back in rush hour traffic and has just enough time to make it to her shift at Bourbon at 9 p.m.

“I wanted to work at night,” said O’Hara, who has worked at the bar since spring of 2008.

She said she’s most productive at night – it’s when she works out, does her homework and, of course, bartends.

“It’s great money, but a lot of people can’t handle the hours,” said Chris Ha, a senior from Sandy Springs who bartends and bar-backs at Buddha Bar.

Whereas females can become bartenders right away, males have to work their way up from being door-man to bar-backing, or cleaning up, and then to bartending. Ha has worked at Buddha Bar for almost two years.

All three students said that as stressful as the job may be, they don’t feel they are missing anything by not being able to go out with friends.

“It’s kind of like you still get to go out, but instead of spending money you get to make money,” Wehunt said.

But there’s more to being a bartender than just being nocturnal. These students have to deal with unruly drunk people, underage drinkers and impatient customers.

“We do our best to check IDs,” said Ha, who also works as a doorman at Buddha Bar. “We can refuse service to anyone.”

“If you can relate to drunk people and calm them down, then you can relate to anyone,” O’Hara said about the communication skills bartenders learn on the job.

Wehunt added that bartenders learn how to take on multiple orders at a time and to market products, such as drink specials, to customers.

A difficult task for a bartender is the ability to stay calm when unruly people come into the bar.

“On my first day of work, I had to break up a fight,” Ha said.

Bizarre situations occur during every shift. During the LSU football game Wehunt was bartending when two LSU fans got on a bar at 1 p.m. and took their pants off.

“At this point, nothing surprises me,” O’Hara said.