I have a couple of tips on the mask thing . . . first off, the instructions for clearing your mask usually say to tip your head back. This is quite true if you are lying down, but if you are sitting up and tip your head back, what you do is make gravity cause the water in the mask to run down the floor of your nasal passage into your throat. I don't believe that students should ever be sitting or kneeling during classes, but if that's the position you're in, if you tilt your face VERY slightly FORWARD, it will keep the water out of your nose.
If that wasn't the problem, an exercise on airway control might help, one that I got from somebody here on SB: As you are sitting at your computer, close your lips and blow your cheeks up like a chipmunk's. Now, relax and let the air in your mouth go out your nose. Practice inflating your cheeks and releasing through your nose until you can FEEL the change you make in your throat to do that. Once you can close off your nasopharynx effectively, you will no longer try to inhale water through your nose.
Foggy masks seem to be an almost universal issue on the first night in the pool. You really have to scrub the mask thoroughly and carefully with toothpaste to get rid of the coating it starts out with.