OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY
Lawd! OhAhYou! Even as I type this I am filled with so much nostalgia about that beautiful school. I wouldn't have loved it anywhere else.
OAU taught me, stretched me, drilled me, prepared me, in fact I think I am short of words, but that school built a better part of who I am today. Apparently it's not the structures, though maybe in someway I could say the structures contributed.. Lol.. But really it's majorly the people, the spirit, the consciousness, the struggle.
I got into OAU early but I don't think I really thought about it at all. OAU practically threw me into the system and there was no time to think that maybe I was too young to go through the system. Right from the registration process, to the wakabout in the faculty, to the drama in the hostel. Everything was just fast moving and strange.
Then tell me about the night! It was a whole new exposure for me, I mean I never moved out in the night on my own before and there I was free to roam around the most beautiful campus in Africa at night. And oh how I roamed and saw things!
I remember when we initially resumed and lectures had not started, I had nothing to do at night, so with my hairnet and novels I would trek all the way to oduduwa basement just to read my novels beside the statute and feel the cold air seep through my pores. Then on my way back I would see different kind of cuddling and kissing positions; I used to feel so surprised then but later on I just simply didn't see them.
The hostel too had different kinds of human beings; the very friendly people, the snobbish ones, the ones that always felt like they were the mothers of the room, the ones that were always ready to fight, the ones that knew every gist on campus before they ever happened oh how will I forget? The ones that guys were always coming to see every night and you hear the eager girls screaming "Can a guy come in??"
Though hostel was fun I was glad to leave the dramas behind after a while.
Faculty of law was another insightful place and what made it insightful for me and made law very attractive was the practical aspects I got involved in, some amazing lecturers that made me realize lecturers can also be wonderful people with conscience and large hearts and finally some of the most hardworking, dedicated and resourceful students with a die hard spirit.
I know I learnt a whole lot. I learnt to balance different things and be productive in all, I learnt to make use of little resources to produce maximal results, I learnt the real meaning of burning midnight oil, like the actual meaning. I learnt some much, I know I can definitely not state everything. Before I left, I learnt leadership and I learnt people. I would think those were the greatest lessons I learnt from ifelaw.
OAU made me think, made me confident and bold, made me insightful and compassionate, it showed me who I really was out of the protection of home.
I made some mistakes, I had some regrets but I also had some of the best times of my life, learnt different things and I have so much to be grateful for.
Maybe I wasn't so diversified in Ife but the things I dwelt and focused on, I think they have made some incredible impacts in my life.
And forever, regardless of what changes or does not change in that amazing place I can always say with so much pride and nostalgia; GREAT IFE!
©Onashile Peace (tolarnee)
7/2/2018