Life has taught me to be strong, courageous, disciplined, and to never give up. Sometimes starting afresh looks bad but once you conquer your fear, it isn't so bad after all. Like a normal student, I graduated from high school eight years ago with the hope of getting admission into higher institutions immediately but I guess life has a different plan. " I can't wait to get admission into a higher institution," I told my younger brother one afternoon during our leisure time. He looked at me and smiled as he could see the excitement in my eyes. " What did you want to do in school that you are so eager?" he asked, I didn't know what to reply to him with at that point so I snubbed his question.
A few minutes later, I was able to come up with an answer, then I cleared my throat and said," I've been told that when you are in a higher institution, you will be free to do whatever you desire, no one will force you to go to classes, and you will have the freedom to go where ever you wish with no one to give you time to be back" I know that's what you will say" he replied. I waited patiently for an admission which didn't come through that year, but I wasn't discouraged. I decided to learn new things to keep me busy, I waited for 5 years before I gained admission into the higher institution after my math dave proceeded long ago and some were done with schooling, some were in their service year when I gained admission while some got married the year I was celebrating my admission.
Long before then, when my friends called to gist me on how they were faring in school, did feel bad but a word from my grandma changed my perspective, "Don't ever compete with anyone, every human on earth comes with a different destiny, your time will come and when it does, it will be glorious". I held on to those words and it has been guiding my path. I do think that "was my delay because I wanted to be skipping lectures just as being told it's being done in school?" I have asked myself this question times without a number. But I guess my time has finally come after 5 years.
On the day of resumption, I hurried to school as my school was in the same state I reside, It wasn't so difficult for me but I had to take an apartment closer to school because my resident is a bit far. I couldn't live in the school hostel as it was conducive enough for me, so I took up a room self-contained in one of the neighborhoods close to the school. Getting to the school, the atmosphere felt different as I saw several students trooping in both the old and the new students (freshers) as they are fondly called. I looked up and saw a big banner hung on one of the walls with the writing "Welcoming freshers into this great institution and wishing you success all through".
I felt my heart racing at that point as I heard some students saying behind me "We have lots of freshers this session, they don't know what they are into now until the examination time". I looked back to see their countenance and I think they saw the fear in my eyes. At that point, the idea of skipping lectures was erased from my mind, all I wanted was to make it out of the school excellently. I am in an environment I haven't been to before, meeting new people that I haven't met before, and taking on a course I had no or little understanding about. "It's not gonna be easy," I said to myself as I approached the lecture hall.
I am not so good at mathematics and my first lecture happened to be algebra, I looked at the notebook and pen I was holding and I felt like crying. The girl sitting beside me on the slab looked at me and saw how disturbed I was, the lecture room was filled to the brim with over 1,000 students. It wasn't a conducive environment at all but for learning purposes, I had to endure. At the time I gained admission, I became tired of reading, it took me a longer time to understand and assimilate then I said to myself "I need help" not knowing the girl beside me heard me.
" We all need help, it's only going to take discipline, hard work, and dedication, If you don't mind can we be friends?" I looked at her and something in me liked her and that's how we started our friendship. She had been of great help to me and I guess she can say the same about me, I couldn't skip lectures as I had planned because one wrong step can cause me a carryover which I promised myself not to have. It was a fresh start to a brighter future for me and today I can say the delay I had for 5 years isn't a denial, it was only preparing me for a brighter future. Gaining admission after a long time was like starting afresh for me because I had to put myself together again after being away from a learning environment for so long.