Salah's College Chronicles Vol. 1

 We go de alright my G, no worry we go run am. Naso we de talk am anytime kasala burst.

October 2017 was when I returned to Ilorin for the commencement of a new phase in my life. I had completed my first year in the University of Ilorin just a few months earlier. The session had been unbelievably tasking and strenuous. It was time to move to the College of Health Sciences.

SETTLING IN

It is worth mentioning that I had made acquaintances with more than a few of my classmates in my first year, but at the time of resumption to the College of Health Sciences, only two of them really stood out as my friends, Mahmud, who I had met in very bizarre circumstances in our first year and was in my department, Anatomy, and Musdhaliph, with whom I had been friends since secondary school and was in the sister department, Physiology. When school fully resumed in November, the first issue was accommodation. Mahmud had secured a place off-campus, whereas myself and Musdhaliph looked to secure a room in the school's male hostel. We spent the first few weeks shuttling between our lectures and a faculty official's office. After many fruitless visits and long queues, when it finally got to our turn to be attended to, Nigeria struck. The Non-Academic Staff of Universities NASU declared a nationwide strike, and just like that, our hopes of securing a place in the hostel died. Luckily, Mahmud had reserved a place for us, and had even been pressuring us for weeks to abandon our search for a place on campus and settle for one off-campus with him. 

I continued attending lectures from town even after I secured accommodation and moved my stuff, and only moved into my place on January 1st 2018. The first week after I moved in was crazy, partly due to the fact that my roommate refused to resume, and the fact that I was living on a diet of bread and soda because I was not interested in cooking, and I had no intention of eating out. I only ate cooked food like twice throughout the period. It really was a horrible period. I ate junk in the mornings and afternoons, and on my way home from school, bread and a fizzy drink would be my last "meal" of the day, even on days I fasted. When my roommate finally resumed a week later, I felt as if I had been awarded a gold medal in the Olympics. We quickly settled in, and things went smoothly.

LECTURES/PRACTICALS AND EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

From my experience in 100l, lectures were a thing to dread. There were too few seats and too many students, it was a recipe for disaster. The environment was never conducive for learning. It was therefore a huge upgrade when I got to the College of Health Sciences and realised I didn't have to sit on the floor to receive lectures.

My basic tactic to avoid trouble was to simply evade notice. I made sure to sit down in the most populated areas of the class, where I would not be required to ask or answer questions in class. I just wanted to attend the classes and go home afterwards. Throughout my first year in the college, only one lecturer knew me from class, and that was because I enjoyed sitting in front and communicating with him as he took us through embryology.

In spite of my unwillingness to get noticed by lecturers, I wanted to do something different from just class work so I volunteered to be the class football coach because I loved football and despite having played a lot of it at a high level for much of my life, I knew I didn't have the strength and stamina to make the team as a player anymore. Unfortunately, my time as coach has been marred by so many near-misses, and my team has only ever won one trophy due to a combination of ojoro from our seniors, and bad luck on our side. I also joined the faculty's academic group, one which represented the faculty at university-level quiz and debate tournaments. I was among the representatives of the faculty at the Interfaculty Spelling Championship which we won in what was one of the highest points of my first year in the college.

Prior to our first practical session in anatomy, we heard things like "if you see cadaver you'll faint" or "cadaver de make girls vomit de cry sef". I don't know if it's coconut head my female classmates have or it was just an exaggeration from those who said it, because nothing slightly resembling their predictions took place. In our first dissection, I was one of the first (I think I was the first, actually) to touch and dissect a body. I did not have night terrors nor throw up afterwards. 

I spent most of my time in 3 places; school, mosque, and the nearby football viewing centre, where I always enjoyed watching football with my guy Toyeeb. We both supported Chelsea but the guy enjoyed arguments too much. He almost got beaten at the viewing centre one day.

STUDYING

From a young age, I hated studying school books, but here, I realised that I had to put in at least a basic effort to read, so that I wouldn't have myself to blame. When the session started, myself and my roommate, Musdhaliph decided to stay indoors and read our books as we saw fit. Few weeks later, we chose to start going to school every night after dinner to read in class. To do this, we would have to trek a distance far more than a Kilometre. When we started our "night class" style, Mahmud joined us some times, and other times, it was just me and Musdhaliph. We'd get to school by 9pm, joke and gist till 10pm, read till 12 or 1am, then head home after sleeping till around 3am. This was our usual schedule and it was followed quite religiously LOL.

At a period, robbers began targeting people on the road around the time we went home, and if any of us raised the topic of robbers attacking us, we'd quickly shoot it down, saying the robbers could not attack three men on the road. Mahmud always said we were only two and he made me understand a while later. That day, all three of us were heading home from school around past 3am when I suddenly saw Mahmud sprint away, and Musdhaliph followed suit quickly. I did not see or hear anything but to avoid stories that touch, I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. On getting home, none of them could say that they had actually seen something that caused them to run. Apparently, Mahmud thought he saw something, but there was nothing outside at that time. 

Another time, it was just me and Musdhaliph heading home at past 3 when we saw a group of women all clad in white approaching from a distance. We quickly ran back into school and stayed hidden until they passed. God no go shame us.

By the end of our first semester, Mahmud and Musdhaliph stopped studying in the same location as me because I was apparently too unserious, and it was rubbing off on them. Welp.

ASSESSMENT/EXAMS

We had our first assessment in December, a genetics test. It went really well for me and it gave me a good foundation to build from. My first heartbreak was also in the first semester, when we were supposed to have a BCM 221 test, but I was supposed to go to Lagos for my ophthalmologist appointment. I explained to the lecturer and he said there was nothing he could do and there would be no make up. I went to Lagos as planned, and on the day before the test, I set out for Ilorin in a perilous journey. Due to a combination of mechanical issues and traffic, I only arrived in Ilorin on the morning of the day of the test. The test eventually did not hold. I had gone through all that stress for nothing, but as always, we moved.

For me, my first semester exams went really quietly until the very end. We had gone for our GNS exam and were left with just one paper, BCM 221. Me and my guys decided to pool money together and cook soup. We had yam flour and semovita already, so we contributed money to get pepper, meat, vegetables and other stuff from the market. I cooked the food on the evening before the exam, and myself, Musdhaliph, Mahmud and Ridwan, Mahmud's roommate ate Semovita and Egusi soup. When the last 2 members of our group, Toyeeb and Slimmy arrived, they made Amala and ate. Mahmud ate from their amala as well. We had an exam by 8:30 the next morning so we decided to go to school and prepare for the exam. Mahmud couldn't make it as he had slept off after loading himself, and he only woke up few hours to the exam. I remember seeing him after the exam and he said "Guy na God no go make me fail this exam, I no Sabi anything". He ended up passing the course, regardless.

During my second semester exams, I had a close shave with wahala. It was ANA 206, a course that had claimed so many scalps in the previous session. I had gone to school with Mahmud and Musdhaliph to prepare for the exam, as usual. We remained in school till after we observed our Fajr Solat and day broke. As we headed home, it started raining and the rain beat us till we got home. On getting home, myself and my roommate decided to sleep for a bit, thinking(or rather hoping) that the rain would not subside soon and the exam would get postponed because we were so tired. The exam was scheduled for 8:30. A few minutes later(according to my mental clock), I heard someone scream from my window and looked out, it was Mahmud who had just finished having his bath and was dressing up who had come to check if we were almost ready so we could leave together for the exam. He was surprised to find us both fully in bed, tucked in. Apparently, the rain was only a slight drizzle, and had stopped almost as soon as it started. I checked the time and it was past 8, I quickly woke Musdhaliph up and we rushed through our preparations and only made it to school in time for the exam by sheer luck, owing to the fact that the students who were to take the exams were too much and a lot of rearranging was going on.

END OF SESSION

By July, I completed my second semester exams and had become very acquainted with life in the college. By the time me and my friends separated, I knew that life was about to get a lot more interesting in the next session, and I was not wrong.