Freshman Fumbles: Freshers’ Comedy of Errors

One Freshman, Zero Sense of Direction

The first time Uche stepped through the gates of the premier university, the University of Ibadan, was the day he resumed school. Big mistake. Uche had picked a university in the southwestern part of the country because he wanted to be free from his parents’ overprotectiveness.

He had only been to Ibadan once in his life, and that was when he wrote the post-UTME examination. Even then, his mother had come with him, and his exam was at DLC; there had been no time to explore. After he gained admission to study Linguistics, nothing could stop him.

Finally, school resumed, and Uche was over the moon with excitement. His mother had insisted on him not staying on campus, in the hall of residence allocated to him due to the fear of how unfavourable the living condition would be, so Uche rented his own self-contained room in Agbowo. Life couldn’t be better. His parents had dropped him in his new home, and his mother even stayed to prepare some stew for the week. Uche was chopping the life of his head.

Soon, however, Uche started to bite the finger of regret. Deciding to take the next day off despite warnings that registrations had already begun, Uche treated himself to a king lifestyle. The next day, armed only with the determination to complete every registration process without asking anyone, he hopped on a bike and even gave the rider a tip.
His determination was put to test, first, by the sun that roasted his skin as he entered the school gate. Uche quickly stopped a tricycle and took drop to Admissions Office. By the end of the day, Uche had exhausted the cash with him and had barely checked off the first process on the list but he was still unfazed. There should be ATMs, right?

After looking far and near, Uche decided it wouldn’t hurt to ask someone. Uche then realized that he’s a long way from his faculty and even a longer way from home and seeing that he had no cash on him, he humbly caught up with the speed and walked to the gate.
The sweat from his journey washed his skin and dried up on him. The next day, nobody taught Uche not to look at anyone’s face. Uche learnt from his experience; you can either do the same or find your own experience to learn from.

Them no dey tell person.