TALK TO AFAS: Anonymous Interview with a Student of the English Department

Eniola Awolesi

My real question is when did you know you won’t be graduating with a first-class, but let’s start from the “beningin“. How did you get into UI, the alleged first and best?

Funny story. Really funny. I’m from the South-West, but I’ve always wanted to attend a university very far from home. I’m the last child of my family, and you’d think I would be pampered, but no! I was SUFFERING. Not literally, though. I just felt caged, and I needed freedom.

I can totally relate. So, what’s the funny story that kept you in a South Western University?

Chill. I’m getting there. Please permit me to brag a little. I was very brilliant in secondary school, so I was pretty overconfident I could get into a very good university in the north. Lo and behold, my parents rejected the idea outright. My mother wouldn’t even hear of it. Her response was an emphatic no. But I was also pretty strong-headed.
Now, when I said I wasn’t pampered, that was a slight lie. I was pretty spoilt, just not rotten. We went back and forth until my mother promised to visit me every weekend to wash my clothes and prepare soup for me if I chose UI. Guess who has only visited me once in all my three years here?

So, it’s safe to assume that lust for food derailed you from your dreams?

(laughs) Well, yes. You can say that.

Na wa! So, what were your expectations concerning your academic performance before you resumed?

First class, of course. In fact, when our course adviser, Dr. Ajibola, asked us to write down our intended graduation performance, I not only wrote first class, but I also added the best-graduating student. I was pretty confident I was brilliant enough for it.

Whoah! Tree of book. Igi ìwé. So what changed?

I came to a realization. It was like a rite of passage I was initiated into. It would surprise you that I knew from the middle of my first semester here that first class would elude me. That’s why I’m speaking with you about it so freely.
The moment of revelation didn’t come in the form of a low exam or test score or anything like that. In fact, my first semester was pretty normal, but when I knew, I just knew.
That reminds me. Please, don’t add my name. My father still thinks I’m working hard on a first class. I don’t want wahala. Plus, AFAS people are too serious about this first-class thing. They won’t talk to someone again.

I totally understand. So what’s that realization you came into?

I merely realized first class was just a fancy way of saying early morning classes, attending all lectures, doing “oversabi,” reading ahead and after class, preparing for tests always, and doing everything extra hard. Especially in this department? Ahn, no please.
I tried to keep up with these, but I just knew that it wouldn’t last. I love sleeping and resting well, and when I found myself dozing in an attempt to meet up early classes, I knew immediately that I’d be taking a different route than I originally planned.

Hm. So you backed away from the challenge?

I’m usually not one to back down from a challenge, but I knew those early morning classes would carry on without me. What about on days I’d leave my house, and the lecturers would end up not coming?
First class in UI is more about patience and resilience than academic excellence, and I no get patience one bit. I realized first class isn’t a grade but a plethora of sacrifices. Sacrifices I’m not willing to make. I want to be able to catch up and gist with no guilt that I should be reading.
So, to answer the question, I knew I wasn’t graduating with a first class at UI when I realized that I had to embrace my journey and focus on the charms of this school. Not that they’re many, sha. (laughs)
I’m also working two virtual jobs, and if I want to have a social life, I can’t chase a first class anymore.

Wow! You have really thought about this. So, what’s your current CGPA?

Funnily, I’m still in a first class. 3.51 or so. I wish I could give it out to someone.

I want to be like you when I grow up o. You have a first-class, and you don’t even want it?

That would soon change. I’ve heard third year in the English department no be beans, and me I like beans. (laughs)
I may not eventually have that degree, but the experiences I will have are worth more to me. I’m a soft babe. I no want wahala.

It shows! Thank you for your time.