My First Semester as an Undergraduate George Opara   © Copyright 2020 by George Opara

After writing Jamb, the results came out after two weeks and everybody was exited and anxious at the same time to see their results. Unfortunately for me I was unable to see my own that week but the news going round was that there was 60% failure in the just concluded exams. When i heard the news I became scared and worried but later summed up courage to the nearest café close-by to check my own result. Immediately i inputted my examination number just like the speed of light my result just popped up and suddenly my eyes went down to the bottom of the screen, the moment i saw it there was a slight relief in my mind as it was a very close one. I rushed and showed the result to my dad who was a little bit disappointed to see 190 as my total accumulative score out of the total mark of 400 but his anger subdued when I told him the pass mark for my desired university of choice was 180. I was offered admission to my desired university but i was not given my desired course of study due to my low mark. Well as the saying goes “half bread is better than none” I immediately packed my luggage and headed straight to school to start a new phase of life.

Entering the university for me was a new experience it was way more different from my secondary school as everything about the university seemed big in my eye starting from their roads, the halls, the lecture rooms and even the library, but it was a very nice experience to be in a higher institute of learning. During the first week of our year one experience as fresher’s we were asked to start our clearance before going in for lectures which seemed like a simple task up until we were stuck in it for about 2 weeks due to the large population of students and limited number of personnel to handle the students and by the time we were done with the clearance we were already in our third week of academic session with piles of notes and assignment awaiting us, nobody told me it would be this difficult. Unlike in secondary school our teachers took out time to explain each topic until we perfectly understand them here the lecturers are less concerned if you understand or not and they barely repeat their words. After 5 weeks of the academic session I slowly adapted to the university lifestyle and I found myself blending in well. In the university there are all sorts of people you will find there as there are those who came strictly to pursuit academic excellent, those that came to socialize and just make friends, those that are very indecisive and end up joining cult groups, those that simply came to school to show off their expensive lifestyle and those that don’t even attend lectures at all. In the university there is a strong sense of freedom as there is no one to scold you if you do something wrong or even shout at you when you decide not to go for lectures it was literally a free world. Year one in the university is usually a time of decision making as any choice you make will determine your stay in school for the next 4 years. During this period as a year one undergraduate student, a lot of my course mates were wrongly guided and deceived to join cult groups, some choose not to go for lectures as there was no one to guide them and they had freedom, others choose to pursuit academic excellence, well as for me I chose the latter which later paid off for me.

Just like the twinkle of an eye the semester was already coming to an end and our examination was fast approaching, there were tutorials everywhere to aid year one students reach their academic goals, I attended some of them and found them very useful and enlightening well for others they were just after the money of the students as they literally had nothing to offer. During the nights for the preparation of our exams preparations different scenarios actually played out, there was a situation where a group of students went for night class activities TDB (Till Day Break) as it was usually called and as they were all sited in the classroom reading, suddenly a gang of about 5 hefty boys came in with guns and snatched all their phones and accessories and ran away. In another news there was an incident where a student was caught while smuggling examination papers from his H.O.D’S office to his hostel at night, he was out-rightly disgraced in front of his hostel mates and later I heard he was rusticated. It was time for examination and the Vice Chancellor of our school decided to introduce a new system of examination called the “Decentralized Examination System” in this system we were not allowed to write examination in our departments as we were displaced to other departments to write our examinations. It was a really good experience as this new system really helped to curb examination malpractice in the school. The examinations lasted for two weeks while our practical proceeded after our examination, everybody was anxious to go home after the examination period and some students didn’t even wait to complete their practical before they fled out of school. I had to wait for about two weeks after our practical just to see my First semester results to know how I performed and steps I needed to take ahead of the next semester. Unfortunately my wait was in vain and I was forced to return back home without any knowledge of my results. On my return back home, i was welcomed like a king as everyone came outside my street to greet me i felt very pleased my mum was more concerned about my weight complaining of how I’ve lost a lot of weight within a very short time, my siblings kept disturbing me on the presents I bought for them and I was forced to give them money to get snacks and for my dad he was more interested in my academic performance. During my second week at home news broke out that our first semester result was out and the results were pasted in our Course adviser’s office but thankfully there were no names on the results just the matriculation numbers. I look forward to resuming earlier next semester to see my results.

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George is currently doing his NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) at Oak International College in Lagos state, where he teaches both basic technology and technical drawing. He is a graduate of Urban and Regional Planning from Federal University of Technology Owerri. His love for writing since he was 10 has pushed him to writing so many unpublished stories about his life generally and his immediate environment. Writing has always been a hobby for him and he takes out time to express himself with a pen and paper whenever he has a chance, his goal is to become a professional writer in future.