You say Goodbye, I say Hello

ATT: All those perspective first years out there…

So you have decided to leave the comfortable nest you call home to commence your tertiary education in a far off land. On the one hand you’re friggin’ excited to finally leave the folks, the annoying siblings, and the senile grandparents but also you’re a blue little smurf cause you have to leave behind those best mates from high school.

Leaving home can be traumatizing for everyone but face the facts you have to leave one day other wise you’ll become that sad loser who lives off PS2 games and mum’s spaghetti till their forty. But unless you get kicks from that, then be my guest and be a hermit at home.

I remember telling myself before I left for Rhodes that I wasn’t going to cry at the airport and I was definitely not going to miss the Durban family. Rhodes was my chance to start a fresh and detox my past away. I thought I would be happy. But the airport day came and I found myself balling my eyes out and wiping my cousin’s snot off my sleeve. The flight attendants were quite worried by may state when I boarded. As soon as the plane took off I wanted to go back. I indeed wanted to go UKZN and not a place where I don’t even know the name of the province.

Arriving at Rhodes was a huge wake-up call. I was lost and I didn’t have any friends and my bag felt like I was carrying the dead body of Hitler. Being dropped off at a boys res I thought they had mistaken me for a boy. Since it has happened many times before. But to my relief the boys just stared and pointed me to the right GIRLS res. I thought I was never going to fit in and make any friends.

But looking back on it now I see what a fool I was. Uni is guaranteed to be fun though it does have its fall backs sometimes but nonetheless it is fun. You will have some sort of friendships and even make friends for life. So don’t be afraid to take that leap and talk to the loner by the dustbin they might be the greatest person you’ve ever met. But also they could be a murderer so be cautious.


From left: Yours truly, Thirusha, Niki

You see I do have friends... The picture above proves that. No, i did not photoshop the pic. That's just sad.. like the loser who lives with thier mum till thier 40.

Create an Identity

You know that age old saying that it's best to just be yourself and then the friends will start flowing. Well it's not true. Well not true to an extent. Here at University in order to be known and stick out from the rest you've gotta be a ninja.

It's very easy to just fade away into the background at University because there are just so many people. Well here at Rhodes University there's 6000 students but places like UCT and WITS cater for over 20 000 students. Now that's a hell of a lot if you compare it to dear old High School.

Therefore my advice to you is that you create an identity for yourself that you love and if you love that identity then people will be drawn, like a magnet to metal. But don't get me wrong I'm not saying that you have to be fake and walk around being all sad because you feel that you're not being honest to yourself. I'm saying that you have to compromise here and there in order to make new friends and then after wards when you know that person better you become more you. No don't tell me that's being fake because it really is completely normal. I'm sure everyone does it. Or maybe it's just me.

Though if you're one of those people that don't want any attention and just want to fade away from the spotlight. Then be my guest and lurk in the background. Being involved in the livelihood of University may just get you some great credentials to put on that CV of yours. So take my advice and get involved in all that University has to offer because first year only happens once (Well normally).

Be yourself but not so much. No one likes it when you come up to them and say "Hi, my chainsaw is oiled up and your limbs look quite tasty".

So take it easy and don't come on too strong on people when you're making friends in that time we call O-week.

Peace, Love and Tequila
Lesh