I always thought I had a very bad experience when I was in the university. Until my colleague told me of his experience when he was in Tech. I actually felt bad for thinking I had a hard time.
The experience I am referring to here is accommodation experience(I am talking about 'PERCHING!') in the university.
When I was admitted into the University of Ghana to pursue a BA course, I thought it would be easy with arranging my accommodation on campus. Well your guess is as good as mine, it was not easy. It was nothing I had imagined.
Eventually though I got a room(I actually bought the bed... I don't even remember how much) in Legon Main Hall, a room on the F-Block to be precise. Interestingly it was one of the most interesting experiences I had when I was in the university(even though I didn't think it was that interesting at the time). There were 14 people in the room reserved for 8 people, can you imagine? (I'm sure if you are a Commonwealth boy you can imagine).
My room mates were made up different characters in that room. From 'Chrifey' to 'Bad boys' and those who were some where in-between 'chrifey' and 'bad boy'. Arguments about money, girls and sports was, as you can imagine, the main issue of our conversations.
But I hated the wash rooms. For those of you who know what I am referring to ( 'SOS' and the wet bathroom floor), the wash rooms were not the neatest. It was also very warm in the evenings, which made having a good night sleep only a desire and almost never a reality. Because I paid for the bed, I did not have a 'percher', but that did not last or long. As if to gently welcome me into the room, no one 'perched' for about a week or so. After that, when it I got back to the room to sleep at night, I'd find the 'percher' soundly sleeping. Sometimes I'd ask the person to get up, and on other occassions I'd just lie by the person.
Anyways, I was only able to 'survive' for one semester. I moved to Jubilee Hall(a 'hotel' by Main Hall standards).
Come to think of it now I know I had a good experience in university in my first year. Considering also the story my colleague shared with me, I know I was one of the 'privilaged' few. What was yours like? Do share!
Untill the next time when I 'think out loud', thank you for reading.
Perching is a very big problem I must admit. You will never consider it as a pertinent issue until you are either confronted with the issue or until a friend recounts his/her stories. Sometimes they actually sound like fairy tales or some sort of Ananse story.
ReplyDeleteI however admire the way the 'victims' go round the problem. Perching is a very creative solution. We are suffering because of someone else's negligence, lets just hope we don't make similar mistakes one day.
PS: Welcome to the Mest bloggers club..Nice one there.
Are you kidding me, 14 people in a room for 8? I remember i had a similar experience of sharing a room meant for 4 of us with 4 others. That was in Akuafo. I had a percher who, like me, did not have any place to stay near campus in Accra at the time. Our room mates were very noisy and the washroom undesirable, until things were improved in Level 300. This situation somewhat affected my studies. Anyway the good part of it was that i learnt to tolerate certain kinds of people better and in the final year i got the inner! lol!
ReplyDeletePS: Good job, looking forward to reading more posts from you.