Monday finally arrived and in a grand style too. You know the excitement you have before your first class in a new school. Well, I had that. It was a mixture of excitement, anxiety and nervousness. Waking up early was not a problem since sleep hardly came before the break of dawn.
During the weekend, the fresher and I had gone around the campus looking for our various lecture halls and the various course schedules. According to the course schedule she showed me, we had one course together that morning at 7:30am. So, with the most enthusiasm any freshers could gather for their very first university lecture, we started walking towards the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) in search of our lecture theater. After so many conflicts about which path led to UGBS, we asked for help from some students who were also going for their lectures. Some gave directions that helped and other freshers like ourselves who looked even more confused than us couldn’t offer any help. One student, who I later realized was more confused than us, directed us to a lecture theater different from any lecture theater at UGBS. In fact, while following that direction, we had moronically walked past UGBS and were on our way to GCB main. We would have continued walking if we hadn’t realized we had been walking for a while and asked for help again.
All this while my roommate was annoying me with the number of pictures she was taking. While the fact that we would be late for our very first lecture agitated me, she’d make sure she takes at least a picture after every step we take. After what seemed like forever, we finally found our way to the UGBS. We walked to the lecture hall on the first floor of the building and sat down, waiting for the lecturer with so much eagerness along with some other freshers. My heart sank when some continuing students alerted us of the fact that we were in the wrong lecture theater.
In fact, we did not have any lecture that morning. We had made a mistake. We had followed Friday’s lecture schedule instead of Monday’s schedule. My bubble of enthusiasm was burst. All the trouble we had gone through was for nothing, apparently. The only good thing about this entire adventure was the fact that I wouldn’t get lost Friday morning.
THE GOOD SIDE OF THE MISTAKE
There was another good thing about our mistake. Considering the fact that I would have waited till the last minute to do my course registrations (both online and offline), the morning’s mistake was just a motivation for me to move to my departments and do the registrations. In case you are interested in my program of study, I study Public Administration, Information Studies and Sociology, which means unlike other students who study single courses, I belong to three different departments and would have to go to all these departments for my course registration and the various course schedules.
While on my way to the information studies department after several failed attempts, I decided it’d be best if I took my time to get to know my surroundings. So, I started reading the signposts. On a more serious note, reading sign posts in the University of Ghana is a very important skill every student needs to develop because the one you might ask for direction might be just as lost as you are. After a walk that took longer than it would have had I known where I was going, I made it to the Information Studies department is behind the Balme library right after you make it past the ‘N Block’. They set a tent up right outside the Teaching Assistants’ (TAs’) office and executives of the department sat behind a table which they decorated with the blue and white departmental cloth.
One thing I realized about the human brain is its ability to maximize the impact of a word when we first hear it. When I first heard course registration, I seriously thought it would be a series of tiring, extravagant activities. I got to the department and realized that all they needed was for me to present my admission letter or proof of registration since I didn’t have an ID yet, fill a form, have my name and WhatsApp contact written in a book which I prefer to call ‘the book of life’ (you’ll know why later), pay my dues and receive my souvenirs(this is my favorite part).
During the registration, I realized one thing. Ironically students were very lazy in reading. Explicit instructions were indicated on the form that we had to fill, yet some freshers demonstrated their level of ignorance and hate for reading by asking questions that they had already answered on the form. They literally asked the same questions were on the form. I do not understand why and would have seen nothing wrong if it was just an individual, but it was a congregation of individuals asking the same questions right after each other. I’m definitely not mistaken when I say the executives there had so much patience because there’s just so much ignorance that I can tolerate.
After the registration, though they did not give us our schedules, they informed us that there would be a class at 3:30pm in the afternoon. My brain just lit up, finally a real first lecture in the University! We were also informed that we’d know our schedules during the class and like any other fresher, I believed missing that class would be the death of me.
JUST SMACK ME OVER THE HEAD
When I finished with my registration, the thought of the fact that I had to go back to the Business School to register for Public Administration crossed my mind and I almost smacked myself in the head for my dumb behavior. I could have just done that before going to the Information Studies department. So, I walked back to the BS. It wasn’t a long walk, but I mentally slapped myself throughout the entire journey and decided I’d always double think my walks now.
When I got back to the BS, I was told the registration was going on at the third floor of the three floored story building. I literally cringed. You know the history between staircases and I already. I trudged all the way to the third floor only to be told that the BS required my proof of registration instead of the admission letter and that I’d have to go back downstairs to print it. I was dumbstruck. I literally just walked up three entire floors to be told that it was all for no use. My entire staircase climbing journey was pointless. I’d have to go back down and come back up. While I was walking away in my misery, one of the Junior Common Room (JCR) aspirants who had attended my Alma mater directed me to a printing press on the second floor. I enthusiastically thanked her and started my journey towards the second floor. I went there, had my proof of registration printed out and dragged myself back to the third floor to complete my registration. Unfortunately, the souvenirs from the Business School weren’t available at that time, so they instructed us to come back for them at a later time.
You can just imagine what was going through my mind. That I had to climb the stairs again was all that I thought of while descending the stairs. I got to the ground floor only to realize that there was actually an elevator which I could have used instead of condemning myself to all that pain of climbing three floors.
to be continued...
PLAYLIST
You mean to tell me by Tatiana Manaois
B.O.M.O by Tatiana Manaois
Category: UG Escapades
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