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My first day in Boarding school (fiction)

The eve of my departure to boarding school was the longest might i'd ever experience. I couldn't wait for the light of dawn to appear so that i could start s new life in a completely different environment. I was just 10 years old; it was going to be the first time i'll be leaving home to live on my own. I had mixed feelings but being brought up in a middle class Nigerian Family i had no choice, boarding secondary education was the norm. The idea of not having to share my bed, own a box, bucket, lockers and evening having my own personal student account was delightful but the thought of catering for myself, waking up as early as 5.00 am to do my duties before attending lessons was disheartening. Of course there were bells and seniors students who would ensure that all activities where carried out at the appropriate time. However, most seniors were mean to junior students to the extent of giving out their uniforms to the junior students to wash. Now thats WICKED!

When morning finally came, I had everyone at home running up and down making sure i didn't leave behind any of my possessions. I bade farewell to my siblings and joined my parents in the car, we had to drive three hours to get to school. During the journey, my parents gave me advice on good conduct preparing me for the task ahead. They did their best to give a general insight of life in boarding school, mum even had to share some of her experiences with me just to make me realize how fortunate i was to be born in the present generation because life in the past was much harder and they had to travel very long distances to fetch bathing water often which they encountered a lot of scary creatures in the bush.

Finally we arrived, at the gate was the principal who received us and after all the necessary registration process was completed, i had to say my goodbyes. This was the most difficult part of it all. I looked around to see other gloomy faces, some new students even running after their parents' cars as it drove away. I turned to my parents, hugged them one last time with tears in my eyes, i watched them head towards the campus gate, as they disappeared into the traffic on the highway i walked away with my head bent, i was all alone now. Suddenly i felt a slap on my shoulder. It was a friend of mine from primary school, i had no idea we got admitted into the same secondary school. The tears in my eyes vanished immediately, and after catching up on all the gist we missed about who went to which school, we decided to familiarize ourselves with the new school environment since other students were still arriving and there wasn't any activity scheduled until evening. We started from the hostel area, walking past the first of six dormitory complexes we noticed a large open field probably used for out door sports. As we approached the assembly hall, i began to have a sense of dejavu. I'd been here before and it wasn't in my dreams, it was 5 years ago when my Aunt and I came for my cousin's graduation ceremony. A lot had changed considering the newly completed structures here and there. I noticed a huge building between the administrative block and the infirmary; it had the word "SILENCE" hanging on the door. That must be the library I concluded. The organization of the school was fascinating.

By the time we completed our tour, it was already getting dark and I remembered what my mum had said about scary creatures, we had to find our way back but the problem was we didn't know how. As we wondered about the campus, we came across a signpost pointing southwards with the inscription "UP" boldly written, ignoring it we continued wondering and again we saw another signpost pointing northwards with "DOWN" written on it. We didn't have a clue what "UP" or "DOWN" meant. Scared and confused we decided to walk towards the illuminated pathway leading towards the main gate of the school, as we approached the refectory we noticed a group of students having an orientation and the officiating staff was taking a roll call. Tired and hungry we hurriedly joined the group; the thought of missing dinner wasn't amusing either.

As we fell into our lines, the staff on duty approached us and asked; "Where have you both been?" My friend and i answer in unison, "We lost our way around campus". "How could that possibly be? We have signposts showing directions everywhere " he says, "We saw the signposts but we didn't understand what it meant." We replied. "How do you mean?" he asks? "The sign "UP" was pointing southwards and the sign "DOWN" was pointing Northwards" I replied. "And we had no idea what it meant, my friend added." A ha!", he says laughingly, "UP" and "DOWN" are words peculiar to this campus. Up means the administrative and class area while Down means the dormitory and recreation areas" he explained. "Welcome to campus life, you are going to have an interesting six years ahead" he added.

Staring amazed at him we nodded, indeed we were.

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This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

you know you are a student in Turkey when....

you eat bread with almost everything

you are asked why you choose turkey over any other country

you are called arab! (the irony is that Turks all over europe are referred to as Arabs)

Most guys you see have hair longer than yours

you are forced to support Galatasary Fenerbahce or Besiktas

Efes isn't strange to you

you say tamam and evet while talking to your family on the phone

you need to take your passport (PASAPOT) along with you everywhere you go

kebab is your favorite food

you make a complaint and the response you get is "yapacak bisey yok"!

you take pictures at the mall with almost everyone coz u r Black!

5 minutes means 45 minutes

you have to wake up 2 hours earlier in order to make it to school (this applies to students in Istanbul only)

traffic hold up is a norm

''indirim'' is always up on store fronts (makes you wonder if the clothes are ever sold at the original price)

you are stalked by 2-8 men/women ... boys/girls

you are asked if America is next door to your country

your hair becomes a topic of discussion

you have to walk a distance to get to the bus stop/ train station

you are asked to choose between your country or turkey?

your PASSO becomes your life saver

you speak turkish to a sales person and he answers you in english (or almost english)

"Move your body" and Lumidee's "i wanna dance with somebody" becomes your favorite club hits

Africa is refered to as a country not a continent

you become addicted to tea/cay!

there is some sort of protest whether it is the buses, teachers, farmers, or tourist guides and you are not surprised

you don't find it werid that a christmas tree is up on the main square even though you must go to school on christmas day

every kid says hello! where are you from?!

you google a vacation city and you end up redirected to Turkey!

you are familiar with the word YABANCI

you are offered cigarette like its food!

the taxi driver becomes aggresiv because you don't speak turkish and he doesn't speak english

demonstrations at the university become normal

you see a scooter drived on the pavement, during a traffic jam

you don't throw paper in your toilets

you have visited Sultan Ahmet, Ayasofia and all countless times!

you do a turkish song at karaoke (story of my life) lol!

you dont worry if you missed breakfast, there's always a simitci at the corner ha ha ha

You can go out at midnight

You can get fresh fruits and vegetables 24 hours a day.

Your monthly house payments exceed your annual income.

you dont worry about buying expensive designer items coz they've got great KNOCK OFFS!

A really great parking space can totally move you to tears

A man gets on the bus wearing female regalia and you don't even notice coz its normal (strictly in Istanbul)

your favorite slogan is "BURASI TURKIYE"!

Istanbul is the most beautiful city in the world!