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.
