‘Take me home! I don’t want to go anymore!’ I screamed at my father. ‘Yes you do, you are just nervous’ he replied calmly. ‘No I am not. I have made a stupid mistake. I can’t live on my own. I will either die of hunger or some loneliness disease’ ‘Loneliness diseases do not exist’ ‘Of course they do, they are known as No-mates-itus.’ This argument broke out five minutes into our 1000 kilometre journey. He gave up fighting and I succumbed to my emotions. I didn’t expect leaving home would be so emotional. How can you feel excited, nervous and sad all at the same time? Early the next morning, we entered the Forum to pick up the key. During the drive to Ede, the nerves returned and bounced around my stomach. ‘Dad, is that a fence?’ ‘Well, it is an old military base, it was decommissioned last year’ ‘Last year?!’ slamming the car door a little too enthusiastically. At the top of the stairs, we entered a long, empty corridor. I began examining the common facilities as my father wandered off. He reappeared shortly afterwards, a cheeky grin upon his face. ‘You might want to check your room, soldier’ I rushed down the corridor, ignoring his joke. Flinging my door open, I found the only problem with the Ede campus. Yes, the buildings had been renovated and all the facilities were brand new, but, someone had decided the coolest colour for student rooms was dark brown – it looked like the inside of a dung heap! I didn’t realise at that point how much I would come to love Ede. As they say, never judge a book by its cover.
Brown covered books.
There is one moment in student life, where doubt creeps in. Of course, it comes at the most inappropriate of times. Like when moving to another country to study.
