Every society has its guidelines or way of life, entering a new society that you don’t know about, one of the best ways of blending is to understand the way things are done and the way of life in this setting so that you won’t overdo or overlook things.
A higher institution is just another environment on its own which you really should understand also, most of us had spent six years in high school and we’ve gotten adapted to the way things are done there which was even different from the way things are done when we were in our respective primary schools.
Entering the university is another big thing on its own, especially if you had attended day school as your high school, you’d have to get used to not going home every day, catering for yourself and taking proper care of yourself and also building relationships amongst students in the school which will be very new and different from the type of school life you’ve been leading before.
These are some things you should know about what it is like to be a UI student:
1. Hostel life
Maybe you’re this type of person that’s used to just being the only one in the room or you can only put up with one person in the room, prepare yourself because you are about to share the room with two or three other people and trust me, these people will carry out most of their activities in the room, so you’re stuck with them for that year and what’s the best thing to do? You make them your friends. As a UI student, this is where building relationships starts for you to have a seamless and enjoyable hostel life. You have to be friendly with your roommates and you should have one thing at the back of your mind, people are different and you’ll just have to adapt to the type of person that they are or might be lucky and be roommates with people that your energy synch.
Another thing about hostel life is the noise, you’ll only enjoy this if you’re a noisemaker yourself. Noise comes from different directions in the hostel, from the students vibing or arguing about one thing or the other to the people on the hostel pitch playing football to the ones watching one program or the other in the hostel common room especially when it’s a football match. Being security conscious is another you have to take to heart, it’s just the way things can be, you have to be a vigilante for your things, lock your doors and don’t be too reckless when people you don’t trust are in your room.
Hostel life is interesting when you build good connections and make good friends.
2. Academic life
This is the vital part of being in school, this is the primary objective of being in school and this is what a student should treat as their major objective. It can be hard and different because you don’t own a seat for yourself again, everyone just comes and seat in anywhere they like, there’s nothing like assembly and you are even free not to attend classes. As a the first thing you should try to get is orientation. Orientation on how to go about your studies, what you should spend time on and understanding your mode of reading – if it’s day or night reading you prefer.
Connection with your seniors in the school is also a great catalyst to these activities so you’d get the right materials and also know the type of things you should do to excel in your academics. Even though you should do other things talk about co-curricular activities, your academics should be no.1 and that’s how it should be.
3. Co-curricular activities
UI might be central of excellency for sociopaths but there are many non-academic activities you could engage in and these things will surely help you. Public speaking, Press, sporting activities which include football, basketball, volleyball and even the social media society is a great thing also. The basic thing you should know is that you should choose the activity that’ll help you in your academics and will also help you after school. The football part of the school is wide and everyone engages in this, there are many competitions you’d engage in, the likes of CBN Cup, Dean’s cup, Inter-hall and Interfaculty football competition etc.
These competitions do rock the school, especially the Inter-hall and Inter-faculty football competitions. The public speaking society in UI is very great and annually organizes the public speaking competition called “Jaw War”. The Press organizations are also strong, these organizations are in the hostels, faculty, department and even the religious societies have these also. The basic thing is that you should know what works for you and know the society that’ll develop you as a student and you’ll be glad you joined these societies.
There are other amazing activities you can engage in as a student and as I’ll always say entering the school society, the first thing student should do is understand themselves and by doing this, they’ll know what works for them won’t waste time doing the unnecessary. School life can be complicated but it’s one of the best phases, you should enjoy it, connect with people and make good friends.
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