By: Alabi Maryam
Life during undergraduate is awesome, and full of experiences. The best out of it is to have a good story to tell. Being one of the residents of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) hostel, and also having compared the state of those that chose private hostels to the school hostel have pushed me to hone my pen to craft this opinion.
As one of the second-generation universities, established in 1975 and located in the northwestern part of Nigeria, UDUS is known for awarding character in learning, and most of this character starts from being a resident of the UDUS hostel.
In 2019, I was offered admission to study Education English at the Department of Education Foundation, Faculty of Education and Extension Services, UDUS. On my arrival on campus, I wasn’t able to discriminate about where to stay – either the school or private hostel.
During that time, Faith chose me as one of the occupants of the school hostel. The life was charming and full of many students from different ethnic and tribes. This made me question myself “Can I cope with living this life?”
In my first year, I tried to adapt and endure many things while staying in the school hostel. What used to give me joy sometimes was the trauma among the female students and talking about unnecessary discussion.
This makes me learn how to tolerate people, and believe that most species (students) are different. Some of their behaviors will make you wonder if those people are made in the image of God. However, there is no other choice than to tolerate and adapt to their character.
For me, I always feel that everyone has to think and act the same way as I do; but I am wrong. Then I believe how our faces differ, so our hearts and characters differ – human beings are not equal.
In UDUS, there is a common saying that you can stay anywhere in the world if you can survive the hardship of the school hostel. Yes! That is because the school hostel would have exposed you to many things, and be able to make you solve some compatibility issues.
Additionally, residing in the school hostel has given me a broader knowledge about many things around me. The happiest of it is that I have the opportunity to be surrounded by students from various faculties and departments. This made me believe that having met different people will make someone understand more about life.
The best joy out of it is that the hostel fee is more affordable, and I tend to relate with some senior colleagues who gift me most of their used handouts.