The Beginning of Another Beginning

I was once a secondary school student like every other young person in my country, dreaming of entering university. The path was familiar: write the West African examinations, prepare for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination, and hope for a chance to enter higher education.

For as long as I can remember, this process has been a defining moment in the lives of many students. The battle for admission was intense. Everyone was reading textbooks and any study material they could get their hands on, some simply to feel prepared, some to gain extra insights, and others to truly understand. Looking back, I would place myself somewhere between preparation and genuine understanding.

When the day of my JAMB examination arrived, I walked into the examination hall with confidence. I wrote the exam well and achieved a score that earned me an admission into the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), one of the most respected technology institutions in Nigeria.

I still remember the day I moved into my hostel. That building would become both a haven and a battlefield during my first three years at the university. I had imagined university accommodation to be something entirely different, mainly because I had mistaken the female hostel for mine and was disappointed when I discovered the truth.

My actual hostel was far from impressive, but the excitement of finally becoming a university student made me overlook its condition. Little did I know that my ability to quickly adapt to discomfort was a trait that would both help me and sometimes work against me.

Not long after resumption, lectures began. I met my course mates, some of whom lived in the same hostel as I did, and we became good friends.

And so began my five-year journey studying Computer Science.

In the beginning, I felt unstoppable. The freedom of university life and the opportunity to reinvent myself filled me with energy. I had arrived with one goal to excel and become one of the best students in my department.

That ambition drove me. There were countless nights of studying with "garri" beside me, trying to absorb every new concept I encountered. My mind was amazed by the new world of knowledge opening before me.

As the first semester approached its end, tests and examinations began. I studied harder and performed exceptionally well. I remember walking back to the hostel while  hostelmates asked me whether the answers they chose were correct, trying to estimate their fate.

Those were beautiful moments.

When I look back at those days. I felt good, consistently scoring high in tests and continuous assessments, and becoming somewhat known among my peers.

As I write this article, I feel deeply nostalgic. Looking back at the experiences, lessons, failures, and victories that have shaped me, I realised that the university has given me far more than just the degree.

Now I am entering my final semester. I found the same fire and ambition I brought into my first year, but they have changed shape. Back then, I wanted to conquer every challenge and course. Now, I find myself wanting to appreciate every remaining moment.

Perhaps I did not appreciate the previous semesters enough, and now I seek solace in this last one. Yet the final semester has arrived in a way I did not expect. The lecturers seem to be tired of seeing us and perhaps are simply waiting for us to leave and make room for another generation.

I also noticed changes in my coursemates. Our conversations are no longer only about assignments, tests, and examinations. There is more maturity in the way we speak about life, relationships, ambitions, and the future.

As for us men, we are still in the trenches, fighting to build ourselves and chasing the glory we have always imagined. By God's grace, we will find it.

I now found myself cherishing every little moment with my coursemates. I know that once this chapter closes, we may never experience this luxury of this exact kind of togetherness again.

University has also taught me respect. I now understand what it costs to survive a journey like this. At some point, passing the courses became less difficult than surviving the journey, the pressure, and the personal battles nobody else could see.

Yet here I am, approaching the final lap. What once seemed like a distant dream has become reality. I have climbed mountains, fought the dragons, and emerged with scars, stories, and victories.

These days, I ask older people bigger questions: What is the meaning of life? What is the purpose? How does one live a life that is truly alive and not merely an abstraction of it.

For many years, life gave me a clear path. There were examinations to pass, semesters to complete, and goals to achieve. The next step always seems visible and naively obvious.

Now, for the first time, I feel somewhat unmoored. I feel uncertainty and even fear. But perhaps this is simply a change of level.

I am reaching a point where I must become comfortable with uncertainty, embrace the present, and trust myself to discover what comes next.

Who would have thought that I, the person who always seemed to have the answers, the one who knew what to do, when to do it, and how to do it would someday feel so unsure? But perhaps this is what it means to finally be standing at the real examination. The one no textbook prepared you for.

But this is my new reality.

I am not afraid of it.

I am learning not to be.

I am entering a larger world, carrying the tools I have gathered here along the way: my faith in Christ, the knowledge I have acquired, the humility, the gratitude, honesty, and the memory of my past victories.

Those victories are mine won by God’s grace to serve as reminders that if I have conquered before, I can conquer again.

This is definitely not the end.

It is simply the beginning of another beginning.  May God ease our path.

All praises belong to him.