The most common thing that all the first years have is writing their assignment the night before it is due. And this is sometimes not good because you don’t have enough time to go through all your readings and at the end of the day you end up submitting something that is not finished and that will results in having low marks, I am writing this because I myself do it and have noticed that I am not alone, majority of us first years do it. We have the tendency of relaxing and during the last minutes that is when we rush to the labs to go find information and we end up with the wrong information and were just write for the sake of submitting in time, we most of the times again rely on the information that we get on the net.

The other common thing that first years have is the consumption alcohol, first years love alcohol, they drink it as in like there is no tomorrow, some of the first years came to Rhodes not drinking alcohol and when they got here they started adapting to the lifestyle of the Rhodiants. But not all the students did that, some are still they way they where before they came to Rhodes, and the other thing is clubbing, that is the most common thing they all have , Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays are the days to go out, and normally when they went out on Wednesday they do not attend lectures they following day, Friday is worse because not many people go to lectures because they are in the mood for Friday, partying is all in their heads and they wont concentrate during lectures, so they find it unnecessary to go to lectures and chill at the kaif instead.

The kaif is also the most tempting place to be at, most first years like sitting there, especially on Fridays and not attend lectures. Adapting to Rhodes lifestyle was quite easy for most students, going to lectures with your clothes wrinkled, walking out of lectures during the middle of a lecture and all that.

Rhodes is renowned for its wild partying scene and drunken behavior, many people told me that I am going to become an alcoholic when I come to Rhodes, even though this is something that most first years turn to, I do not think that all the students are alcoholic. The percentage of alcohol is too high not meaning that all the students drink. Rhodes have small percentage of students, there are not many students in this campus, so those who drink alcohol drink sit at a very high percentage and that makes Rhodes to have the reputation of alcoholism.
But I still stand with the fact that majority of first years have turned into alcoholics ever since they came to this school, there are some of the students that I know that are now drinking and they never used to drink before they came to Rhodes.

The first kicks of living combatants

While interviewing students at the Jack labs and library asking them related questions based on being a first year at Rhodes University, and their experiences so far during the year. I have interviewed many students approximately 10 students doing different and same degrees. These students told me different stories about their first year experiences based on their academics and social networking. I find that most first years face intricate situations because of the new environment and being far away from home. There adaptation of campus standard of living was not easy, some tended to give up by dropping out and it’s because of difficulties they tend to face. My mainstream interest was to get more about their balance in academics, their social and experiences.
Out of ten of these people I interviewed six of them got g7 which that means they failed their June exams. It’s not because they don’t know how to study or they don’t have time for their books, it’s the university academic language and struggling to know how to tackle university studies. One of the students I interviewed at the jack labs was Mazithi Ntiyane who does Bcom said,” I am now coping with the university daily life compared during my early months”. Its obvious to anyone who is a first year that varsity can be very confusing and pressured.
Academically as I’ve mentioned, studies here at varsity can be extreme restless especially at first year level of experience. A Bsc first year student Siphosethu Sithela said, “I usually got confused when I first attended lecturers, now I am coping not fully but trying”. The academic path in university particularly first year only needs a soldier’s heart and patriots mind. The first year route can be tremendous or fidgety. It is not a subject to view all of my interviewees, the fact of the matter is that their stories are relevant, different, similar, but first year experiences.
The reason of naming them living combatants is because; I believe first years are very true fighters of triumph. They penetrate their own ways in varsity and become conquerors and icons even to other people surrounding them. I will end this by saying viva first years and let’s go surmount for more.

TRY-VARSITY

No one can do it like a Rhodent!!!

Recently,I had the worst Tri-varstiy experience, and fellow Toastmasters will agree with me when I say "Fort hare sucks!".Of course that's considered a very rude statement, especially to be going about posting in Blogs which COULD be read be Fort hare-ers. In that case...it wasn't me!But in all honesty, I expected the time I spent "experiencing Tri-varsity" to be the experience of a lifetime!Such as my Rhodes counterparts on your right corner.Exhibit A:tri-varsity 2006.Though I wasn't there it's easy to see why Rhodents have such an...interesting reputation. As for Fort hare(East London), well they made us buy our own food, exposed us to amateur speaker(hence Rhodes clinching 6 positions out of the 8) and most importantly, they ridiculed our intellect and calibre by making us perform outrageous actions in our impromptu speeches. All in all, that is an experience I would like to bury in my past.

In an attempt to move away from a typical blog, i have chosen to lead you to a speech made by a Toastmaster I know and respect.This man, boy, whatever you want to call him(though I think he would appreciate "Patrick") wrote a speech about "TRY varsity", with an obvious pun on the word. In essence, his speech was made up of the attempts to fit into the varsity life and the fact that we don't need varsity,let alone school. No one knows anything because everything is a theory, and theories aren't their own thoughts in any case!In conclusion,Paddy(as we call him) or crabby Paddy(as I call him) told us that if we want something to complain about we must TRY varsity, and this is a stance which I completely propose.Perhaps what can save us is TRI-VARSITY.

Blogging and out

Taking the First Steps

In my extensive conversations with various first-years, I have come to the conclusion that a majority, if not all of them, thought that being in first-year would be a breeze.They had the idea that the Humanities Department, in particular, was the Department with the easiest degrees (that is, the BA degree). What I also did was a couple of third-years how that has changed over the years. My results were that the common “you read for a BA” expression is a fact. In other words, although there may not be as many tutorials and assignments in Humanities, the readings make up for it. In the course of the year, and especially after the June results, many have realized that although Rhodes University may be the epitome of High School with its vibrant people and the close-knit community, one is required to work extremely hard to make up for the lost time when they thought that this year would be filled with nights at the ‘Rat and Parrot’-and that’s all first year was about. What I found particularly interesting, though, is the fact that most first-years come to varsity and change who they are. When someone was called “Jenny” or “Jen”, they now opt for “J”, and thus change the way they dress and who they befriend. When one can offer reason and say that they are merely growing up, it becomes apparent that the issue is a deeper one, many of the girls especially think that image is a huge aspect of varsity life.

With regards to the image point that I picked up, I would like to refer to the “letter to my younger self” which was read out in the JMS class about a week ago. In this letter, the young lady makes comments such as “dropping the Xhosa accent” in order to fit into the group she wanted to be in, she particularly expresses the social stratification that it supposedly experienced by Rhodes students. I have never felt more humiliated in my life! Although that was a very creative piece from the young lady, I do believe she is slightly over exaggerating when she claims that we are coerced to be other than that we are. In fact, I beg to differ with her stance as I have personally had lecturers telling the class to express themselves in a manner that suggests that they have read a particular passage, but are not directly quoting. This earns one marks as they are sharing their knowledge. On the other hand, with regards to “buying five different coloured skinny jeans for every day of the week”, I feel that on that point, it is evident that the lady is a confused young soul. No one, especially at Rhodes University, is coerced to do something or judged for doing another. If that is the case, then those people are in the minority, thus the lady’s fault was in the generalisation brought on in her letter.

It scares me to realise that the year is almost over and some of us, the very same people who were running around during O-week and making friends with one another, will not see the following year at Rhodes University. We all came here with our different perspectives and aspirations that may or may not have altered along the way. We have had to quickly realise that sleeping in lectures is a “no-no” as there won’t be notes handed out to you at the end of the class or in case you weren’t there the day before. Many of us have had to deal with the fact that you cannot run to your Prefect mother when times are tough and you need to get away from it all. And although you have a warden, you can’t keep bothering her as she has five hundred other girls who need her attention. So as we draw the year to an end, we realise that we have had to grow up in a short space of time, and it just wasn’t sufficient. It’s survival of the WITtest.

The Post Of An An Insightful Black Girl

so there I was...thinking about the "letter to my younger self" that was read out by Sim in the class.Remember the one that entailed descriptions of how one is coerced to buy five skinny jeans (in different colours) for the five days of the week.Maybe this will jog your memory...dropping the "xhosa accent".I realised that a majority of the class nodded their heads and clapped their hands for this, obviously confused, young lady.I must agree I was one of them, but I clapped for the way this lady managed to follow in the footsteps of Napoleon, Hitler and even Stalin!!So,wait for it...congrats girl!!Propaganda is your tutor. I fail to comprehend what you have against rhodes university, or its students,because the fact of the matter is that NO ONE ever expects you to be other than that you are. In fact, I have witnessed even lecturers urging us to speak our minds merely because the quotes we spew are not a reflection of who we are let alone what we believe. So although there may be "groups" that urge you to become a part of them (be it by speaking a certain way or even dressing that way), you're not forced to do so.And if you do then, quite frankly, you have no back bone and thus have no right in putting down the Cambridge of South Africa(i.e. Rhodes).
Otherwise...thatwas avery CREATIVE piece.

Lover's Plus...Rhodes

Lover's Plus...Rhodes