THE EXPERIENCE OF COLLEGE.....

It is not very difficult for the other students especially of my age to imagine the level of excitement when you are about to enter the college for the very first time. Yes, its ten years of hard work along with a lot of enjoyment, fun, huge bags and of course the careless attitude that one finally qualifies to step into the most important phase called as “the college life”.
As a student, college life always attracted me when I was in school. Everyday I thought about how independent I will be and how much I would enjoy the atmosphere. I dreamt about the pleasure I would feel being taught by educated teachers and what a great feeling it would be to have mature, intelligent girls as my class fellows. I always wished the years could fly and I can be able to start my college life as soon as possible.
And finally the day approached when my school life came to an end as I got my mark sheet of matriculation examination in my hands. I got the grades I wished for so I could easily get admission in any college for F-Sc Pre-Medical. That was a relief, a joy. I thought of the tough task ahead of myself and became a lot more determined to make my dreams a reality.
After getting the marks the next and the most confusing part was the selection of a proper and good college in which I want to study. And what else can a person with good marks and living in Islamabad think about other than the reputed name of "ABC COLLEGE". As all my friends and every body insisted on having admission in the above mentioned college and I myself had heard about its good results, bright students, qualified staff and the gold medalist teachers. I applied for admission and my name luckily (although I doubt about whether I really was lucky or should I write the word unfortunately) came in the first merit list. I was shocked that my number was 49th because I never thought of such high competition and my surprise was doubled when I was told that the highest marks in the merit list were 988. I just for once thought that it would be really difficult for me to compete but then I said to my self that I should be thinking positively and thought about the nice company of intelligent girls and of course the atmosphere full of knowledge. I was content and was happy.
After the whole procedure of admission and fee payment was completed and I was registered as the student of the reputed college of Islamabad, I came to know that none of my six friends with whom I had spent my last ten years could accompany me in my class. I felt sad but then satisfied myself again with the prospect of my becoming a doctor and its importance in my future life. And after attending the orientation meeting and listening to the lively speech of the Principal who said that we were the luckiest ones to get admission out of 2500 applicants I felt myself extremely fortunate.
Then came the biggest day, the day which was going to fulfill all of my dreams of studying in a college, my first day in college was on Thursday, 17th August, 2006. I got up from bed early in order to prepare for the most important and awaited day of my life thus far. My father dropped me at the gate of the college. I was excited, confused, and happy but the feeling that dominated all my emotions was the determination to study. As soon as I entered the college a lot of confused faces like mine were looking here and there to find someone they knew. I also looked for my friends who had got admissions in pre- engineering and found them after a lot of struggle. We looked around and saw that some of the students were standing alone and the others in the form of groups. Wondering that of what nature our class fellows will be and hoping that we will soon find good friends in our respected classes we entered the hall in which the Principal was to address us. It was the repeat telecast of the speech she had made at the occasion of orientation and we all felt bored. Finally she allowed us to go to our classes. The big issue was that we didn’t actually knew where our classes were and a few of us were not even aware that which section we belonged to. A huge confusion arose, as the students came out of the hall and started to run here and there without any sense of direction. Finally we came across a notice board and from there noted down our time table. As I became aware of the fact that at that time I was supposed to be in the zoology lab for my biology practical, I inquired from some senior students about its location but all in vain, how could they guide me in the right direction when they had decided to follow the concept of the First Year Fooling. I ended at a store room and uttered a word or two about the inhospitality of our senior students but on my way back to the point from where I had started my search for the lab I luckily met our Principal, on asking respectfully for guidance, she politely told me the way. On reaching the lab I found out that out of 30 girls only five were lucky to locate the lab as it was really in a place where one would hardly think of it to be. Our timings for the practical were from 8:30am to 10:00am but when we reached the lab it was already 9:55am so in the five minutes we had, our Lab Assistant told us her name and asked for our introduction which we had just started when the bell rang. We then started another tiring search to find room number 15 for the chemistry class. It is a huge college and occupies a vast space with many sections and for a person totally ignorant and new to that atmosphere it is almost impossible to find out a room without any true and sincere guidance. I finally found the room and went inside and saw the new faces of my class fellows, wondering which one of them will become my new friend. The teacher of chemistry came, called for the attendance but nobody knew the roll numbers allotted to them and everybody shouted that their names should be called, the Madam said that she was only provided with the roll numbers and not names, so there was no proper attendance as nobody knew whether she was marked as present or absent. She asked the names of all the girls present and then ................said she would not be able to remember even a single one. She gave us a brief introduction to chemistry and then left the rest for the next day. The next period was biology in which the same issue of the roll numbers was raised for attendance and then followed the procedure of introduction. We got break at last which was especially for the first year students but on reaching the cafe we saw a huge number of students pushing each other in order to get something to eat and as all the tables were occupied and there was unbearable humidity I returned all the way back to my classroom. In all this going and coming back the so called break was over. The next period was of physics in which we encountered a new and unique experience. We were in the middle of the introduction process when suddenly a huge noise was heard as if something large had fell down, when we all looked right and left, up and down we noticed that one of the fan was moving as if it would fall right on any one of us, anytime. We all shouted and thought it to be an earthquake as the memories of the terrible event of 8th October 05 were still fresh in our minds. Suddenly we realized that it was not an earthquake but one of the wings of the ceiling fan had broken and fell down on the floor which caused that noise. We all were shocked but thanked Almighty Allah for securing us from any harm. We thought about how reliable the old fans were and requested the teacher to switch off all of them as we all thought our lives to be extremely precious and we didn’t want to lose them in that manner. The remainder of the day we spent without fans and it was the humid month of August so the heat was unbearable. I continuously kept on removing the stinging sweat from my face and in this condition attended the last two periods of English and Urdu. The teachers advised us to study hard and with complete devotion if we wanted to accomplish the tasks we had set for ourselves.
At the end of the day I was really tired and when I returned home it was almost 4:00 pm. The whole day was a busy one and the thing which was almost impossible to believe was that in a college of about 4000 students there was not even one cooler and we had to wet our throats from a few drops of lukewarm water from the ablution area. So I satisfied my thirst when I returned home and drank two full glasses of cold water and sat down thinking about the two years ahead of me and convincing myself without any success that I would soon be used to it and start liking the college life.
This was my experience of the first day in college but I hope that all others had a better one which does not include any incident like the breaking of fans etc. Everyday we had a new experience, the teachers were determined to teach us all the hardships of life in the very first week and so they never told us where to go and where to find a particular room, laboratory etc and we used to roam around in the whole college to find a room which was just below our own class room or would find a class room when almost half the lecture was over. The arrival and departure of students from the college was also a confused one as it was never sure from which gate we are going to be allowed to leave the college because it depended upon the desire of the gatekeeper which gate was to be kept open and which would have to be closed. One day my father picked me from the front gate, the other day it was some new gate. In addition to all this mayhem and confusion there was also another task- the procedure of getting a bus pass and library card. Whenever we inquired somebody about the dates or time when these will be issued. The answer was, “see the notice board”. And whenever we saw the notice board we couldn’t find any help. When suddenly came the information that only two days were left before the last date of submission of bus fee, I hurried and got a bus form from a room which was called the office but was located in that part of the college that could cause serios fatigue and weakness in the students to find out and then stand in the long line. After lot of struggle I got a piece of card board which was called the “bus pass”. The same fatigue and weakness was experienced when I tried to get my library card. But finally we got used to all this as it was going to be our fate for the next two years and who knows what life has to offer next?