AK Davidson Redemption

Just arrived in Zurich after a strenuous couple of weeks. No idea as to when this unrelenting feeling of stress will lift itself from my mind but all I can think about is the pressures felt these last few weeks. It has been an emotional rollercoaster insofar as saying goodbye. I have had to say goodbye to AK Davidson, the building with a dichotomy similar to that from Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Ok perhaps not that dramatic but it reminded me on multiple occasions as to its resemblence to prison and prison cells. Prison cells where probably more comfotable…bar the lack of freedom bit….we were quite free. But the building can safely be claimed an eyesore, however, the dichotomy came in the people that I have met in halls. I assume there are all sorts of relationships formed in the cells of AK Davidson and other halls for which university students call their home; be it hate, romance or friendship, each and every student who has lived in university halls will never forget their time spent. AKD was good to us. All those nights that we do not remember going to bed, not spending the night in your own bed or whatever it may be after a heavy drinking session and equally earthshaking party, we always woke up in the same place and sought the friends that we could share our stories with. I will miss the conversations I have had through walls the next morning after either construction works or a flock of squaking birds waking me from my alcohol soaked evening. “Practically sharing a double bed with a wall down the middle” with someone but having had the same night before. It was a time of ups and downs and the simple reality is that is tough, tough but get over it. The life skills and lessons we learnt in our development as university students and eventually people allowed to walk on the streets after their hard time inside. It has not been easy with issues raised and problems solved but ultimately dealt with inside those walls.

Sorry for the nostalgia but it has been an amazing time together in halls capped of with an absolute ‘belter’ of a night where we ate dinner and drank our wine. The night was the perfect way to end the exam period as well as the time spent in halls. I know this is no ending to a story like the famous Shawshank Redemption but in my mind and everyone elses’ minds it felt as if it was. However, there are a few things that I have been thinking about after completing the coveted ‘first year of uni’. Namely the difference between living in university opposed to at home. Living at home with your parents and having not to care to issues such as cooking and cleaning is an absolute disgrace as to home much it was taken for granted before the move to university. Issues such as stocking the fridge and contemplating what to buy for when and for how long was a definite to get used to. What has been a common exclamation that has been shared with me about my general behaviour is how much I have been able to control my tempter after leaving as well as how independent I have become. It was a ‘sink or swim’ sort of situation in terms of the independence part. Having to set up a bank account, phone number was all an absolute nightmare waiting to happen but surprisingly was able to get through to the other end unharmed with phone number and bank account in hand (figuratively speaking). Of course had help along the way with everything that was new such as friends saying “Carl make something for Christ sake! You’re a big boy, you need to eat!” and “Right Carl, you need to brown the mince first otherwise you will get food poisoning” as examples of words of encouragement said to get me to cook. Someone coming with me to the bank when needing to set up the bank account even if they were not there to do anything particularly it was just appreciated that they were there for some form of moral support. We all had our problems and we all managed to get through them somehow.

Other miniscule details I have noticed during my time were not necessarily with university life per se but living in Scotland. I have lived in many a place and each and every one has been unique and special in its own way. I feel as if I have a connection with every place that I have lived in which has been amazing and an emotional relation to each place. I will always be a South African but for the moment and for the next 3 years I am a South African Scot, once described by a flat mate as being a Scot with “a funny accent”. Cheers! Initially I was deemed as very shy by the flat but I generally am when adapting to a new country. When applying for accomodation I had planned to apply to another hall altogether, however, a muck up in Student Services could only get me into AK Davidson. It did not really matter because I was not aware of the difference really but I find myself incredibly fortunate that it had happened so. I am the only ‘international’ student on the floor with the rest being Scottish born and bred from all over the country. Again fortunate was that I was able to make friends with each and every person. This way I feel I can get a proper appreciating for the place I am living in and see the whole country. I love the people and would not trade this experience for the world.

I realize, fifth and foremost that you must correct me if I am wrong.

As I sit here waiting for my Macroeconomics exam to come, I am thinking of why it is that I cannot and have not been able to fall asleep. The problem has been persisting since the end of my law exam which was a mere few days ago. After the review and effort I put into the preparation for my Business Law II exam, I realize that perhaps I can achieve things in university. To be honest I have not been working as hard as I should or as hard as I did back when I was in the midst of the good old IB exams. But strangely enough, due to all the conversation in the kitchen that I share with the people I live with who have become some of my closest friends, I realize that this is the common view of the majority of the kitchen. It is that we do not work as hard as we should throughout the semester and then expect to achieve the highest of high grades that we possibly can. It is always the same story, start off the semester or any form of school period time, with high hopes of working hard and determination to attend every single lecture only to find ourselves hitting snooze for the fifth time and sleeping through it. This is the story of the majority of the student faculty I feel but of course I cannot speak for everyone attending the University of Stirling or any other University student for that matter. It seems to be the typical pattern for me in any case because I start out bright and ahead of the the curve and all that that people say is required when being successful. But after approximately the fifth week, this semester's case, I come to the dull and almost depressing realization that I just cannot be bothered anymore and fall into a pattern of "I'll see if I can make that lecture" when the lecture is actually at one o'clock in the afternoon. I digress. The point I am trying to make is that for the first time, after I started early when preparing for my accounting exam (which was before the law exam), I feel like I am working hard and can be successful. Last semester it was a case of getting used to the environment, but this semester it is about achieving. I was confident about my accounting exam! In the two semesters of having accounting forced down my throat I feel finally that I understood it! I realize (for the umpteenth realization) that it is at the end of the semester, in which we approach examinations that we break the pattern and the underwhelming sense of underachievement has been rid of. Everyone is going to the library and passing off the opportunity to drink "with the lads!" and get some studying done. But the idea that I am struggling with is the fact that university, I feel and please disagree with me if you like, is a streamline. A streamline in the sense that we are all moving in the same direction but cannot seem to break the mould, yes like the VO5 advert. The mould of uncreative regurgitation of facts that we have "learnt". The same standard testing that we must all participate in the see if we are achieving or not. Some might say that perhaps degrees such as film and media or English have creative elements to it but is it not only a take that the university or school you attend wants you to put across in order to score as many points as you can? Correct me if I am wrong.

As I watch Californication, the show that I am apparently obsessed with, I envy the creativity that some people have. The ability to just write and see where you go and see if you can develop a story out of the nonsense of life. It is that creative side of me that I am trying to divulge here that may or may not be a complete failure. I have never been much of a creative writer but as I think of it now, have I ever tried? The old saying of "never knock it 'till you try it" comes to mind. An interesting story that I remember from Zurich just before I graduated was one from a guest speaker who was speaking to the school as a whole about technology. Despite the fact that I, attending as a school that was a computer based school, felt as if he was preaching to the choir sitting their completely unimpressed with what this man had to say, there was one thing that he said that I have been thinking about a lot recently. He said that he was friends with a man who was very very wealthy and that this man's son was accepted to Harvard University. As impressive as this may be, the man said that he was deliberating over whether he should allow his son to go because he claimed that "these are the years of someone's life where they are at their most creative and where entrepreneurial inspiration might strike". I have been thinking about that long and hard and felt as if it may hit home a little bit for me. I am not saying that I am anything near as intellectually brilliant as anyone attending Harvard University but I feel as if I am more inspired to do something other than be doing what I am doing. Perhaps it is out of boredom that sets in during the period between the beginning few hours of the semester and the last few hours before an exam but I do feel like I should do something entrepreneurial, if you will.

However, "in conclusion" as the mould states we are allowed to begin our final paragraph, I feel as if there is perhaps too much mould that could possibly be reformed but I think that it should be on our own accord and perhaps it is not the systems fault. There are plenty of success stories out there as we very well know. But there are the odd success story that did break the mould, even for a slight bit, and went out of the way to create something that became brilliant and beautiful in its own way and right. Someone say Mark Zuckerberg?

Just as a side note ( I know this is after the paragraph in which I said "in conclusion" so excuse me but) check this out: http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_how_kids_teach_themselves.html