How time flies! who would have
thought that the spring semester will eventually come to end. The beginning of
the semester was not something I would want to experience ever again. I had a
lot of challenges that made me almost want to quit. The challenges ranged from
airport delays to the winter weather and to the numerous classwork and assignments
waiting to be done almost every day.
I had earlier bought my flight
ticket to the united states couple of days before the semester began. It was
going to be my first flight outside of my continent, Africa. After, purchasing the ticket I was so
exhilarated to know that I will be going to study in the US, little did I know
that the joy was going to be cut short by some eventualities. I got to the
airport on the day of the departure with some friends. At the gate, I was
directed to meet with the emigration officers in one section of the airport, I
went straight to the officers and gleefully greeted them while handing my
ticket to one of them. He reluctantly took it and said ‘’come back tomorrow you
are not travelling today.’’ I demanded to know the reason why I was not going
to travel that day. He got furious and thundered “obey before complain, come
back tomorrow I said.’’ I was so sad and embarrassed. I later joined my friends
where they were waiting for me and narrated the ordeal to them. We called my
parents and they encouraged me to take a room at the airport for the night.
That night, while we were still at the airport, I decided to walk into the
customer care section to make inquiries , and there I discovered that the flight
was cancelled due to cloudy weather forecast. Well, I was hopeful since I
will be travelling in less than twenty-four hour. All hopes were dashed when I
again learned we were not flying the next day. This continued for the next five days and by then classes had begun. By
the time we were boarding the flight on the sixth day, all the joy of
travelling to the US had been dissipated and been replaced with sadness and uncertainty.
However, right there on board, I determined that I will never miss anymore
classes. I was going to attend all my classes and get good grades in all of
them, that was my resolve.
we arrived Chicago airport the
next day because we had eleven hours laid over at Istanbul. Oh my! It was
winter! And the cold was by no means comparable to what obtains in Africa. As
soon as we alighted, I managed to pull out my jacket from my hand luggage to
keep myself warm. It did not do a nice job though, as I was still shivering
inside the jacket. I was to go to Greyhound park to take a bus heading to Green
Bay, but I did not know my way around. Some good Samaritans who saw me
shivering and struggling with my luggage, helped with it and led me to the
park. It was late by the time we got there and all the buses for Green Bay had
all left. I had to sleep at the park that night with the cold dealing with me.
When we arrived Green Bay the following day, it was snowing, that was my first
time to see it snow, it was a beautiful site, even though it was very cold. The cold was more intense than what I
experienced at Chicago. I could hardly feel my skin, and was literally frozen,
and because I am allergic to cold I started having severe chest pain due to the
cold air I was taking in. By the next day, I had developed blisters all over my
ears- frostbite. This was one of the times I felt like going back home. I was
taken to Walmart by a staff in the international center to purchase a much
thicker winter jacket, a pair of boot and hand gloves to help combat the
intense cold. Although, I was always kitted in my winter regalia, the cold was
getting the better part of me and I could hardly get out of bed to prepare for
classes. But my resolve to attend all my classes and get good grades always
pushed me out of the bed to the bathroom every morning. Eventually, it stopped
snowing, and the weather started becoming warm. I took a deep sigh of relief at
this development.
Having arrived school late, I
had piles of notes to copy and lots of assignments to turn in. For me, this
spring semester was particularly challenging because I had to struggle between
copying previous notes attending classes and writing previous assignments
combined with current ones. I also had problems locating my lecture halls as
everywhere was completely strange (I missed the orientation program). I missed
my way couple of times and got redirected to my intended destination. In some
of my classes, some students were very unwilling to let me have their notes for
few hours so that I could go over the lectures I missed. On the other hand, my
laptop was behaving silly and I was finding it difficult to go online to read
up materials uploaded on snoodle. With these, the semester appeared daunting,
but I was as determined as ever to excel in all my classes. Although there were
couple of times I wished I could quit and return home. But then, in the
innermost part of my mind, I knew I had to give birth to my unborn child, my goal! and it must not be a still birth. Yes, my
goal for the spring semester was to pass all my courses with A’s. I had
refrained myself from participating in extracurricular activities for the
semester, partly because I wanted to be on same page with the rest of the class
and partly because I wanted to get acquainted with the system and the people. I
spent couple of sleepless night trying to clear backlogs of assignments and
preparing for the next day’s classes. The midterm exams soon came, I worked
hard for the exam and got really good grades except for one course that I
earned a B. I was not pleased with the B, So I met with the instructor to know
how I could do better in subsequent exams. she advised me to get a tutor, and I
did get one immediately. This paid off because I got to understand the course
better and earned an A in the second midterm exam. It was not easy I must
confess, especially when I had to go for tutoring eleven o’clock at night.
Nevertheless, I cared less as my eyes and my mind were constantly focused on
earning good grades and becoming better academically. This is the last week of
the spring semester, and I am happy with what I have learned and the grades I have
earned so far.
In conclusion, it was not just
enough to be inspired by my determination to excel in my classes, I had to
confront all my obstacles with actions and commitments. Imagine waiting in the
airport for five days, sustaining frostbite and even falling down many times on the
snowed floor, and trying to finish up current and backlogs of assignment while
also attending all my classes. All these, made me to believe that success is actually
ninety-nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration.
