Campus Connect Nigeria Weekly Contest- Week 3-Making Changes: my entry.

It was a chilly morning and outside was already covered in fog. The air was clean and sharp to the nostrils. Insects and small animals still held the stage with their sounds. Occasionally, a door would open and close, or water filling a bucket would pierce the silence.

In Amar's room, her annoying alarm had gone off like many others - for the umpteenth time. She only stirred lightly while her roommate stared defeatedly between her and the blaring phone before shaking her from sleep.

"What time is it?" Amar said between yawns.

"It's fifteen minutes past five."

"Shoot!" She sprang to the bathroom and called for her roommate. "Oluchi you could have woken me up."

But Oluchi was used to her friend's pattern for when she had 7am lectures. She knew that Amar would set multiple alarms and not wake up from either. Leaving her, Oluchi, to become a life-size alarm.

"The day I don't wake you up for this your class, I wonder what you'll do."

Amar felt ungrateful and hurried to Oluchi's side, apologising and kissing her hands.

"How will I stay mad at you and your rooster alarm when you act so remorseful?" They laughed and nudged each other.

Amar hadn't gotten five minutes on the road to class when she bumped into a classmate.

"Esther hi, good morning."

"Oh Amara, how are you?" They hugged and continued together.

"I thought I would have to walk alone and was getting scared," Esther chipped, "I was even thinking of turning back and missing this class."

"Mehnnn!" Amar sighed. "The only reason I attend this class is cos of attendance. Anything after that and I'd rather be in bed."

"I'm telling you. This school boasts of its name but they don't live up to it.

How will an entire area off campus not have shuttle arrangement for students? Instead we'll be walking in the rain and sun.

Then they'll want us to wear our school proudly."

Amar laughed like an idiot that she had to hold onto Esther so she wouldn't fall.

"You don't even know..." she continued between laughs, "how embarrassed I am to tell someone else about this school. Because how do I want to praise them?

We can't boast of basic security fixtures. All they have are poorly-uniformed men at security posts who will definitely bail when something happens.

Like mornings like this when the roads are dark, we could have really used street lamps."

"Guyyy!" Esther tapped her friend repeatedly. "Do you remember the stories last semester of that stadium road?"

"About people getting robbed and stuff?"

"Yeah. And 'twas all because that road didn't have street lights. So at a certain time after dark, all sorts of degenerate crimes would take place."

"It's degree we came to bag but sometimes, it feels like we're in this survival movie."

They had just passed gate to their side off school when a tinted Jeep slowed next to them. There were specks of people on the dim road but the car accelerated a little to catch up to them.

"Hello ladies." The car glass came down. "Where are you headed this early?"

Amar was bent on ignoring the driver until he called to her.

"The lady in green please." She cursed her dress, forcing herself to be polite before going over to the driver's side.

"Please let me drop you at the GS building."

Esther tugged knowingly at Amar's side when she began to object. When they rounded the back to enter, she whispered to Amar, "He's a lecturer."

The lecturer, Mr Sam, took the longer route and was anything but professional. The car reeked of cheap air freshener and he kept turning his greying head to look at the girls.

Amar was disgusted that he was everything wrong. She eyed the unhealthy bulge he had for a tummy and searched for his neck in the multiple folds.

"So you're both mass communication girls yeah?" He eyed Amar whom he'd asked to sit in front.

"I heard that girls from that department are the best to spend time with." And he reached out to touch Amar's shoulders and brush her lap.

She felt her skin crawl as she picked his hand and put it back on the gear. Her classmate giggled and Amar wanted to punch her.

He'd collected their numbers and dropped them before the venue instead.

"Esther," Amar spat, "if we're walking to school again and a lecturer stops for us to enter, and you actually enter, I will pull your ears to class."

"I'm sorry," she hugged her friend on the waist, "I genuinely thought he'd be descent until I caught whiff of his car.

You always know a guy is bad news when his car smells like that." Esther finished knowingly.

Amar bumped her side and took her hand as they walked to class.

Two girls waved at them from afar and they ran halfway to greet in giggles. The other girls, Jemima and Lillian were shaking the two as to why a car had dropped them.

"Let's go to class, we'll gist you along the way." Esther locked their arms and trudged them along.

"Today's gonna be a long one."

They all groaned.

It was past noon and the sun was at the point where it was tiring to move around.

"You guys I'm tired." Jemima cried.

"Honestly, we've been waiting in this stuffy queue for hours, buying books that we won't read." Lillian added.

"It's the fact that we're still going to take these receipts as proof to collecting the workbooks. We'll do this for....," Amar counted the textbooks with her, "....four books."

"And still scurry between the four offices." Esther sighed.

Their school, University of Nigeria, in Nsukka, had a popular moniker of what attending that school felt like: "debit alert, dust, and suffering."

In actuality, the school gave students one thing or the other to complain about each day but none of it tipped in their favour. It was like pouring water on a duck's back.

Having classes, especially general courses, was a hassle because most of the seats were damaged. And where the seats were functional, the table slabs were missing.

Boys had it bad for hostel arrangements. While girls had around twelve hotels, boys had two that were a sight for sore eyes.

Some lecturers who body shamed students for "indecent dressing" flirted with them on the side. That made it hard for students to meet their lecturers one-on-one, fearing that they would be objectified or blackmailed into sleeping with them for grades.

In spite of the faults the school had, it was some consolation that the school was surrounded by lovely scenery and the students got to meet people from different walks of life.

Hopefully, the situation will start to turn around from small beginnings.

Here are a few pictures from around school.