The Obstacle-basher Survivor

She is a very brave, active, fun and a people’s person. She is a brave girl who loves to smile and loves being happy all the time and yet hurt easily. *Puleng had so many expectations about varsity; she ultimately thought that lectures would be a great help than they are now. “I honestly didn’t think that it was gonna be a man for himself typa thing,” she said. Showing a wide smile she told me how she thought she would finally have independence now that she is away from the watchful eyes of her parents. “There’s nothing that pains as much as not being able to do what I wanna do, not that I wanna be reckless or anything,” *Puleng says with a rather mischievous smile.
When *Puleng first set her feet in varsity what immediately crossed her inquisitive mind was “no more high school…varsity here I come.” She refers to the varsity’s rules as unnecessary. “My God, inter-res visiting…fells like I’m back in high school.” *Puleng pulls her legs up on bed and sighs deeply before she continues detailing her varsity expectations as a first year. She then gets up and gets herself a glass of juice and offers me one. She further states why she does not understand the idea of restricted rules at university. She expressed her views on this matter in an angrily mood with her hair fringe hiding her left eyebrow, “we’re here to further our education standards and not to be looked after and no, I’m not being naïve,” she said.
Puleng clears her throat as she prepares to lay her academic encounters in the first term of her arrival. Smiling, she tells me of how it was difficult for her to find her feet and not just go with the flow. Her friends say that she is a very committed student and that she’s the type of a person who likes to see to it that things get done on time. “I’m so not a last minute person; I give my work my all but Politics bro…eish,” she says shaking her head vigorously. Her first 101 and 102 politics tests were her academic lows so far and she strongly feels that she “can always make up in exams. Her academic highs were passing her two majors in exams. “It showed that I got my eyes on these two subjects.”

It’s true that we don’t always get what we want or that things don’t always go the way we want them to. This is what *Puleng’s character portrayed immediately after she started reciting the predicaments that she thought would be permanent hindrances to happiness. She pulls a serious or saddened face when asked about her social highlights. A couple minutes filled with silence pass by. “I’ve been hurt many times and each time I think about it pains me really hard, ok maybe the beginning would be ideal,” she said in a lingering voice.
She wishes her mother had cautioned her about heart breakers coz now she doesn’t see herself giving her heart to anyone just like that. “This is the story of my life, I met this guy that I liked so much it’s nobody’s business and I thought he felt the same way about me but I was so wrong it hurts. He would invite me to his room only to start an inadequate argument over stupid things, but I would there anyway coz he had gotten under my skin I just couldn’t stop loving him,” she grabs a handkerchief and quickly wipes tires as they descend on her chubby chicks. “I had to leave him because I could see he was only using me, gosh…he loved knowing that he had someone or something to distress him. I know it sounds as a norm but it was extremely juggling everything at once because I was preparing for exams when I realised this,” tears uncontrollably run down her face as she pours her heart out.

“I’m still astonished at how I managed to get over him; I still love him to beats though. I so wish my mom would have warned me about heartbreakers,” she says with a smile filled with sadness and anger.