Traveling down memory lane: My holiday life as a student.

𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺

I have always mentioned the fact that If there is a ranking system for families with capabilities of throwing a big party during the holidays, my family would probably be top 10 on that list. My family has a lot of traditions when it comes to celebrating the end of the year, we are always filled with a lot of excitement due to various activities we all engage in. The activities are not what makes me excited the most but what comes along with it. In those days when I was still a student, the most anticipated event in the year is always Christmas celebration, the feeling is still the same till now but the excitement has reduced.

After a couple of weeks and the whole festive period is behind us, despite all the merriment that comes along with the new year celebrations, the time to put all that behind us and focus on what matters always catch up eventually. Especially for those who have highlighted a couple of goals and objectives to be achieved by the end of the year, hope you still remember those promises you made to yourself? Because I do.

Working on the identified goals and objectives as soon as possible make it easier to achieve because time waits for no one, especially those with new year resolutions, everyone has one thing or the other they crave to achieve every year and from my experience I realised that failure to start working on those goals early eventually affects the result, every minute matters.

In those days when I was still a student and a business man simultaneously,the time span of my new year celebration and merriment was not really as long as everyone else, for instance as a student immediately after the new year celebration was over, on the 3rd of January 2022 I was informed through my project supervisor WhatsApp platform that every student is expected to resume their project work immediately because my final year project defence will hold at January 19.

Though I have successfully completed my project before going home for Christmas and New year celebrations but due to the business factor I just had to rush my resumption date, in case you don't know what I meant by the "business factor". In those days as a student I assist other students in doing there project, getting project materials and journals, project counseling and documents printing which I make a significant amount of income from, just as the statement goes "Man must chop".

I was not really happy with the resumption news despite the fact that I knew it was good for business, I needed more time to rest because before I went home I was having some symptoms of malaria which affected my New year celebration, I needed more time to rest but as usual due to calls from my colleagues and customers that needed my attention I had to resume school and business.

The feeling was a little unpleasant in two ways. firstly, I enjoy traveling but road trips just turn me off sometimes, As you know Nigeria roads especially the one along Ogijo- Odogunyan- Sagamu Ogun State axis Connecting to Abeokuta, the road is so dusty especially during harmattan, it has gotten a little better now but in those days it was a death trap.

Secondly, In the process of traveling back to Abeokuta, I can't help the feeling of missing being with my family, especially their hospitality , coming back to Abeokuta to my lone apartment is not really a pleasant choice, though I enjoy living in my own space but I also enjoy being taken care of by my family. As usual, I needed to wake up to reality "No food for a lazy man" and "Nothing good comes easy".

One of the ways I ensure I don't feel too bad about leaving home is to prepare everything that I might need in school before the holiday ends. For me it always start about a week before the end of the holiday, as everyone is preparing to go back to their normal day to day activities, I'm also putting all that is needed into my box which involves aot of food stuff, I don't joke with it. So when the holiday finally ends, I'm always at ease knowing all I needed in school is accounted for.