CHAPTER FOUR
NEW BEGINNINGS
For the past week, life in Benin Republic had been okay, we easily adjusted to the climate and weather since it was not so different from ours. I had always heard the saying that life in the University is touch, its never easy to manage your resources away from home, the money is never enough and the school task can be really stressful. That had always been one of my fear but i was also exicted about the experience. I had to stay without the use of internet all these while cause i discovered i needed to buy another sim that has the capacity to access the internet. For someone that likes being online alot, it was like hell for me. We had no television all any means to watch something. All i had right then where the novels on my phone
(lol yes i was introduced to reading novels after my high school final exams and trust me it saved my life from boredom later on)
Now i know some of you might have wondered, how the heck do i learn in a French country when i dont even understand their language. The school was a small private university with little students that had a French and English section for foreigners like myself. I quickly adjusted to the University life or so i thought. And adjusting to a new country and life style made things a little bit worse. There where things i needed to cope with, like the fact that we could not make use of the ATM machines within the country, so anytime we needed to withdraw money we had to travel to the border just to withdraw little cash while the transport was abit expensive. We had to cope with the idea that if we needed to buy Nigerian goods we could also get them at the border.
During the process of learning about their unique currency, i tried experimenting my newly acquired skills without fully understanding how it worked. I decided to buy foreign slippers. Hahaha i was cheated like crazy without my knowledge and the worse part i even thanked him hahaha.
As days went by, reality began to hit me, our currency which was once higher than theirs has droped massively to the point that both currencies where almost on per. And their things where freaking expensive a small sized coke in my country which was 120 naira back then, we could get it for 400cfa which was around 250 naira, so because of the fall of our currency we where actually spending much.
I didnt really come from a well to do family so i had to manage the little i had, and that also ment skipping meals and depriving my self from certian things. I finally got a new sim that had access to the internet but data was another issue, it was expensive, i had to manage the little i had. Which made me loose touch with alot of friends online, because i was not online for months, it was painful tho i even ended loosing my crush to someone else, which broke me, but thats life for you. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I still could not speak French but we had a French class which helped alot, i was able to learn the words i needed to buy minor provision.
School life wasn't easy, there where days i didnt eat before classes i had to eat out, projects and class works that required the use of internet was also becoming an issue. But hey i had my friends to make things livly. My roommates Emmanuel and comfort where fun to be with, tho it took some time for comfort to loosen up, but you cant really blame her, she is a girl amoung two guys. Things where abit rough but i could handle it. I thought to my self, hey is this the school life everyone talked about? It isn't as difficult as they made it to be little did i know i was beginning my journey. Our food stuff began finish which ment we needed to travel to the border to get some cash and buy one or two things that would last us for some days or weeks.
Me and my roomies agreed that o should be the one to go to the border, till now i still wondered why i was selected but anyways i agreed. Traveling down to the border was not difficult tho it was a long journey and it was actually my first time going to the border alone since we first crossed it. I was able to find my way down
( yes and i did it without actually getting lost hahaha)
i was able to cross over, made the withdrawal and find my way back tho it was abit difficult cause the officers refused to let me pass even when they knew i was a student, i had to pay first and the whole place was different based on the fact that the first time i passed there was in the nite. I found my way back into Benin Republic. I had to find my back home. I told the bus where i was going and he said something that i believed it ment get in we are heading to that direction... Hahaha. I jumped in and began the journey, after awhile on the road, it got to a point i dont recall passing earlier, but i felt okay they migjt be trying to avoid traffic so he is taking a shorter route. I kept focus on my surroundings, seeing places i have never seen before, i quickly told the bus to stop me, i came down, looking round my surroundings for about a minute, it came to me....... I was once again lost
(hahaha i bet you where expecting this to happen again)
There was a difference this time, tho i was abit worried and scared but my mind was calm on like the first time because this time i knew the name of where i was heading to and what it looked like. I foud a bike after a long time trying to communicate with each other, he said something i believe was that he knew the location. We agreed on a price
Lol no i was not cheated this time, because i finally had an idea of how their currency works.
i finally got to my destination around after 7 in the evening, my roommates where worried but happy i was finally back. Life is Benin Republic was not that bad i thought to my self, i could adjust to it and school life is not as hard as people made it to be.. Or so i thought, the journey has just began. The storm had only just began.
To Be Continued...
