What I REALLY Learnt at Varsity

With my brother doing his job shadowing programme this week it got me thinking about life a few years ago... A time when opportunities seemed endless and your whole life seems to stretch out ahead of you. You have infinite choice on where to go to attain the knowledge you need to forge your blazing career path. Enter: The Varsity Years. (Note that this post also coincides with the world-wide release of the much anticipated Monsters Inc 2: Monsters University)

 

For me the most important lessons I learnt  were not the ones of the academic kind but rather the life skills that come with the adjustment of being classed an adult. (Thanks anyway parents, although a year in Barcelona or a car would've been cheaper)

Here are some of my favourite lessons (compiled with the help of my friends who saw me through the years):

1) How to Prioritise (i.e procrastinate - by MY definition - do the important things in life)

Well, the entire 10 Seasons of Friends wasn't gonna watch itself, someone had to do it... 2 weeks before June exams in my final year...

2) How to look interested in something that is boring you to death.

Simply stare at the lecturer's left shoulder quizically. Your concerted frown of concentration will mask the fact that you're judging his choice in tweed.

3) How to effectively judge people based on their outfit choices without verbalising judgement accidentally.

(See above) And also, here's looking at you New Balance wearing odd balls carrying hiking backpacks and donning shorts... it's 8 degrees and storming! Put on some real pants!

4) How to sokkie (This only applies to the small percentage of people brave enough to cross the Boerewors curtain) 

I have yet to see my best friend Caryn break out these unique dance moves... Harlem Shake?

5) How to assume the appropriate facial expressions when someone smarter than you is explaining a smart concept you don't understand.

6) How to pee silently while the line for the cubicle grows...

7) How to move stationery on your desk to detract from the rumbling tummy sounds.

8) How to fart while walking without your face giving you away (This gem courtesy of the combined efforts of Caryn And Staci )

9) How to hold a really bad nose blowing session till the end of an exam where you can hear a pin drop.

10) How to avoid eye contact with the preacher walking around on campus looking for his next victim.

11) How to escape a death trap (getting stuck between the closing doors of a bus and having to yell out to the driver for help) while your friend Tavia tries and fails to recover from a laughing attack

12) How to catch up on sleep and still manage to have copious notes that are study-worthy at the end of a lecture.

13) How to defend your food from winged predators who have no hesitation taking a bite of your bacon sandwich.

14) How to ace an essay on 1 hour of sleep, 2 questionable jugs of alcoholic beverages all 3 hours before it's due! (The things you do for a friend who's just broken up with an idiot (standard term for 'them"))

15) You will never have as much fun, enjoy your life, or make the best of friends and memories as you will during those years at college! 

I'd love to hear some of your favourite lessons too! Lemme know by leaving a comment below or tweeting me @TarrynJo