THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM: The general view out there is that life on campus is one big party, but a campuser gives us the lowdown on the hardships they go through just to party
The most common co-curricular activity for most campusers is “happening.” With all the Campus Nights at different hangout joints in town, you could miss a lecture but will not miss the “roll call” at popular nightspots.
But even when campusers love to party, it is not an easy thing to “happen” as a campuser. You are supposed to be having fun, but hanging out comes with lots of challenges and that is the campuser’s dilemma.
Under normal circumstances, a campus girl will leave hostel with money just enough to take her to the bar and bring her back to her room. Those who are lucky will go with money for the first drink and thereafter, the rest is bought by the men they encounter. If you are not lucky to have some guy sending pints your direction, you might end up sipping on one drink the entire night. One trick most girls use to save their drink is by concentrating on dancing. These are the girls you will find shouting on top of their voices whenever the DJ plays a new song, as if every song is their favourite song. Some will even be dancing on top of tables, after all, there are no drinks on the tables.
Now, the biggest trick comes in when you have to head back to hostel. Some, if not all campusers are afraid of heading back to their hostels late in the night because many of them are locked and you need “kitu kidogo” for the custodian to open for you. Before you even think of the custodian, there is the dilemma of the means of transport to use. Travelling in taxis late in the night is not a safe option, with stories of people who have been robbed and some even raped. Boda bodas could be safer and faster, but they are very expensive. So what does a campuser do? You guessed right, stay in the bar until morning when it is safe to travel. And then some people think campusers love partying till morning, yet they are there because of reasons beyond their control! If one campuser hooks a ride from a guy she knows, then his car will become a hostel shuttle with a dozen girls or more trying to fit into the guy’s Toyota Kikumi.
Campusers love to hop from one happening spot to another, but they are forced to stay in one place because of the dilemma of having no transi. It’s a tough life!
cap;Girls on a night out. For campusers, a night out is sometimes tantamount to keeping up appearances. PHOTO BY EDDIE CHICCO