Rhodent infestation

Rhodes university, UCKAR (University currently known as Rhodes) to some, the purple one to others, and the alcoholic one to most unfortunate parents, has been my home for the past four years. I started my university career in 2016, a year categorized by protests and political tension. However, amidst a campus wrought with duty and chaos, I found a small piece of comfort. I befriended the six strangest humans I’ve ever had the fortune of encountering.

I’ve never been the most outgoing person. The idea of socializing with strangers is enough to make my anxiety skyrocket and make me want escape to my room and hide under blankets with a cross to ward off dangers. But if there was one thing my mom wanted me to do before she left, tear stricken and shoving a sniffling dad into the car, it was ‘force friendships’. And so, with trembling hands and a dry throat, I sent out an invitation for a movie night in my room. I supplied the pizzas, the movie, and the room. I just needed people to pitch up.

Thank God they did otherwise I don’t think my pride would have taken the hit. There, in my small single room, four of us crammed onto the bed while another three shifted on the floor, sat my friends. Of course at the time they were strangers seeking friendship as desperately as I was, but now? Now they’re the people you’re going to have the pleasure of getting to know. I’m in my fourth and final year, after two years in my student residence I have moved into a house, a digs as most people call it. I have a fountain of stories to share with you, some outrageously funny and ridiculous, and others, a little sad. But they’re meant to show you how I, and other Rhodents, live in this quaint little town we call Makhanda, or Grahamstown. Hell, that’s another story too.