Conquering varsity life

My name is Tangi Nepolo, and I am a third-year law student at the University of Namibia (Unam). This academic year has started with a bang, and I mean literally with a bang. It’s been one week of lectures so far, yet we have tonnes of assignments due and upcoming assessments that require preparation, and only God knows which one will bring us to our knees. As it stands, it does not appear that it will get any easier, so we might as well make peace with it.

Being new to university is one thing, but it comes with anxiety and confusion and for someone who is not as social as most of the people you may find here, it can get depressing too, but being a senior student and still not adapting is worse. It was only recently that I was finally able to say that I had a general idea of what I was doing here. Adapting to university is not easy, so let me share with you a few simple rules you should follow to make life a bit easier.

Number one, get out of your head. Remove whatever self-doubt, procrastination, and negative thoughts you may have about yourself and your work. Believe me, it is only you who knows what you are not capable of; everyone else sees what you do, and to be honest, no one cares either. This leads me to number two: be confident.

I’m not saying parade around campus doing ‘Lord knows what goes into you," but take ownership of your freedom, make decisions that benefit you, and ask! And continue to ask until you understand completely what is expected of you. And most of all, number three: plan and pray about your plan. Write down what you need to do and stick to that schedule. Work towards fulfilling what you have written down for the day to avoid having due dates staring at you the day before submission. With planning, you get to manage your time in such a way that you have time to relax and live—to have the university experience you’ve always heard of and also the one you've imagined, while at the same time making sure that your academics are under control.