PDBWhy: A trip down memory lane

by Muskaan Singh | Feb 15, 2022 | Breaking Headlines, Features

With the better part of two years of online learning, students have become accustomed to life away from campus. When restrictions were lifted in December, group chats were abuzz at the possibility of returning to campus and the reviews were mixed. We reminisce over the good, the bad, and the moments tinged golden with nostalgia.

Tiara Joseph: 3rd Year LLB

What was the best thing about campus in your experience?

Experiencing people and the serendipity of interaction; learning about their lives and just the sonder of it all. I’ll concede that it’s clichéd to say, but being physically on campus (Irrespective of one introversion or extroversion) lets you experience life – and by life I mean people – because it’s my understanding that experiencing people is part of how we experience life. It’s “sonder” and it’s cliched, but it’s also immense and wonderful too. I spoke to at least one to two people every hour or so whilst on campus. Some of those people have stayed, and become my closest friends. I met one of my dearly close mates by a serendipity that could have not (at least not efficiently) occurred online. I was sitting on floor of Thuto – assembling a salad whilst waiting for a lecture to start – (yes, assembling – a salad – not even eating a salad) – I then made accidental eye contact with a guy who had the precise look that you’d expect to receive from someone bearing witness to a first year with a “picnic for one” demarcated Tupperware assembly line of vegetables at 5pm in Thuto. Call it fate, my inability to refuse a snacking opportunity, or the serendipity of interactions, it’s rare to connect with individuals in such a way when it’s a mic off/mute campus. I hold so much of it in gratitude, that’s what it is.

The most wonderful part of being on campus is the experience of university academia. Interacting with lecturers, professors,
master degrees, PhDs, bachelor’s degrees, researchers. The physical university itself: lecture halls, libraries, the architecture; the aesthetic of campus: gardens; laboratories; bookstores; shuffling papers; writing in pen. The immense satisfaction and enjoyment around the debate and discourse of knowledge; student food; banter with people you don’t know and might never see again; complaining about overpriced coffee on the way to class but buying anyways. Opinions; schools of thought; critical thinking/writing and reading. Busy lecture halls; English 110 being over full at 07:30 in the morning after O-Week so you sit on the floor—English 110 being so empty on 07:30 midway through the semester that you could count the number of people in the room. Walking to a 18:30 test with friends; the nonchalant disposition towards writing tests in person. Anticipating the spontaneity and redirection of a lecture when it’s full class of students vs one lecturer and a spicy topic area. And those people who used to come to the student plaza and hand out free stuff all the time. The societies: events by student structures; meetings and events on campus and meeting new people there. Learning and being taught in person and everything in between—and everything in between that, too.

It’s not even just missing it. I’m so grateful that we had it because while in hindsight it was an alternative, back then it was so ordinary.

What did you most dislike about life on campus?

Pigeons… so many pigeons… and they weren’t always peaceful. They were like the real-life version of Angry Birds. Also, as someone from KZN, the heat of Pretoria takes me a week and several allergy tablets to acclimatise. There is nothing that I really disliked about campus in retrospect, but I suppose if I had to go into the present moment of time and be Tiara in 2020, I think the one thing that maybe used to get to me was if you had tests the same day that you had a lot of lectures.

What are you most nostalgic about?

The physical campus—the buildings; the university itself—meeting people, the opportunity that enabled me to grow as a person. And for some reason, also the lectures in Louw Hall—I liked the style of the lecture hall and the building. Quite frankly, I’m nostalgic for it all.

 

Claudia Du Plesis: 3rd Year BSc

What was the best thing about campus in your experience?

The atmosphere, being surrounded by people your same age, and the spirit of comradery. Everyone knows that everyone else is also suffering a bit. Just being able to speak to people who are studying the same thing as you, without having to have it be on WhatsApp—that’s a big thing. If you don’t know anyone that’s doing the same course as you, it can be a bit difficult if you have a question about something, especially if you’re studying something that’s more niche or that not many people are studying.

What did you most dislike about life on campus?

I think I miss [campus] so much that I don’t remember the bad stuff. One thing, academically speaking, is that it’s nice to be able to go back in a lecture video if you’re missing something whereas in person you can’t constantly ask lecturers to repeat themselves, so that’s something that I’ll miss about online [learning]. Its also very tiring to be on campus, especially with chronic illness or chronic pain– it’s quite difficult to get through a whole day; the campus is so big, especially for those of us who struggle with our bodies and it can be quite frustrating.

What are you most nostalgic about?

When we were in the labs, there was always a sense of everyone going through the same thing, everyone was struggling, and people were doing their best to help others. Everyone wanted to see people succeed and do well.

 

Irza Rauf: 3rd Year LLB

What was the best thing about campus in your experience?

The best part for me was how friendly everyone was. In the lecture halls everyone was just very easy to talk to, and making friends was so easy. Everyone at Tuks in general was so pleasant, or at least on the Hatfield Campus.

What did you most dislike about life on campus?

They’d set semester tests very late—they would set semester tests at 17:30 and it would be a two hour or three hour test and we would come back out when I was dark. For those of us that had to walk home, it felt really unsafe so that was very inconvenient.

What are you most nostalgic about?

All the cafes on campus and meeting up with my friends after lectures, just venting about our stress.

 

Karel Smit: 3rd Year CompSci

What was the best thing about campus in your experience?

The best thing about campus is probably the people you meet. Everyday you’re likely to come across many interesting people that you’ve never spoken to before, all of whom have a different outlook on life, which I personally think can help to develop your own viewpoint on life.

What did you most dislike about life on campus?

The thing that I disliked actually ties in with the thing that I do like—being on campus has a great atmosphere, but that very same atmosphere makes it easy to lose track of time and even begin to skip classes.

What are you most nostalgic about?

As for the nostalgia, I would have to say it’s sitting around on the Aula lawn with some friends. Pretty basic, but it’s what comes to mind first when thinking back.

 

Illustration: Cassandra Eardley

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I am Muskaan, a second year BA Law student, and am involved with TuksRes Women in Leadership Academy. I am passionate about social issues, and enjoy reading and bad puns