What is all the fuss about????

Rhodes University is renowned for its wild partying scene and drunken behaviour. As a result, it was not surprising that when I told my friends that I was going to Rhodes they automatically thought that I was going to become an out- of- control drunk. This reputation, as I soon realised at the beginning of first year, is not all that accurate. After being at Rhodes and living in res for almost one year I still cannot identify with the stereotypical drunken Rhodes student that my friends at home thought I was going to turn into. For this reason, I do not know why alcohol consumption has become such an issue of concern at Rhodes University.

The article “Why students drink so much” on the FM Campus website states that young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are more likely to use alcohol as part of their entertainment than any other age group. This was meant to be alarming, however, it is rather common sense due to the fact that it is during these ages when individuals are part of the partying scene. This should be understood properly before everyone starts jumping to conclusions and classifying students into the category of alcoholics.

Another point the article makes is that the drinking culture affects younger students more as they are not prepared for the newfound freedom and the availability of alcohol on campus. This is nonsense because with the freedom of being away from home, further responsibility lies on every individual at Rhodes University to perform without being under the watchful of their parents. It is this responsibility that makes me as diligent as I am in going to lectures and tutorials, even after a rough night of partying.

The partying lifestyle of Rhodes was also under scrutiny in another article by Daily Dispatch Online with the headline “Boozy pupils are poor achievers”. The article was in light of the report compiled by the university’s dean of students, Dr Vivian de Klerk, and head of counselling Dr Charles Young. The report found that drinking was associated with absenteeism in lectures, tutorials and practicals and poor academic performance. This is such a contradiction to the facts of the matter. Despite Rhodes’ reputation, Rhodes has the highest undergraduate pass rate in South Africa so how could one possibly make that statement to begin with?

Furthermore, highlighting peer pressure as a factor in the amount of alcohol consumed is also an excuse of a reason. As a first year, I never felt the pressure from any other students to drink. University students are no longer children and need to take responsibility for their actions and by blaming other people they are definitely not doing that. We have all learnt how to say no by the age of 18 so that can no longer be used as an excuse.

My experiences at Rhodes this far have been the best a varsity student could ever wish for. I have had the opportunity to make great friends, party when the time is right and work hard for the degree I am earning. I am, therefore, grateful for the opportunity of having a well-rounded varsity experience. Not only will I walk away with a highly regarded degree but also the strong belief that I have been educated in life. So, what is all the fuss about?

Louw Profile

She lights up a cigarette, takes a long drag in and stares at me through her blue eyes, her mass of eyeliner highlighting just how intensely blue they actually are. Nicolene Louw is no ordinary first year, yet she is just like the rest of us. She gets homesick, she sometimes feels as though she cannot cope with the workload and she occasionally feels claustrophobic in little Grahamstown. But she could not imagine being anywhere else at this point in her life. So what makes Ms Louw so special?

Nicci, as she prefers to be called could not answer this question herself. “Dude, I honestly don’t know what you’re interviewing me for. I’m just crazy and I haven’t ever done anything special”, she says as her cheeky blonde bob blows in the wind. If the truth must be told, then Nicci is half right. She is extremely crazy. But she has done some special things for the friends she has made at Rhodes, both human and canine. As she strums her long fingernails varnished with black on the table, she begins to tell me of the day she walked home and found a lost puppy. “This furry thing just started following me when I was walking past B.P.”, she says with a fond smile on her face, “He looked very lost, so I was just like, whatever, I’ll keep him.” This puppy she decided to name Rova, and she spent three weeks taking care of him, until she returned home one day and discovered that he was missing. “I don’t know what happened to him or where he went to,” she says with a hint of sadness, strumming her fingers on the table now at a much faster pace.

However, you do not need to be a “furry thing” in order to attract Nicci’s attention, or to become her friend. Admittedly, she is a bit of a rebel. “I gave my parents hell,” she says with a twinkle in her eye and a wicked grin on her face, the Madonna piercing glinting just above her lip. But this is what makes her admirable. “I really just don’t give a damn about what people think of me. I’m loud and crazy and I smoke too much and I swear too much. But I don’t need to fit in with everybody. I just want to be me.” It is this attitude that makes Nicolene Louw seem like a superhero to the rest of us. While most of us here spend our days trying to find the perfect outfit, the perfect hairstyle, or trying to do things that will merit the acceptance of others, Nicci throws her energy into things that she enjoys doing. “I love writing stuff and playing my guitar. Stuff like that makes me happy, and that’s all that really matters,” she says with a shrug of her shoulders, “and I don’t care if I don’t fit in.”

This girl is not going to preach to us Oprah-style and try and be a role model for younger generations. “I’m going to be myself and stay true to myself. I’ve made awesome friends here at Rhodes. It’s like we have a little family. And I didn’t have to change for either of them. I’m myself around them and they’re themselves around me. That’s all we really need,” she says brushing her fringe out of her eyes. Nicci is not perfect, but she does not claim to be, and it is quite clear that she truly could not care less about what anyone has to say about her. She is a hero in her own way, just like Einstein, who did not care about what people thought of his hair, and Noah who did not care about the fact that everyone laughed at him while he built the ark in the middle of summer. Nicolene Louw does not care if she does not fit in.

Letter to the young dreamer

Free spirited dreamer

We have now come to that place where we craft the dream into destiny. There have been Smoothies and Smirnoff’s Storms along the way but the hard headed persistent nut that you are has finally cracked into varsity- Rhodes. Yes! The “Rhodes dream” does see the light of day after the thickness of the night has passed!

Fortunately, we are not going to be the typical first year because we are part of the Gap year generation. After boarding school, it will be two years of travelling, dancing, guitar playing, camping, hiking, Kilimanjaro, paint ball and bungee jumping! All this excitement has served a greater purpose than just giving us an adrenalin rush. It will be an intense process of character refining and identity reinforcement for a time like now.

Sadly, hanging out of with holy people will not automatically make you look anything like Jesus; but you will make crucial discoveries about us in the process.
The key to a great first year is to remain me. Once this blueprint has been drafted, everything else, our academics and social life, will fall into place and the next four years should be much more solid and exhilarating.

There is a depth and passion about you that partly defines us. It is in your soul but as you know, it comes through you smile. If you think back a little, you might remember the day our eight year old self decided she would never lose her youth; we swore to remain young at heart, even if it means having a spider man bed set in first year or not always conforming to social expectations! We have to keep the passion and urgency alive or else we will lose the dream and consequently, the destiny.

Always unapologetically Us
Dreamer