A toast to a dear friend

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

My dear life long friend has decided to go work and travel in Versailles, France, for 7 months. 7 months! It feels like a lifetime to me! She will be an English assistant at a school there. She will always be able to travel in her off-time. I am very happy that she has this opportunity to broaden her horizons. But she is leaving us behind!

Marinda and me have been friends literally since birth, but actually Marinda is more than that to me:
I looked up the definition of friend in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (2011: 568):
"a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations". But Marinda is way more than that to me: She is my lunch-buddy, my go-to when I need advice, my best friend, the person who understands me best, my soul sister.

We organized a farewell party for her, where we had a lot of fun and the other night, I had the opportunity to be her date to the formal, where it was our final farewell.

We are the complete opposite. We are night and day. The moon and the sun. Whatever you want to call it. But I believe that is why our friendship works so good, we can never get bored of each other, because of the fact that we differ so much. She is my friend that is my missing puzzle piece.

Marinda, I hope you have a wonderful journey of a lifetime in France. I hope you find yourself in ways that will amaze you. I hope you make friends all over the world. I hope you eat and drink as many weird and wacky things there, because you only live once and life is too short to be on the safe side! I hope you love walking down those beautiful streets every single day and that you will walk in the rain instead of avoiding it. Embrace the cold and the winters and maybe even the snow! I hope you do crazy things and make up your own bucket list! Well, this is kinda a demand ha-ha!

My friend, I wish you well. I really do hope that you have one great adventure and I cannot wait to hear all the amazing stories.

Listen to this song, it reminds me of the journey you'll be having.

I love you, Marinda, and I will miss you. But mostly I'm excited for you!

Baby sis is in Grade R

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

Sister with her big bag

 Today, Mieka started her first day at Grade R (Grade 0). She has been looking forward to this day for ages! She was always telling us that her hair would be like Rapunzel's and that her eyes will shine. She was also convinced that after Grade R, she will be joining me at university. She still has to get through 12 years of school before she can go to university and then I will most certainly not be there anymore.

She enjoyed her first day and we were glad to see that one of her friends, was NOT in her class, because they always have some sort of fight.

What was your first day like in school?

How NOT to fall asleep in class

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

It is sometimes very hard NOT to fall asleep in class, especially when your lecturer/professor has a one tone voice or they are simply just boring. I still struggle with staying awake in class and my Creative Writing professor started calling me Sleeping Beauty.

My tired roommate after a good night out

Here are some tips to try and stay awake:

• Take ice cold water with you to class and drink it when you are starting to fall asleep.
• Eat in apple in class. It has the same effect as caffeine.
• Try to write down every single word the lecturer/professor says, if they are slow it will be easy, if they talk fast, good luck!
• Stare at someone in your class, until they look back and continue staring. See how long it takes to creep them out or make them shift in their seat. If they continue staring at you, ABORT MISSION!
• Ask irrelevant questions and see how the lecturer reacts.
• Try and draw your lecturer, no matter how bad you are.
• Text everyone you know in class and see who forgot to put their phone on silent.
• Click your pen to irritate people and see who tells you to stop first.
• Hum your favorite tune and enjoy the dirty looks.
• If this didn't help, take a nap. The lecturer must then be really boring!

Bullying never stops

By Arnia Kiara Oosthuizen

The wall of love in Paris, France.

Even as a 20 year old, I still experience bullying from people who believe they are better than the rest.

I stutter when I am stressed or in difficult situations. When I was in primary school, kids used to tease and bully me. The teachers came to my rescue and told the kids to stop.
But how long can teachers fend for a kid?

Looking back, I should've stood up for myself and not have been ashamed of stuttering. I should have ignored them or laughed at them for teasing me, because they are pathetic.

Bullying still happens. It happens in the form of seniors trying to degrade the self worth of first year students, through initiation in the hostel. It is absolutely disgusting and sad that they would lower themselves to that level. When I was a first year, the House Committee teased me because I stuttered. I had a little chat with them and they stopped.

What gain does one get to be the bully? Do you feel better about your sad life? Does it boost your self image? I will never understand it.

I believe if you consider yourself a good person, you should never look down on someone, unless you are helping them up.

Please feel free to leave a comment :)