I decided to blog today. For no other reason other than I had some spare time (a rarity) and I realised that my last post was in 2010, a disgrace for someone who aims to be a journalist. Fact is that nowadays, writing for pleasure is more of a luxury than ever before.
These past few months I've found myself swept up, or sucked back up, into the tiny Grahamstown bubble facing second year, my second year of tertiary education. After the initial "shock horror" of how fast time flies I came to the conclusion that life exists in a vacuum down here in the “G-Spot”, as Grahamstown is referred to by many.
Let’s take, for example, a few girls in my res. I am a strong believer in the recommended 8 hours of sleep, but if you can’t manage those, 7 hours will do. These hours are what help us to function during the day. However, it seems to me that no one has a concept of time in this place, when to sleep, when not to sleep.
When I switch my lamp off at roughly 22:30 I look out my window to see my neighbour’s light still on. Fine, she’s probably working late. When I wake up at around 6, that light is still on. What in the name of all things sane is she doing? Is she afraid of the dark? Is she a vampire?
This seemed to bother me a great deal more than it bothered my friends when I relayed the strangeness of my neighbour. “She sleeps during the day”, was the only reply I received. She sleeps during the day. Is that what varsity is about, strange anti-social sleeping patterns? Excuse me for my naivety, but my subtle upbringing in the world of ordinary suburbia told me when the sun is up we are efficient, we do our work, we go to class, we grocery shop etc. and when that sun goes down and the lights go out, you sleep. Clearly my whole life has been a lie as I am told that this is not the case. "Nocturnal" is lifestyle many of my peers engage in.
My only issue is this, what happens when you out of the G-Town bubble and into the big wide world where, I’m hoping, the concept of sleeping at night and activity in the day is normality? Unless of course my neighbour aspires to be a night watchmen, that may be the case.
