By Nuha Dadesh
Looking back at the lacrimal secretions I discharged four years ago gets me contemplating whether I regret them or whether I'm content with what they prepared me for. Those tears were shed because I was about to leave the " Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave" to a land that had a different type of freedom and a distinct type of bravery.
The land I'm referring to is obviously Libya; to be more precise, its capital. This also happens to be the name of its biggest university- the University of Tripoli! At which I attended and endeavored for four, preeminent semesters at its faculty of Pharmacy. Furthermore, each semester yielded unique struggles and accomplishments.
It was during the interval between the third and fourth semesters that I developed a creeping paranoia that the latter of the semesters would never start. Or if it did, it would come to an abrupt halt. All while heeding at the fact that a paranoia doesn't just spurt. Rather, it gingerly formulates during certain moments of trauma and shock, and then it unleashes its skeptical self as the shock and trauma resume. Fortunately though, the awaited semester finally began after a restful break and prolific postponements.
It officially began on a Saturday. However, along with many others, I began my fourth journey at the beautiful and calm campus on the following Sunday. It was a hesitant beginning; no one was sure if it had really commenced. Therefore, a handful of professors gave the introductory lectures on that Saturday and others were impeded by the scarce presence of students.
The schedule was scheduled in such an inconsiderate way; it boggled my mind for the rest of the semester how someone could do such a horrible job! Which led to the only realization that it couldn't all just be coincidentally not in our favor- it was deliberate sabotage.
The arguments. The disagreements. The fighting. The kidnappings. The melees. And the power cuts! Who could forget about the power cuts? They all played a crucial part in tampering with our educational career. Nevertheless, you'd most definitely find unflinchingly determined students in the faculty as if none of the aforementioned impediments even existed. Sure, there was the complaining and whining, but that was found at every university in the world!
A week of lectures passed. Some were obviously going to be skipped (although, there was the threat of what I called the 25% rule which indicated that if you miss 25% of the lectures of a course, you will not be permitted an entrance to the final.) Also, signing up for the appropriate labs that coordinated with your schedule was a definite havoc. Thus, what should've been a smooth beginning was unfortunately ponderous and tedious. Nonetheless, my friends,who were such an uplift in my life, made it all elapse by creating memories that I know one day will be nostalgic. And thus, the labs commenced a week later.
As I hurriedly walked down the parking lot to my lectures because I was always tardy, there was a daily reoccurring thought: Why do 8 A.M. lectures have to be a thing?
Each lecturer had his/her idiosyncrasy that either preluded some as appealing and others as appalling figures.
Due to my intense persistence to not darken the bright mindset I had worked so hard to get since I stepped foot in Libya, I decided to keep my focus on only the diligent lecturers.
First and foremost, Dr. Abdulla Elhwuegi was the most prominent professor that has taught me in this faculty. He only needed a marker and a projector screen to make Pharmacology not so difficult to study and comprehend. Moreover, Dr.Elhwuegi spoke in a non-condescending tone and knew how to stoop from his high levels of knowledge down to our primitive level. He was so kind as to let us record his explicit lectures and listen to them later. Moreover, I noticed that lecturers who let us record them knew how much we needed voice records of their teaching. For instance, Dr.Amal Ammar was another lecturer you'd find students swapping records of on their phones. She had an enthusiasm that was much admired from the first lecture and up to the last. In addition, she made the instruments we were learning about in Instrumental Analysis come to life when she described their mechanism and appearance. Last but not least, Dr.Awatef of the Pharmacognosy department at the faculty had an exquisite way of making learning about fruits, seeds, and roots, their scientific and family names, their uses, and much more not boring in the slightest.
"Don't forget the lab-coat Nuha!" Yeah, I'm one of those weirdo individuals who talk to themselves in third person. The labs were the dullness repellent to my days. Saturdays and Sundays were booked with lectures so a Monday always came to change things up a notch. It would usually start out with me heading to the photo-shop where Nizar, the popular and consumer-friendly shop owner, had the sheets for whatever lab we had that day ready to be sold out to the crowded swarm of girls ( and a guy or two.) I,then, would go up to the third floor to sit next to my awesome lab partner and chat till Dr. Fathia came and explained in a soothing voice what preparation we were to compound that morning. I came to love Saba even more as we measured, weighed, and triturated throughout the Pharmaceutics labs! The rest of the day was spent on a Pharmaceutical Technology lecture and subsequent lab that started at 1:30 P.M. and graciously ended at 4 P.M. That lab wasn't the most joyous lab. Firstly, the time for the labs were cut off for some reason this semester so the professors didn't have enough time to explain the procedures of every lab before we went in, and so they were obliged to inform us of what we were supposed to do for each experiment in a condensed four hour tutorial in the begging of the semester that was totally forgotten by the time we actually did the experiments. Secondly, the equipment was decrepit. Lastly, the experiments were tiring and time consuming. However, Aya and I ended up with loads of stories to tell and laugh it about the cursed Techno lab, which resulted in our close friendship.Palpably, the weeks were a perpetual cycle of lectures, labs, and memories made even in the testing halls of a small campus that subtly made itself a second home to me.
All in all, being a Pharmacy student is breathtaking; literally and figuratively. Whether it was studying for a quiz, a midterm, or a final, there was always the feeling of constant stress. In fact, even not studying was stressful due to the realization of how many more packets I had to get through so I can finally get a decent break. The stress of studying was accompanied by other external forces of stress such as a random cancellation of all lectures and midterms of a chaotic day because an important staff member was abducted. Of course, at the time, I didn't know if the halt were to last for a day or two, a month, or for the rest of the semester! In addition, Libya's summer heat blasts would even make that American lunatic change his mind about the Paris Agreement! Thus, studying during the prolonged hours of power outages was a definite struggle. Nevertheless, there was those amazing moments where I got a breakthrough after finishing a sheet or two. Moreover, a rewarding feeling of content always made sure to flicker around within me when I realized how much I was learning; both in my field and in life generally.
"Live where you are celebrated- not tolerated." My first years back in Libya, I felt less than tolerated. It is at this faculty that I found people that celebrated me at my best and tolerated me at my worst.
Gratefully, I am a person of faith. And I only feel the need to admit that I owe it all to Allah for bestowing those everyday miracles that let me achieve what I archived, endure what I endured, and learn and what I learned.
