THE DECISION

Stuck between 'aaaaaaaahhhhhh' and ‘it’s no big deal, I’ve got this.’

Stuck between, I'd rather stay in a familiar place than go into the wilds

Phew!

The first time I gave house job a serious thought, what I had in mind was simply that I will not be doing it in LUTH where I trained. I had no other details. I just wanted out of LUTH. It felt like I had been there all my life.

Then around March while preparing for my professional exams, Abuja dropped in my head. I was like, from where to where. I forgot about it and focused on my exams.

After exams, I then prayed about to be sure because latibosibo. If I did not want Lagos, then I needed a list of places I did not mind going to, the mistake I made then was that I did not write this list down (lesson: go to your place of prayer with a notepad) (close to the time of selection, I prayed again and wrote a list). I had different places in mind that I forgot and laser focused on Abuja.

Everyone said Abuja was not an option, I needed connects and all of that. So I did my best, while waiting for the MDCN portal for housemanship to open. I tried to get into the Abuja HMB (sort of like state hospitals) but that did not work out so I had to wait for the MDCN portal. While wondering where to go to, I knew there had to be a CCI campus in the state I picked because there are enough campuses for me to grow where there isn't one.

Of course, I'd been told Abuja will not appear there but I'd still try regardless, right? Yes, Abuja was not there and I was confused for a bit scrolling through the available centers, thankfully my mum was around pushed me go for Port Harcourt and that is what I picked.

And this is how I got here.

Now I'm wondering, do I really want to leave my comfort zone? Yes, I do. But....

I’m equally excited and terrified. Abuja was acceptable to my parents because I have family there that can take care of me. But we don’t know anyone in PH!

I feel like I'm going into the wild🤣🤣🤣

God abeg.

None of my classmates are there. I'll literally have to start afresh. Again, God abeg

THE PREPARATION

So yeah, now at the acceptance stage, and yeah, I guess I'm good. I'm fine. I've accepted it, even almost excited about the prospect of leaving. The next thing is making plans to prepare. So I've never flown before.

I've actually never traveled really far from home, which is making all these a novel experience to me. Of course, it's because I'm flying, but I've never flown before. I have gone to the airport for excursion before but that does not count. And I'm like, "Okay, let's order tickets online, make sure I get a seat close to the window because of my first time flying. I want to get the full experience."

I went through the aircraft policies. And there was something about not carrying beyond one bag (I eventually learned that it was weight dependent and I could carry everything). Fam, I'm moving my whole life, and you're telling me to go with just one bag. What do you mean? I'm going to try to comply with that because I don't know. I don't think I have another choice for now. That is, I'm going to keep looking, but yeah, the plan is to start packing soon. Tickets acquired, and up next is actually packing up my clothes and other necessities.

My mum prayed for me today. She acknowledged and thanked God for the great friends I made in the university. She prayed I meet people who will continue to spur me on where I'm going to.

This is a big deal for me because my friends are very important to me and have all significantly contributed to who I am today. I'm super grateful for them and honestly, I miss them all already

Jeez who will wash my sneakers for me when in PH. (My brother washes them for me normally)

THE TRIP

Well, checking in at the airport was not as stressful as I thought (it was stressful, just not as stressful). Had issues with the weight of my luggage but got it all sorted. The person attending to me looked tired, can't blame her- customer service jobs requires a mega level of patience. My parents parented🤣🤣🤣🤣.that's how I can put it.

Met a girl that said she liked my gird shirt. She looked pretty too, and she could relate to my reaction to my parents 🤣🤣🤣

Boarding was pretty easy. They made me take off my shoes at the check-in point, didn’t get the point. I’m sure I’ll learn about it someday. My flight was delayed for over 30 minutes, but I forgive them.

Got my window seat, yay!

Clouds are like soap suds.

Took several pictures and videos of the takeoff and landing. They gave snacks on the flight too.

The temptation to scream weeeeeeeeee as the plane landed (not out of excitement, just for the sake of it🤣🤣🤣)

On getting to the airport, as in Port Harcourt Airport, it wasn’t bad. We met an old family friend at the Lagos airport, and she helped in negotiating a taxi price.

When driving away from the airport, there were bushes all around, I was like, "Oh my God, why are there so many bushes? What happened to seeing houses?" I had to turn on my Google Maps to follow the driver to make sure he wasn’t taking me away because this is still Nigeria. I sent my live location to the people I was coming to meet and to a few friends who stay here. I just kept following.

We passed one checkpoint, the regular police checkpoint. Then we passed another checkpoint that looked so odd. I had to ask the driver, "Why is this checkpoint like this?" He told me it’s for local vigilantes then he went, ‘They can be dangerous; they can kill.’ I was like, "Wait, why are you telling me they can kill? What prompted this information? Wetin concern me?" I just said, "Okay, thank you, sir."

Then, the driver wanted me to pay for his fuel. I asked, "Why are you telling me to pay your fuel? Is it part of the money I'll pay you?" I just told him I'm not paying for his fuel fee. When I get to my location, I'm going to give him his full money. I'm coming from Lagos, you dey whine me?

Upon arriving here and seeing the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital gate, I was like, finally. only for us to keep driving down and down and down, surrounded by countless bushes. We eventually got to the main area though.

The people here are really nice. I’m grateful to have met people who have the interest of people coming from afar in mind. I got my accommodation and also met some people in the same stage as me. Took a walk around to check out new places, and all I can say is, work go choke but I’ve got this.

Also learned that this is the rural part of the city- me that thought it would be in the central part. But I can go wherever necessary sha (read church)

Need to learn to speak pidgin soon too

Thanks for reading. Apologies for the poor editing and stuff. Needed to get past the blockage of not posting at all.