Last Month, you decided to attend the NiMSA South-West Regional Convention. You were all psyched up for the convention until you were added to the group chat. The organising committee began to make weird threatening statements, like “If you don’t bring your bucket, you’re on your own!” You begin to lose faith in the convention, wondering whether you have wasted your 8k.
Departure day arrives, your bags are packed and you are at the front of the ABH gate by 8AM. There is no bus in sight, you wait a few minutes and one appears. You’re a cool kid, your friends aren’t ready yet, so you wait for the second bus. The second bus arrives past 9, people and luggage are all squeezed into the bus. The journey begins. There is music, drinks and gist, a perfect combination for a long trip. About an hour into the travel, the bus comes to a halt for a bathroom break. Men and women jump through windows – as the doors have been blocked with bags – to urinate by the roadside. Everyone is back on the bus, and the journey continues. Not up to 30 minutes afterwards, another bathroom stop. You hear that someone has vomited, followed by shouts of “Don’t look back!” Everyone is back on the bus, and the journey continues. Later on during the journey, the bus stops, another bathroom break? The driver gets down and says something is wrong with the tyre, those with weak bladders use the opportunity. Everyone is back on the bus, and the journey continues. A few kilometres down the road, you begin to hear a loud sound, like air escaping a balloon. The tyre deflates. The bus is parked by the roadside, the driver walks up the road to get a vulcanizer, and everyone gets down. The tyre is pumped, everyone is back on the bus, and the journey continues. You start receiving messages from those on the first bus; they have arrived and security officers are checking every bag. Then, in the middle of nowhere, you hear the sound again, the driver slows down and parks by the roadside. There is no one around, only wildlife, perfect location to stage a kidnapping. You check your phone, no signal. Everyone does so too, only Glo has network. Tola calls the first bus driver to come bail us out of the situation. You wait for about an hour before he reaches your location. The tyre is fixed, everyone is back on the bus, and the journey continues. You finally reach your destination, Afe Babalola University.Your bus is greeted by security officers who are rude and demand that everyone gets down to walk into the school. You walk in and are instructed to register your entry into the school. Thereafter, you carry your bag to a security officer who lazily checks it. You then join your friends as you enter the free shuttle to your hostel. At the hostel, you choose 3 of your friends and register in a room. The time is past 7pm, so dinner is being served. You locate the cafeteria and give one of your four food stamps to receive Jollof Rice. As you eat, you begin to think that maybe Fanawole’s Jollof isn’t so bad after all. Not long after the movie night starts, you enter and notice that it is Prey playing, not Top Gun Maverick that won the polls. After the movie, you walk to your room for a good night’s rest.
Day 2 begins with the conference proper, you are dressed formally and are taking pictures in front of Alfa Belgore Hall. The conference starts quite late as breakfast was not ready on time and dignitaries had not yet arrived. The opening ceremony starts and you are welcomed by the DVC. He begins to praise ABUAD and insult the public school education system. He rants on for about 10 minutes talking about the ongoing strike and the ability of their students to know their graduation date. He ends his speech by encouraging public school students to transfer to ABUAD. Other speakers come on and you begin to get bored. A message pops up on the group, “Let’s all go outside to take a UIMSA picture”. You leave about 5 minutes after and meet the entire UIMSA delegation taking individual and group pictures.
After you have taken pictures to your fill, you walk back into the hall and take your seat. A few hours later, the program ends and you are given snacks for lunch. They announce that the quiz will be starting soon, so you make your way down to the Preclinical Hall. You notice that the Royal Quiz Club are around in full force, a smile spreads across your face, as you realise victory is imminent. The quiz begins with the preliminary stage; the RQC has a rough start, but then goes on a winning streak. It is a tie with LASUMSA for several rounds, but in the last two rounds, they take the lead with 8 points. You are a bit saddened, UIMSA Twitter has posted a lot of bants, but then you remember there’s a final stage.It is getting dark, you are beginning to think about the promised visit to the planetarium and are trying to decide whether to attend the games night or buy a ticket for the party. You eventually buy a ticket for the party and the final stage begins. There is a strong tie between UIMSA and LASUMSA. You hear rumours that there is foul play. The answer to a question is contested. The quizmaster does not want to hear any of it. The final stage enters a fastest and best tiebreaker session. Ini answers, winning the gold for UIMSA. With joy and excitement from winning, you go to your room to prepare for the party. You arrive at the hall, show your ticket and walk into darkness with loud music. There are no disco lights, only the natural adjustment of your pupils to the darkness. You begin to enjoy yourself, but at 10:15pm, the
party is brought to a close. You begin to ask yourself why you have a money-wasting streak, thinking that maybe attending the games night would have been a better use of your time. Then, you hear that the program didn’t hold. Disappointed, you go to bed angry.Day 3 starts with sporting activities. You change into sportswear and cheer other UIMSAites playing various sports. You cheer as UIMSA gathers 3 gold medals in Basketball and Volleyball, 2 silver medals in Male Shot-Put and the Inter-MSA Presidential Race and 1 bronze medal in Female Javelin. The Mixed MSA vs AMSA football match begins and ABUAD Medical Students’ Association wins with 3 goals to 2.
Afterwards, you go to your room to freshen up and then attend the caucus meeting. There, you get premium gist on the in workings of NiMSA and get to receive the manifestos of the next NiMSA Presidential and Vice-Presidential aspirants. The caucus meeting ends quite late, so you leave a bit early so you can prepare adequately for the dinner. At the dinner, you sit with your friends and fill out the dinner forms. Jaachi is called out to receive her presidential award and you along with other UIMSAites dance out with her to the stage to get the award. While the acts go on, you notice that a line is beginning to form along the server’s table. You join as you cannot let hunger kill you. You finally are served and settled at your table to eat. Then a few minutes after, a security officer comes to your table saying “5 minutes more”. You are surprised as you check the time, 9:55 PM. At precisely 10:10 PM, the lights and sound go off as everyone is ushered out of the hall. You walk to your hostel to have a good night’s rest.On day 4, you pack your bags excited to go home. You check your phone and notice over 400 messages from the previous night and a new group to which you have been added. There are loads of complaints and insults concerning the entire experience of the convention, but you brush it all aside. A message pops up on the UIMSA group; there will be a tour of the ABUAD Multisystem Hospital. You join the tour as they show you the pneumatic tube system for transport of blood samples, the three functional 1.5 Tesla MRI machines, the densitometer and the general outlay of the hospital. After, the tour you wait for the second bus and begin your journey back home.
Goodbye ABUAD!