When I finished laying my bed, I looked up at Senior Emeka, waiting for instructions of what next to do. When my father had arrived in Hope College with me in the car, we had first driven to the administrative block to see the school's Principal, an old dowdy looking man in a pair of old fashioned styled English looking tweed suit. He wore a thick pair of oval shaped eyeglasses with thick brown plastic rims that gave him an appearance of an old professor. Behind him had been several shelves with stacks and stacks of academic books, dusty files and volumes of encyclopaedias. Directly in front of his desk was the legend in a gold plated plastic nameplate 'Principal Oyewole Olanipekun, B.A (Edu), M.A., Msc.' My father seemed to have been pleased with him (he found out that they were both alumnus of the University of Nigeria) and Principal Oyewole informed us that he would make sure the Zik House prefect met me in the hostel and then tell me what to do. So I looked up at Senior Emeka now waiting to be told what next to do.

He looked at me briefly and then at his wristwatch. My eyes were drawn to my own rubber digital G-Shock wristwatch; it was reading 02.17pm. I looked at him again expectantly.

'It's dinning time.' He said. 'You have to follow me to the dinning hall so you can be assigned a table.'

I simply nodded. I didn't know what to expect when we got to the dinning hall. I wasn't hungry and even if I were, I had more than enough food in my locker. I said nothing though to Senior Emeka, I just waited for him to lead the way.

'You need to carry your plate and spoon.' He said to me as he headed toward the door.

I opened my suitcase again, withdrew my glass plate, which was white with tiny designs of purple grapes and vines in the middle and took a set of fork and knife. I locked my suitcase afterward with its key and joined him outside.

'Follow me.' He said.

We had to trek through the bush paths created by constant movements of people in and out of their hotels to the classrooms, dining hall, guardians' homes or school clinic. I was quick to note that there were no tarred roads in Hope. Apart from the general clearings around buildings like the hostels, classroom premises, assembly ground, offices and homes, roads and paths were simply weathered red earth, which grated with rough marbles and stones in the dry season and would become predominantly muddy during the rains.