Being new does not mean I am stupid.

By Chips.
Who ever came up with Orientation Week for first year students made a very great suggestion to ease the life of new comers. After missing one earlier this year I have first hand experience on how you get to learn the hard way and the price you pay for not getting to Rhodes in time for the O- week.
It’s a rather long story for me to explain to you why I ended up getting here after O-week. The only thing I can tell you is that, being new is no fun at all especially if you come across people who make you feel that you are a novice. After completing my academic registration at Eden Groove, I had to go to each department I had registered for to confirm my name there. This I concluded was not a problem, the crisis only stemmed from the fact that, I had not already familiarised myself with the campus and department locations. I had to gather courage to ask around where the English department, the Journalism department and also the History Department were located. I was impressed by the amount of patience people expressed when I had to explain to them on at least twice that I had not really understood the directions they had offered. I must admit, at that time I was a bit confused about everything because the feeling of being new was very overwhelming to me.
I must say, I was offended by the attitude one guy showed when I had politely asked him to direct me to the Main Library. Before he even attempted to answer, he burst out into laughter and then asked me if I was new on campus because in his view no one did not know where the “embassy” was located. He referred to the library as an embassy because I later on discovered that it is one place where a lot of people usually meet. When I think back on that encounter, I feel like laughing because, the truth of the matter was that, I did not know where the library was seriously. I felt so out of place and blamed my family for the delay that prevented me from getting here in time for the orientation. I began to ask myself why people never miss an opportunity to make some one out of place. The worst part of this whole encounter is that, of all the people who helped me, I do not seem to remember them very well but this one guy I never forgot. Every time I see him on campus, I am reminded of this embarrassing moment on my first day at university institution.
I am not trying to give a moral teaching to students in any way but all I am trying to get across is that, being new does not mean that someone is stupid and very dumb. I find it appropriate to keep quiet when some one asks a genuine question on something the are new at rather than making un necessary comments that can offend people. Why people want to prove that they have been around for longer that you, I do not know. People try by all means to prove to others that you are inferior in position as compared to them for no reason. What would this guy have lost if he had only given me the directions I had asked for or even told me that he did not know without making feel like I was the greatest fool that had been offered to study at such a high class university?