I write my first personal post in more than just a little bit of a crushed mood. Several days ago I was so excited to see that the weather forecast for Saturday was going to be sunny with a max of 28 degrees. Here I am on Saturday and all I see when I look outside are clouds, along with a few trees swaying in the wind. While the transition from Cape Town to Grahamtown has been met mostly with smiles from my point of view it is the weather that I have the biggest problem with. I am nonetheless very happy where I am now and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in this country.

While my room and residence may by no means be the largest on campus, I have overcome these potential difficulties along with others by blinding myself to the negatives and instead finding positives, and I have indeed found plenty. Another thing that people constantly ask me is why I would come all the way from Cape Town to Grahamstown, emphasising how little there is to do in my new home compared to Cape Town. It is a fair question as I have to agree there is very little to do here, but at the same time I am in the company of thousands of people in my same position and it is never too difficult to find a friend and make something out of nothing. And furthermore where else would I be able to meet people from every corner South Africa has let alone outside the countries borders.

When it comes to academics Rhodes is the perfect platform for me. Being around so many aspiring journalists is an encouraging environment to be in considering I come from a family that are all in the financial sector and my friends from home see things a little different to me as they aspire to become business moguls and architects. The opportunities here are also so exciting and I will never forget my early experiences behind the microphone of a live radio station.

As one of the authors of write side up I look forward to sharing my views on a range of different aspects that first years encounter. Most of which are seen by students in a negative way, but my goal is to turn that view the write-side-up…the positive side and indeed the side that I prefer.