Until Now

Chapter 9: Impressions

However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. While there's life, there is hope.

The Theory of Everything Movie

The University of Winchester had 6 halls. Each hall had its own tradition to welcome the freshers. In Minha's case, the Alwyn Hall hailed its freshers by playing a prank on them. There were heavy duty lights around the ground floor windows and every fresher had his room at that floor.

The lights were only lit up once a year, during the start of first semester. To the people living inside the rooms, it gave an illusion of morning. The prank basically consisted of waking up the freshers at 2'0 clock in the morning by screaming. The seniors also changed time of all the clocks of hall.

The next step was to throw the water colored balloons at them from the balcony. The fact that it was winter didn't help the students at all. It was the unofficial welcome of newbies.

Minha went back to her room. She had picked her favourite white shalwar kameez for the first day along with converse and black shawl. Now, she knew that she would have to wear something else tomorrow because her outfit was ruined.

After taking a hot bath, Minha pulled out her clothes for morning. This time she chose turquoise shirt and black jeans and paired it with a black jacket and blue shawl. She was drying her hair with dryer when Chantel came back into the room.

As soon as she saw Minha, she started laughing. "You looked so funny with that red color on your head covering," she said in between her laughs. "Will it wash away?" Minha asked, worried about her dupatta. "Yeah don't worry we used water based colors. You get rid of it in minutes." Chantel assured her. After sometime Minha set her alarm and went to sleep.

Minha woke up early next morning. She did wudhu and offered prayer. After folding the prayer mat, she took out her schedule. The orientation day was only meant for introductions. She had 21 classes a week four classes every day and an extra class at Friday.

At 7:00 am she went to the dining where everybody else was busy in eating. She quietly picked an apple and bread. She was still tired. She came back to her room and made a cup of tea.

At 7:30 am, she was ready. She wasn't fond of makeup on casual days. So, she just sticks to a Chapstick and moisturizer. After setting her dupatta elegantly on her head, she walked towards the exit.

Just like yesterday, she saw some seniors wearing Ask Me shirt. She found Peter guiding a girl. She moseyed to him. "Hey girl, how was last night?" Peter greeted her like they had known each other their whole life.

"Kya masla hai isse? Ab phir mera mazaq urana hai kya? (What's his problem? Is he going to ridicule me again?) Minha thought to herself. "It was okay". "I hope you don't get sick because Pakistan is a really hot country." "No, I won't get sick," Minha said.

"Can you tell me where is Auditorium?" Minha asked him. "Yeah, this is Ashley. She is having the same destination as yours. I have told her all the directions. She'll take you there." With that, Peter turned to other freshers.

Minha and Ashley walked to the auditorium. "So, what's your name?" Ashley started the conversation. "Minha Waleed," Minha replied extending her hand. Ashley shook her hand "Ashley Winters." "Which hall?" "St. Elizabeth's Hall. I think your hall is Alwyn? What they did there?"

"They just threw water colored balloons and scared the hell out of us by waking up at 2:00 am at night while shouting "You missed orientation!! Wakey Wakey" Minha said shaking her head. Ashley laughed. "You know what they did to us?" Ashley asked. "What?" "They made us do 100 push ups and those who couldn't are going to wear dunce hat in the university for a week. A Whole Freaking Week. Can you believe?" Asley said.

"So how many completed the pushups?" "Who could? Everyone was so tired and it happened before dinner. Only two people could complete. Me and there is this guy named Frederick." "Oh St. Elizabeth's hall is co?" "Yeah, only two halls are not co-ed Alwyn and Beech Glade." "That is why you guessed I am from Alwyn." "Yeah." Ashley said.

Minha and Ashley entered the auditorium. They were some students holding Dunce's Hats in their hands. They were supposed to wear it after orientation. Minha also saw some students of her hall with amusingly colored hair. Minha's black shawl saved her. But all of other students heads were now looking like clowns. Ashley pointed at some students who had shaved eyebrows. Both of them started laughing. Looks like all of the halls had fulfilled its tradition.

The vice chancellor of University of Winchester cleared his throat at the mike. All of the freshers settled down on their respective seats.

"Hello freshers. I am here to officially welcome you to our university. Although, I can see that some of you have been greeted by the seniors very well." The crowd laughed at this.

"You are here not only because you were meant to be but because you worked hard to get this. The next four years are going to decide where you stand in this race we know as life. I hope all of you make this institute proud as well as your families. You have one thousand, four hundred and sixty days to change your life. Make every single second count. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to one of the best universities of the world."

The orientation ended with introduction from every head of Department. The student ambled to their respective departments. Ashley and Minha were in the same class so they sat beside each other.

Ashley felt a tap at her shoulder. She looked behind to see a guy with a shaved eyebrow. Minha started laughing along with her. "Hey, I am Rick." He politely said. "I am Ashley and this is Minha." "Which hall are both of you from?" "I am from Alwyn hall and she is from St. Elizabeth's," Minha answered.

"I am from Burma road student Village." "What happened to you?" Ashley asked. "Well, I was given the task to either confess to my crush or get this makeup where my eyebrows look shaved. I chose the 2nd option." "We can clearly see that." Minha stated and the girls broke into a storm of laughter.

"Heheheheh," Rick mimicked them. "Who is your crush by the way?" Ashley asked. "My teacher from O'Levels." Rick said with a sad expression on his face.

"Class, I am Mr. Williams." Minha and Ashley turned straight. "I'll be teaching you Introduction to Psychology from now on." With this, Minha's first day started.

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