The Percepts I’ve always loved the second semester.
Part of it is the weather. In northern Nigeria, the rainy season usually arrives around this time. The air becomes cooler, the heat is less harsh, and everything feels a little calmer. But that’s not the only reason.
The second semester is also short. There isn’t much time to waste. Lecturers focus on what is necessary, students become more serious, and everyone seems to move with a greater sense of purpose. Somehow, we become more productive and i love that.
For three years, that was all the second semester meant to me: good weather and a sense of urgency.
This year feels different.
On the day i came back to town for this last second semester, i realize as i open the door to my apartment i said this is the last semester i’m coming back here.
For the first time, this semester doesn’t feel like another semester. It feels like the beginning of the end.
I find myself thinking about things I didn’t think about as much in previous semesters. Life after university no longer feels distant. It feels close. Questions about work, skills, responsibility, and supporting myself suddenly seem real.
I am beginning to understand that graduation is not only about earning a degree. It is also about stepping into a new stage of life.
I think that is why this semester feels different. I am not just approaching the end of university. I am slowly saying goodbye to a version of myself.
I will probably miss everything—the campus, the people, and the person I have been while I was here.
Maybe that is what growing up feels like.
Some endings do not arrive all at once. They begin quietly on an ordinary morning when you realize that one day, the things you thought were ordinary will become memories.
Related: The Beginning of the End