A fresh-year student at Makerere University says she’s found it hard to settle in for her studies because of what appears to be culture shock.

Joan Nakalema joined Makerere in August to pursue a degree course in Development Studies with excitement partly arising from the beautiful stories she was told about life at Uganda’s oldest university. Once in, however, Nakalema tells Journalism@Mak that the environment she’s experienced over the past two months is different from the mental images she had.

“This is not the picture my high school teachers painted about how university would be like. I expected fun, joyful environment but on reaching here, I found out that the reverse was true,” she said in an interview.

From her room at Castlevile Hostel, Nakalema says she’s suddenly realised that the much talked about freedom at university in not freedom at all and that those who swallow the bait live to regret their choices. She says: “High school cannot be compared to university in terms of freedom, yes, but the fact is that university freedom is disguised misery. At the end of the day you pay for how you use your time.”

As the course gets harder for the fresh woman, she wonders where people get all the time to party. “I am literary always in books and doing course works,” she says.

When students complete high school, they get excited about joining university because, to many, it comes with freedom and fun, as well as less supervision from teachers and parents. This appears to have been the case with Nakalema, who has since developed a different opinion as reality set in.

“Lecturers are harsh they pile us with assignments and expect us to meet the deadline at their convenience. I am literary tired of school, there is too much pressure on us,” she explains. She adds that university is a different ball game compared to high school where students were given question banks and answer booklets among others.

But at university, she says, lecturers “don't even give in-class notes, they just keep referring us to the main library to go and research.”

Nakalema had time to discuss relationships when our reporter asked her how she has managed to keep herself focused.  She claims that some continuing students target new students, especially those who are struggling academically. “I remind them of my interests in excelling in this course and that I would not mind any help rendered but they should not expect much from me beyond being friends,” she says.

Recalling the memories of her first week at the university, Nakalema says she was overwhelmed by what she calls too much freedom that she never had either at home or in secondary school. “At first I was overwhelmed. I would move from hostel to hostel to call in on my friends but now the furthest I can go is the library,” she says.

From the way she conducts herself, one could easily conclude that Makerere is set to produce a focused mind who addresses issues universally.