The Naija Student In Me

This is a post I wrote some time last week, I'm guessing. I was worried about my essay writing skills. It's all good now. I have my scores back from the quizzes. Still, I thought I'd post this just in case anyone out there can relate to being a Nigerian student abroad.

Being that I've been out of undergrad for a while and my last grad class was three years ago, I am not the most confident student these days. My class requires a group project at the end of the semester and we've divvied up the work so that each person has a section to handle. I really never know how to 'attack' a question. I'm never sure what angle to come at it from. In a way, I've reverted to my pre-college way of thinking and answering questions. You know, the Naija way of doing things has come out. Everything that was learnt in college in the US, I really don't remember so I'm back to my comfort zone. It's really funny how Naija students think, the way we were taught to reason. You are asked to answer a question and you want to prove why that question even exists. I'm now at quiz #5 for my class and up until Tuesday's class, I had been feeling insecure about everything I'd turned in. I'd been answering my questions the Naija way and I wasn't sure if that would work. We're asked a question and I start by re-stating the question. For example, one quiz was about the strategies firms use to increase their profits and I start by re-stating the question, or rather my header is something like "How firms increase their profits: strategies for increasing demand and reducing the costs of production" and then define demand and talk about the factors of production. Who begged me? I seemed to have forgotten that in Yankee, they are looking to you to come at a question from a more realistic or from a real-world point of view. I can't dub (copy) anyone so I'm relying on my Naija composition/essay (therefore, thus, hence, etc.) days to carry me through.