In the early 2000s I was a college student just learning to be on my own, it was challenging and exhilarating at the same time.
I had spent my primary and secondary school years in boarding schools that were run following catholic principles, there was a time even my class mates thought I would end up a Catholic priest.
But now I was in a technical institution studying a technical medical course. I didn't have to follow strict rules at school or be monitored by parents at home I was a free molecule.
Life in college didn't surprise or dazzle me much, having been through boarding schools I guess I was prepared for most things life had to offer and I had developed a confrontational attitude to keep would be problem creators at bay.
All went well until I was introduced to alcohol, from there things took a turn for the worse,yet the downward spiral was not that obvious.
One day after classes in the evening I went out with a friend into a slum on the vicinity of the institution, we entered a dimly lit iron walled, grass thatched room and he ordered some illicit brew which came in two tin cups.
I didn't like the taste at first, but after some sips my stomach felt warm and my head lighter, I found myself engaging in conversations with the other people we found in the house, two males and one female. I even bought a cup for them to share, they thanked me whole heatedly and I felt good about it.
I don't remember how I got back to my hired room a few metres from the college gate. I woke up with a headache and thirst. My whole body felt like I had been ploughing a farm the whole night, I drank so much water I could feel my stomach filling up but I couldn't quench my thirst.
I was hungry, I don't recall eating the previous evening though one of my neighbours told me I had eaten when I demanded for food from them claiming I was hungry and too drunk to cook.
Another neighbour advised me to go and drink some more as or would make me feel better, we went off with him, woke up the waitress at a bar across the road and sat down to drink. I did feel better after a while.
At about 9 in the morning I decided I had to go to class, I went and picked up my books and went towards the college, I was visibly drunk but that didn't bother me any way.
I got to class sat down on my desk and started animatedly chatting with my fellow classmates. Soon the lecturer came in and the lesson began.
I could not keep up with the lecturer and kept stopping him asking that he repeats what he had just started, at one point I asked why he was teaching us what we had covered in primary school. He got frustrated and left before time was up.
Leaving the lecture room I made so much commotion in the campus that the security personnel had to be called in to escort me out, I tried to resist but was no match for them..
I went back to my room and slept for the rest of the day. The next day I had an early morning class which I went to without having any recollection of what transpired the previous day.
What I didn't know was that this was the beginning of my tribulations with alcohol, a cunning baffling and strong opponent
Image source: Maria Camila Castaño