Rhodes is 'chilled' ?

The first year at Rhodes University is what some refer to as the year between high school and university. It is exclusively there for the inside look into university life but more than actually living it, a first year Rhodes student is an explorer and is discovering all the perks that there are without any of the responsibilities that come with it.
Some refer to first year as ‘chilled’, and it has come to my attention that it is not only the view of the first years in this regard but also of generally everyone on campus. I often hear lecturers say that first year is there so as to get you into second year “and then that is where the work begins”. A third year student once said to my friends and I as we were sitting on a Friday night watching television “This is the only chance you will get to go out so take it before it’s too late because once you get to second year, the fun is over.” After speaking to some second and third years about their first year at Rhodes some say that they actually remember bits of it because they were drunk half the time. The rest say that first year was fun but exhausting because a person had to balance their hectic social life with their academic one but once you get to second year “you don’t have a social life”.
This then made me wonder about how people made into second year at all. A later discovered that some of those that could not remember bits of their first year had to repeat it and the rest just found a way to balance their lives out. The normal routine was to attend lectures regularly until Wednesday, then miss the really early ones for the rest of the week and get notes from a friend at a later stage. If a person had an assignment due on Friday they would go out Wednesday and stay in on Thursday to do it. Some alternated between weekends so as to do work on one weekend and then celebrate doing the work the next.
After speaking to some first year Rhodes students, my speculation and suspicion into this matter appears to be confirmed. Rhodes first year students love to “get sloshed” as they would refer to it, and they are not shy about it. I have a person at my politics tutorial who is constantly late and does not have the work done most of the time. This person always excuses themselves by saying “last night was Thursday” which to this particular person seems to be a very reasonable excuse. Some first year students seem to disagree with this state of mind though and do not think that university is no fun and games whether you are in first year or not.

I for one think that everybody is crazy. Just to prove this I would like to state that I did this assignment at six o’ clock in the morning and that is just the beginning of my day. Journalism alone makes me stay up some nights now to combine it with all my other courses seems to be suicide. I happen to be only one of a large number of people who believe this to be true. I have no idea how people can manage to pass and still go out five nights a week. I am not a jealous person so I must say that I truly admire these people for being so ‘chilled’.
The first year at Rhodes University is ultimately a different experience for everyone but I would just to point out that just because I am in first year it does not mean that all I have to do is to be here in order to get into second year, it takes hard work, but I would also like to say that as a first year at Rhodes, being an explorer I encourage other first years like myself to go out once in a while and as some would say, its only first year.