It's New Year's Eve once again. How fast time flies. It feels like it was just yesterday when I was writing my "Memories of 2009" entry, and now here I am writing another post to end my year.

2010 really did go by as fast as a bullet, and that was because of the many happenings that took place this year.

( Wonderful Memories of 2010 )
Looking back, it was truly a wonderful year, and I'm looking forward to a brighter 2011 ahead. Happy New Year, everyone! :D Off to enjoy the fireworks now~ :)

I love nature. That is why I totally enjoyed our NatSci 5 field trip last September 4th. I originally planned to make my own post about it, but toxic period continues up to this day (and probably won't cease till the end of the semester) and since we were asked to make a collective reaction paper on it anyway, I've decided to just share the work we did here (with a few edits by me). I think this best describes the wonderful experience we had in San Juan, Batangas (I especially love the part about our experience at the Seascape). Just to show the beauty of the places we've visited, I inserted a few photos in between paragraphs and added some short descriptions (and commentaries, for some).

First, a disclaimer :) This work is a collective reaction paper, and in no way written by me alone. In fact, most of the paper was done by some of my group mates (AKA the people listed below), beta-ed by me :) The pictures are all taken by me, please don't take them without permission :D

Well then, here it is.

( Discovering Biodiversity :D )

You can see that we really learned a lot in this trip. Not only that, it has awaken in us a new freshness of appreciation for nature. It's wonderful to know that there are still places in our country where the environment is still pure and undisturbed, and seeing them awakens in us a feeling that we definitely need to preserve places like this and work hard to save other natural resources that are slowly deteriorating.

We don't have to be environmental stewards for us to do our parts in saving nature, we can help in our own little ways (like putting trash in the proper trashcan, not littering, etc.). They may just be little things, but if you add them up they will surely come a long way. So, let us all do what we need to do in order to save nature, so that our children, grandchildren, and the many more generations to come will still be able to see just how beautiful nature is.

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We're into the last hours of 2009 so I thought that this one would be a nice topic to write about. Memories of 2009~

2009 was a year of many happenings, not just to my country but also to me. This year was a year of change and challenge for me. First, it was a challenge for me to pick the university and course I'd enroll in. It made me so confused, but thank God I was able to make a good decision. And of course, this year saw my final days as a high school student, and my first few months as a student in university. Being a college student was the biggest change that I encountered this year, and it brought about mixed emotions. At first I felt sadness - the sadness that I should have felt during graduation - but it was later replaced by anticipation, as college life offered me a lot of new things. I had the freedom to go to different new places and see various new stuff. I was able to explore and try out many new things and this made me happy.

However, at the end of the third quarter of the year, I went through a time when everything's just confusing and some people are just annoying. At school, I felt like a completely different person. I felt like I was totally drifting away from the ideal person that I want to be - the cheerful, optimistic one - and it irked me. Sometimes I think that it could be considered as my "rebellious" stage, although I did not do anything completely stupid as to ruin my life, just things like not studying seriously for major exams because I don't feel like it and talking back rudely to my parents because I feel like it. It was in this time that I seriously wanted to go back to high school - back to my carefree, happy days when I didn't really need to worry about anything except for my thesis. I'd consider that the lowest point in my life in 2009. Thankfully, the sembreak came just in time for me to be able to do some thinking and reflecting. Even though I have yet to solve all my problems, at least I was able to get a hold of myself and face my problems head on.

And as for the happy memories, well surely I also had a lot. Because we only see each other every once in a while now, I started cherishing the times I spent with my high school friends more. I am glad that despite the fact that we do not see each other everyday anymore, I still have this connection with some of them. My best friends and I still hang out with each other whenever our schedule permits, and it's fun. I also had fun with my family  with all our travels in the summer. We went to Baguio City and, after two years, I was able to go to my dad's hometown in Bicol again. Recently, there's this gimmick in Bonifacio High Street with my cousins that I really enjoyed. What else.. Oh, and I also enjoyed all my exciting escapades in Metro Manila :D Although it was mostly just by myself, I enjoyed it a lot.. Actually, if not for those, I'd probably hate college all that much xD I am so thankful for these happy times, because if not for them then I'd probably be sulking in a corner now and ranting about how life in college sucks xD

There were also a lot of significant events that happened to my country. First there's the passing of an international icon and a well-loved former president. Disaster also struck us various times. It was a sad happening, but it was nice to see people setting aside differences and helping each other. A really, totally, completely hideous incident happened a month before Christmas, and a few weeks before there were also other misfortunes, but I am glad that despite all of these, a lot of people are still hoping for a new era of peace and happiness.

As for me, I have hope that the new year will be a good one. I pray for a happier, more prosperous 2010 :)

Off to enjoy the New Year's Eve now. Happy New Year everyone~! ^_^

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HIGH SCHOOL NIGHT, yeah. There were a lot of times when I only had about 1-3 hours of sleep due to cramming, but it was the High School Night when I totally stayed awake all night long. We had that before our last Christmas vacation as high school students.

At first we had an open forum. We talked about lots of things. Like, who we like least in class and why. We also had a chance to say something to the class. Well, just the girls because we couldn't fit in the classroom so they decided to separate the boys from the girls. But anyway, I guess it was better that way, because the talk kind of got dramatic.

And then when it was around 2:00, the others got sleepy and just slept. But as for me, I said to myself that I wasn't going to sleep. I wasn't feeling sleepy anyway because I drank 2 cups of coffee then. Haha. I just listened to music and did some reflections on my own ;]]

At around 5:00 we were called because we had to do some kind of morning exercise. Well technically it still felt like midnight, because the sun was nowhere in sight. It was really cold back then. That Christmas season was the coldest in my life so far. Really, the climate is scary. But I actually like that kind of weather. Anyway, we were all freezing in cold even after the exercise. The dawn broke at around 6:00. Most of the people were already preparing to go home.

I stayed in school till 7:00. I laid in one of those backyard sets (how should I call it?) where we sit in under the coconut trees (yes, the landscape of our school is somewhat deviant xD). I was really groggy, because I had a tough cold. But still, I could remember that day very vividly. The light blue sky, the tall and lean coconut trees, the refreshing morning sunlight and the freezing winter-like breeze.

Oh, the memories :]]

Today is my high school graduation day. Well not technically since I and a majority of the class still have some requirements to complete so most of us still don't have our diploma and other credentials. I know it's a bit crazy, but life's like that. Let's just say that we just had the ceremony today.

We arrived at the venue around 2:15 pm. I thought we were going to be late, but fortunately we weren't. I didn't want to miss the processional march. Anyway, when we arrived, my classmates were still lining up. We took pictures while waiting outside the hall. It started around 2:30-2:45. The ceremony went by normally. Near the end, we all got up to sing the graduation song and another song which is supposed to be dedicated to our parents. Some of my classmates got emotional, and everyone hugged and kissed their parents except for me. Yeah I know, that made me look like a bad daughter, but hey, my parents are not the sweet, demonstrative types too, so no one should complain about that. Haha. I just find it awkward to be like that with them.

After the recessional, the traditional picture taking took place. It would've been much more fun if we took pictures as a whole class, but we lacked time for that.

So, there. What else can I say? Graduation is an important part of one's life. Months ago, I thought my graduation day will be emotional. I thought I would be having problems with holding back my tears. But today, I didn't feel that emotional.

I don't know, I just felt like this wasn't the end. To be honest, I find it a bit unfortunate that our class isn't as solid as my brother's or sister's high school classes (we're divided into groups and though the groups are okay with each other, some of the groups are not that close as we just merged into one class this last year of high school). But still, I feel that we would all be seeing each other again in the future and talk like no time has passed between us. As what our class valedictorian had said, "Hindi 'paalam', kundi 'hanggang sa muli'" ("It's not 'farewell'; rather, 'until next time').

It was a good, fun four years of high school. I will surely bring with me all of the lessons I learned and all the memories I had. To everyone who were part of this exciting, memorable part of my life, thank you very much.

:)