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COC Blog

Posts Tagged ‘college’

Destiny

July 10, 2008 at 10:28 am | by gela | In Reflections | No Comments
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People ask me, “What are you taking up in—” and I’d immediately go “Nursing!” even before they finish the question.

Gela with stethoscopeGrowing up, it’s practically inevitable. I come from a medical family. My mom and her parents are doctors, and my aunt and cousins are nurses. Plus I have countless other relatives from their side who are nurses or dentists or pharmacists. I literally grew up in a hospital. As in literally. The hospital was like my manor, my playground. I went so far as to say once, as a joke, “Sa ospital na ‘to…ako ang batas!” Haha! The building itself has memories that I’m going to treasure forever, even if the meaning of those memories has long since faded. Nevertheless, my environment and my bloodline are only two factors in my decision.

Perhaps my dream was unconsciously drilled into me ever since I was a kid. Ever since, studying the human body has been my favorite science topic. In the school years that we didn’t cover anything about the body, I was admittedly quite bored, but whenever we took up human anatomy, I tended to go all out. At a young age, I had a different sort of vigor for the subject. I mean, while everybody else in my second grade class knew only that eyes=sight out of the five senses, I could already explain how we really see something upside-down and that our brain only turns it right side up. In Grade Three, I knew words like “duodenum” and “transverse colon” in relation to our study of the digestive tract. When I was in Grade Four, I could name all the bones in the body by heart, and a year later, I gave a half-hour long lecture on the skeletal system in front of the entire student body…solo. And for Bio two years ago, instead of doing one report about the body systems, I opted to do two.
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Dear Candy girls,

You are about to finish high school. I am about to finish college. Here are some things I’d like to share with you, that hopefully will be of some use to you as you go through your journey.

First of all, I know how senior year (whether in high school or in college) feels. There’s a hovering sense of finality—you’re conscious of the fact that this is your last year. You may feel sentimental, reluctant to leave high school, you may be relieved, crying good riddance, or you may be excited at the prospects of a new adventure. However you feel about senior high, make the most out of it. You will never ever return to high school, so make this year count.

College is very different from high school, which is why, if you’re going to ask me which one is more fun, or which one is more memorable, I can’t give a proper answer. College and high school are simply incomparable. They teach you different things, they give you different experiences. They will also shape two different versions of yourself—this may not make sense now, but trust me, once you’re a college upperclassman, you’ll look back at high school and you won’t be able to believe the person you were back then!

Having said that, don’t enter college expecting it to be like high school. Well, I suppose in other colleges, where you have block sections for years, it’ll be close. I went to UP, where college is nothing like high school. Ha ha! I suggest, enter college with an openness and an excitement for new things. Don’t constantly look for the familiarity of the past, and don’t be afraid to explore the unknown. ;)

This year you’ll be filling out your application forms, and you’ll be picking out course choices. Some of you might be forced by other people to take certain paths. Some of you know what you want to take. Some may still be very unsure. Let me tell you this: Don’t be pressured. What you want to do later in life will still keep changing, even in college! The choices you write on your application forms are rarely the final deal. Of course, do think about them hard, but don’t limit yourself to them.

I might as well give you advice on the exams. The UPCAT is the easiest, it’s the competition that makes it hard (there’s 70,000 of you taking the test!); the ACET’s math part is really killer, you won’t have enough time (unless you’re a walking calculator) and will be forced to guess a whole column or two; and the DLSUCET includes an on-the-spot essay in both English and Filipino.

A brief note to the college freshmen: Also consider what I said about courses. :) Be careful in handling your newfound freedom—it’s like being given power. Use it well. ;) I encourage you to join orgs, and to explore what there is to explore. Oh, and enjoy college because it’s your last shot at a carefree existence! Haha!

Finally, girls, whatever year you’re in, whether you’re in high school or college, always, always, always remember to have the time of your life. :D

For a rather anticlimactic ending (haha), here are my high school and college graduation photos.
Micah\'s grad pictures

Hopefully, in the span that separates these photos in time, I became not just older, but wiser, better. Hopefully, it will be the same for you. :)

Love,
Micah

PS
Happy birthday to my good friend, fellow geek and gay crush, Stan! I heart you, see you soon! :)

First Day High

June 10, 2008 at 9:58 am | by rubie | In Lists | 2 Comments
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Today is my first day as a sophomore in UP, Diliman. Back last week, which was enrollment week, I wasn’t feeling it yet but I must admit, it was quite funny to see the new freshmen getting lost and not knowing where to go. But I am proud to say that I have helped rather a lot of them since I completely understand what they were going through. I guess I am back to reading 500+ pages of a textbook, doing lab experiments, and understanding the laws of inertia. But it is the first day, and do you think first days of school are somehow different than the rest? If you think so, what does make it different? I have had 14 “first days” in my life and I have grabbed differences here and there.

Disclaimer: These are just mainly what I have observed, it’s completely subjective, everyone! So you may agree and may not agree to some of them. :)
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Keep With the Old, Share With the New

May 25, 2008 at 6:36 pm | by rubie | In Relationships | 7 Comments
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Normally, I don’t have a problem about writing my blogs because everyday, I get to experience something different or something totally random. (I know, lucky right?) But this time, it took me a lot of thinking hours to come up with my entry today. Maybe because I happen to have a secret wonderful experience but since it is a secret, I’m not allowed tell… yet. (Wait for a few months or so, maybe I’d share it to all of you. So, keep checking out our blog all right? You never know when I might tell it.) Okay, I probably made all of you curious enough! So, let’s snap out of it already. *snap*snap*

To continue, I ended up pondering about my day yesterday. And I suddenly remembered the conversations I had with the other COC8 members about college. Well, most of the Council is graduating; those who aren’t are I, Sandra and Crissy. I have a long way to go since I’m only an incoming sophomore. Just finishing my freshman year in University of the Philippines, Diliman, I feel extremely grateful for the year that’s passed. Finally, I have experienced what they always called the “real world”. College has definitely changed me. Being in a state U, I have become more responsible with my studies because ladies and gentlemen, no matter how liberating it may seem, you will still feel very much obligated to open up those 1500 pages of your textbook. But besides the academic changes in my life, the best part for me would be the new friends I have gained. I thought that it would be hard finding friends in my school because we are not blocked together but I was wrong. I have found wonderful friends in the 10 months I’ve been studying in UP. What I love about my college friends is that no matter how diverse we all are, coming from different schools (public and private) and all, we have quickly learned to appreciate and understand one another. I can’t even recall a time where we fought because we just are mainly happy people and we’re just happy together! It’s all simply FUN.
My newly-found college family.
My newly found college family.
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