When I was in elementary, I seriously believed that one day, when I grow old, I will be a pediatrician. I guess it stemmed from my childhood wherein I was often hospitalized and my pediatrician never failed to give me something whenever I go in for check-ups. At the time, I had weak lungs which turned into something nasty. Fortunately, my lungs got better through swimming.

During high school, I was so convinced that I should either take up Journalism or Creative Writing. I thought I was doing well by being promoted from a Junior Editor to becoming the Opinion and Feature Editor. However, having an actual obligation to write a number of articles suddenly made writing painstakingly difficult. I lost my motivation to write and only ever did it if I had to. Hence, I failed to develop this skill.

Come my last year in high school and I still didn’t have any idea on a course to pursue. My parents, instead of begging me to take a course they wanted me to take which was the common scenario, simply told me to pursue whatever I want to as long as I become a productive citizen once I graduate. Application forms to universities started piling up and in a moment of pure panic and stupidity, I let fate decide for me. I picked up the booklet from DLSU and listed the colleges available in small pieces of paper which I folded before closing my eyes to get one.

College of Engineering.

I then listed all the engineering courses and if you view my sidebar, you’d know what course I picked. I stuck with it because I had satisfactory grades on Math and Computer subjects all throughout elementary and high school. Lucky for me, I passed all the entrance exams I took without even spending my summer on review centers. My multiple choice guessing skill (and essay writing) is awesome. In your face “right minus wrong”! Haha!

God knows how I have wanted to quit so many times. But I never did. The harder it got, the more I struggled to get through. My mom frequently tells people that to make me work hard, you’ve got to give me a daunting task and tell me that I could never do it. I tend to become easy go lucky when I know I can pass a subject, but when I have qualms about it, I won’t even sleep if I had to.

If you have been a follower of my blog since last year, you’d find how I wasn’t able to graduate when I was supposed to. Through it all, I never really lost my parents’ support, and those of my family, C, and my friends. I may be able to count off of my fingers who are truly there for me, but these people never left no matter how I screw up. I may not seem grateful when I really really am. I am privileged to have a strong support system all the time.

After spending five years of my life in college, the day has finally come for it to end. How could five hours be the culmination of five years’ worth of experiences?

The call time was for 7:30 in the morning forcing us to have to leave by 6 AM. I had to do both my hair and makeup. Here I am, checking if my face is uneven. I was able to curl my hair with a straightening iron but it refused to cooperate and didn’t last as long as I wanted it to.

I was born in a family who values punctuality. We arrived 30 minutes before the designated call time, giving us an opportunity to take several photos in PICC.

Only my parents went to my graduation since the university only provided two seats for each graduating student.

We had to wait for an hour in the queue. Luckily, we were some of the last people to enter the hall since our assigned seats are in the middle. I opted to use NYX Xtreme Lip Cream in Strawberry Jam. I have observed that MUAs often have me sport pink lipsticks bordering on red for photos. Plus, I register on camera fairly pale for some unknown reason. I took to either sitting or taking off my shoes and standing barefoot. I wasn’t informed that aside from waiting too long, we had to go down a long flight of stairs with thousands of people watching. I held on tightly to the staircase as I descended, in fear of dying – of shame – when I trip and land on my face wearing my 4.5-inch heels.

Can you spot me? 🙂

Working on the same thesis for more than a year with them was full of ups and downs. So many parents were trying to capture photos of us, I didn’t know where to actually look.

After my graduation ceremony, the parents insisted on having studio-taken photos.

I am so not used to walking in heels. It felt like getting my toes chopped off one by one.

I may not have graduated with Latin honors, or with any distinctions. But at least, I know deep within me that I worked for it and that I deserve this. Ginapang ko ‘to! Yes, if I had a chance for a do over, I would probably try to focus a little more on my studies. However, I will live with no regrets as those are things that I cannot change. I would rather just focus on the present and not make the same mistakes. 🙂

My plans are now a little less vague and I have already made important decisions within myself. I will simply keep it under the wraps for now and will openly talk about it once I start to actually implement those plans.