a year after

photos - although old but brings back memories, both good and bad

i was rummaging through our photo album for pictures that i could

use for our contest when memories came flooding.

i could still remember the first day of school way back in college

when i was a nobody and everybody else's in our room was a

nobody too. each person was a new face to me and so i am to them,

new names to memorize and attaching a face to that name, new

lessons to learn, and new culture to adopt.

but as the days and weeks went by every day was a challenge to

us. a challenge to learn the course that we have chosen, to accept

the hardships that comes with it; either you quit or fight. in every

doubts whether to pursue the course or not. every passing day

brings new lessons to our monotonous lives until such time that it

we were no longer nobody in the halls of UC-CISC

as we move to a higher level we learned how to love our course and

hate our instructors. we learned how to move our ways in the halls

of our floor. we learned that it is not good to take a bath of you

haven't slept for 24 hours because we have to pass our project the

following day. we learned how to pass an exam although we have

not studied. we learned how to budget our allowance so that we

would be able to go out and at the same time pay the rent of the PC

while feeding ourselves.

after four and plus excruciating years, after all the cramming for

exams and projects, after retaking the same subject for the third

time, after going after our instructors asking for a make up exam,

after taking aspirins for headaches after every project, after

passing the project in the wee hours in the evening, after suing our

instructors for not accepting our projects, after filing promissory

notes every major exams, after every puso and lumpia, pungko2x

and longganiza, after going to sto. niño praying that we pass cs 50

we finally made it. we finally moved to the next level and forever

left the halls of 5th floor but the memories will always be there so

with the lessons that we have learned on and off the classrooms

from our instructors, classmates, and from ourselves which we will

be bringing in our new lives.

a year has passed since we left our alma matter, a year has passed

since we bid adieu to our classmates, batch mates, instructors, and

others who contributed to where we are right now. a lot of things

has happened then. who could ever thought that some of us ended

getting married right after graduation? or having babies? or

landed a job right away? some were able to land a job that

actually suited to the chosen career but there are unfortunate

others who did not make it. some went back to our alma matter but

this time as educators. some became programmers but has suffered

because of it. others are still at home waiting for their fate to

change. we might not have noticed it but a lot of things has

happened after we parted our ways may it be good or bad but the

decisions and actions that we made before shaped us of what we

are today and tomorrow. so as you read this article start thinking

of what have you done in the past years that made you who you are

and start thinking of what are you going to do today that will

change your tomorrow. one year may be short but the experiences

will always be there.