This way to the stars

Graduation day...

Sunday, March 20, 2005, was the BIG day- the day I FINALLY left St. Paul.

It was weird,though. I thought that I'd cry, but I didn't. I guess it's because I'm not the type of person who cries at every little mushy thing, not even because of a powerpoint slide (again! don't they have any creativity?) shown during the grad rites. It was as though I'd felt that I would see them again anyway; that it's no big deal since life goes on.

St. Paul let us go, finally, but not without a FIGHT- the two-week super boring grad practices (in which I was sorely tempted not to show up for those two weeks due to its boredom!), and of course the super HOT and STUFFY toga, stockings, and hat that made us near to fainting (Ayesa did!) in the sweltering hot Chauvet Gym.

Anyway, the point is that WE SURVIVED- not only that, we passed with flying colors! Majority of my batchmates got a lot of awards and medals (don't ask about Carol Baniqued! please!) which made us and our parents feel mighty proud. As a reward for my sleepless nights of stress and paranoia, I got a MEDAL (yey!) for academic excellence. Though I least expected it, I got a GOLD medal for Parish Involvement (?!). I mean, I was actually never faithful and sincere in doing that except for this year (yup, what I wrote for the parish involvement documentations from first to third year were A LOAD OF COMPLETE HOGWASH! yup, those were a contrivance of SICKENING LIES!) After this, I can definitely say that God has a sense of humor and irony.

I will definitely miss St. Paul. (boohoo!) I will miss not only my friends and the camaraderie within and without the batch (those are obvious and passe), but I will also miss the more interesting and conflict-ridden sidese of high school life (i.e. batch rivalry, gossip, collective hatred for particular teachers, academic pressure, and sleepless nights). I am not saying that I won't find all of these in college, but life gets a more humorous, fun-filled, stressful, interesting, and adolescent kick in high school where you not only care about your studies, but also your barkada, batch and department. (It seems to me that college has a more serious environment; everyone seems to be more or less concentrated on their field of study).

That is why, in order to sustain our connections, we have created a batch yahoo groups (at last! at last!). I hope that we will see each other again... (especially my friends who will also be going to ateneo!)

Continue to the next entry to read up on the grad ball! It'll be coming shortly, after I figure out how to upload pictures from the digital camera (we just got it last last week! yehey! at least we are not living in the stone age anymore. :D )

posted by steph @ 3:07 PM