First Day Reports

Breaking News: Journalism sophomore makes a come back.

Danielle Gabriel, 17, arrived at her second semester's first class last November 5, 8:02 in the morning ready to continue her studies at the University of Santo Tomas and reunite with friends. Gabriel was reported to have been very warmly welcomed by her previous block-mates and was overwhelmed by all the energy in the room aimed at her. “It was like my very own welcoming committee, the sampaguita garlands around my neck would have been the only thing missing”, Gabriel gushed in Filipino. The four months of being idle from school work has been disappointing both for her and her family, Gabriel explains. But now that she's back, she confesses on being more focused and aggressive than ever.

Out-of-school young one

Due to financial matters, Danielle was not able to enroll for the first semester of school year 2012-2013. “Medyo nakakalungkot pag naiisip ko na habang ako kagigising ko pa lang, sila pangalawang subject na”, Gabriel recalls. It has been hard knowing that while others are out there able to pursue their dreams and some even taking it for granted, she was at home settling for self-study. But what is great and inspiring with her self-proclaimed minor setback is that it gave her the chance to see things in a different light. She claims that the four months leave from school gave her more excuses to go hard on her education, create more goals and strive to have it accomplished. And when most people would assume that out-of-school kids are busy chilling at home and being couch potatoes in front of the television, this budding sophomore writer busies herself with practicing her skills even if it is just as simple as blogging, doing writing exercises from books and keeping in touch with the latest news and events. That does not stop there because during the semester she was absent from, Gabriel made it a point to help out in terms of finances by finding a job and landing one as an online tutor making her comeback for the second semester a complete success. Gabriel also had an article published in an online publication of the journalism society of her college. These feats just goes to show that knowledge is not just spawned from inside the classroom.

Back in the game

Even before classes started, trouble was already looming over the horizon. There were a lot of process to go through before students could actually come back and enroll. Letters to the dean, consultation from course coordinators, transcript of records to proof that you had had good grades and are not just pleading to stay inspite of debarment, and having to literally shove people out of the way for seats on subjects are some of the highlights in a returning student's quest for eduacation. “Babalik ka na nga lang, pahihirapan ka pa”, Gabriel says following a laugh. A fellow irregular student and co writer shares the same concern on his online Journalese article saying that the process of being an irregular student (as for his case- a shifter) has its down side especially when it comes to starting out to which a student will eventually get used to. Aside from this, Gabriel admits to feeling pressure as she treads the unfamiliar waters of juggling three different personas- writer, dancer and tutor. Gabriel says she feels blessed to be able to come back and have all these opportunities come her way but admits to sometimes losing her confidence to carry on. The second year journalist-in-the-making, however, finds her motivation through prayers, reminding herself how much her parents have worked for her return to come true. Gabriel added that she will see to it the sacrifice her parents made will be given back to them if it's the last thing she does.

Since my days of burning time not doing school-related activities are over, I figured I try my hand first at the very reason I took up Journalism almost one and a half year ago. Above was a mock news report on some of the details of my first day back in school. I know it is far from decent but I didn't have the subject News-writing so I guess in the meantime I'll just have to settle for this flimsy work. Meanwhile, written below are less formal accounts of how my first day back went by:

• Last minute anxieties
  Exactly the night before classes began, I had trouble sleeping just one I needed to have it the most. My class was at 8am, my university is approximately three hours away from home and I will be commuting so the last thing I would want is to have myself oversleeping from exhaustion the night before. I blame my pessimistic evil self for setting the “worry bar” way above usual and having me fidget over every little thing that could go wrong the following day. Mostly, I thought about how hard it was to be an irregular student. I know I am being absolutely irrational about it but the heart IS an involuntary muscle and if I could, I would tell it to stop being a drama queen. I worried if ever I was still good enough for my course, how my friends will react when I enter the room, who am I going to sit beside with and ofcourse, what the hell I looked like.. Every comeback has to be epic- just take a look at a certain Britney Spears and Chris Brown.

• Traffic, why now?
  One of the biggest irony in life is when a day is important and the universe conspired to have you run late. My first day of class coming back to school went a lot, if not totally, like that. I hauled my back off the bed at the earliest time possible. It was a painstaking effort on my part which time only laughed at. I felt time tick loudly while I sat stuck in traffic that day. I wanted to slap the driver who operated his vehicle with such irritating grace and carefulness fit for a turtle “Sir, my grandma can drive faster that this”, I wanted to yell. Afterwards, I endured waiting for the pedicab to be filled with passengers for about I'm-going-to-explode-if-this-goes-on minutes. It was a good thing there was no professor when I entered the room or else I could have punched the first person who greeted me and no one wants that.
• Open arms
  I think my block mates would have been able to rival the father in the parable of the prodigal son when it comes to welcoming. I think I received a hug from almost 50 percent of the class and I knew it was the least I could do to answer each one of them over and over again from how I was and what I did during my absence to how many subjects I had with them. I always knew they were the kind of people who were capable of maintaining ties. And although I had trouble keeping with some of their stories and got left out most of the time, I'm happy to be back, to see them again and be a part..... somehow.
• Stories of an irregular student
  • The pros
    Hurray for new friends and cute seatmates! My two subjects wherein I am an irreg- mainly Psychology and Statistics- provided me with opportunities to have my relatively small group of acquaintances to widen. I met older irregular students who were very gracious enough to make the first move and chat me every once in a while. Mostly the people I met were so nice, either saying hi, introducing themselves and offering assistance in any way they can. It was as if the diversity I saw in the previous classroom that I had was magnified ten times and I liked seeing things like that. I enjoyed knowing what other people are like and knowing so much just by observing in my own tiny space. The best part of being a nomad student would be meeting cute guys, especially cute irreg guys- the kind that talks to you in the most sincere and friendly way and doesn't make you feel like a complete loser because you're nowhere near as pretty as the other girls in there. #awesome
  • The cons
    Something as simple as not being able to have lunch with my friends like the way we used to saddens me a lot. I am not a pro-change kind of person. I always find myself clinging to the past and to what's comfortable but I guess all that has to change. The life of an irregular irregular student requires entering uncharted waters and exploring the unexplored. I have to brush up on my small talk skills or else people will think I'm a snob or something. Also, I have to accept the fact that things are never going back to the way it was.
• Keep calm and commute from UST to Angono
  Just when me and my face were already signing an agreement, I got tossed back into the pollution-invaded streets of Manila. Because of our lack of funds for a dormitory, my M-W-F schedule and my online tutoring job, I had no choice but to endure 3or more hours of travel back and forth Rizal and Manila. I will be once again saying hello to dark circles under my eyes and entertaining the ever consistent acne suitors, all while handling new-comer fatigue. Time Management for Dummies, I need you!