Remembering Senior Year

For senior year high school, I was a newbie in a small school nearby. I was just going to spend one year there so I did not feel any attachment whatsoever. All I wanted was to be with my original high school friends (from PIPS) and I was still getting over the big move. Senior year in a new school was the toughest because while my new batchmates were preparing themselves to say goodbye for college, I was adjusting to the new environment-- new school, new friends, new home and all. I don't think a lot of people know this but I was depressed a lot during those adjustment days. My mother caught me crying once and asked if I wanted to go back to the Emirates. In between tears, I told her that I was going to be fine but secretly, I knew that moving back to the Emirates with my father was going to be tough because I've already brought ALL my things here to Manila and after all that trouble we went through Department of Education, Culture, and Sports (it was DECS then, Commission on Higher Education now) just to let me study for my senior year here? No thanks. I'll stay.

Making friends were okay. I made friends right away but I always had that insecurity that all of them already had peer groups while I was a "butterfly" moving from one group to the next. I felt like I didn't belong to any of them because there was no emotional/sentimental attachment there. A lot of my batchmates were nice, thank goodness. But it was the academic part that gave me a hard time. The adjustment took its toll on my academics particularly in science and math. But I did try my best to adjust to the new ways/system of my school and although I still did not do good in math, I did fairly well in my science subjects.

It was after joining extra curricular activities when I started to loosen up and feel like there was something in this school fo me. My Technical Writing teacher invited me to join the school paper after she read an essay in one of our quarterly examinations. With bright red ink, she commented on my essay and invited me to join the staff. It was so much fun being a part of the school paper-- we joined distrcit press conferences and attended writing workshops. My weekends were spent with the school paper people and it felt great. My Speech teacher and adviser also listed me as a contestant for an extemporaneous speech contest. I was so shocked that she entered in the contest. I wanted to melt in shame and hide under a rock to hibernate so that I'll be able to avoid the whole ordeal but she assured me that I'd be fine. So I went and during the elimination rounds I even came out in first place. THAT WAS A SHOCK TO ME, really. I remember preparing a long-ass speech but when my turn came... I faced the judges and my mouth went try. Then my mouth took over and WHAM! It was over. I was first place. During the finals, though... mental block and stage fright go to me. But it was a fun experience.

There was also the journalism congress in school where I won after joining the editorial and features categories. It was a great way to cope with all the pressure from the big change.

I became close to people like Ina, Aby, and a couple more Harry Potter geeks like like Hana! I remember we'd huddle our little heads together and gush about the latest installment of Harry Potter. We'd talk about characters in books as if they were real people who existed in real life. It was hilarious. Very geeky but very fun because all of us shared the same interests.

Yesterday after coming home from the movies (I watched Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix with Alej), I received mail from Hana (my fellow book/Harry Potter geek):

hi gail!=) i just have to share this with you..i've just seen the 5th installment of hp awhile ago and i remembered, nay, felt that highschool-hp nostalgia (it was during the last part when voldemort's penetrating harry's mind and harry was fighting him with occlumency)..*sniff* ina, you and me talking in a small huddle about the book and the very 1st film..haay, sappy me..

anyway..we're still kids at heart anyway..or at least sometimes! take care..=)

And yes, I do remember those days. GOOD TIMES! And yes, I do remember the first Harry Potter movie we watched. Mary Joy, Hana, Ina, and I all piled up into Ina's van and we went to Powerplant to watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We were all excited and after the movie we couldn't stop talking about it. Even in class the following morning, we still had a major hang over from the movie especially Ina who kept imitating Harry Potter and Hermione from the movie.

So yes, my first and last year in my old high school was quite eventful and I made the most out of that bad situation I was supposedly in. I haven't seen any of my old high school friends from that school yet but I'm pretty sure I'm going to see them soon because right now I miss them.