Throwback Thursday Post!

June 02, 1997, Monday. My first day as an Atenean. I have vague memories of that day but I certainly remember my dad and my mom excitedly brought me to my classroom, and I’m guessing my brothers were excited for me too. Prep Maginoo.

I was in the classroom and when my family left me in the room, I was just alone and scared…and I felt like a loser not knowing anyone (because some of my classmates knew each other). When my parents were about to leave, my dad or I think my mom called me, waving, smiling and my dad took a picture of me. Obviously I wasn’t really THAT excited. I was scared. I was awkward…and I bet I still am. I was very much uncertain what would life be for the next years…and in that moment, I swear we were infinite. loljk. I started my life in Ateneo pretty much a loner. People refuse to believe that at one point in my life I didn’t like talking to people, I would eat recess alone, no one wanted to play games with me, teachers would tell me to speak louder because I was afraid to make mistakes, I was afraid to be a someone, an anyone that people would notice. Those were the days when I convinced myself that I’ll never have good friends, that the number of my friends would be less than the number of fingers I have. Sixteen years ago, I honestly quite didn’t expect to enjoy talking to people, I didn’t expect to know a lot of people, to have such good friends, to not be afraid to speak up and sometimes defend myself to people of authority (hehe sorry for crossing the line at times), I never expected that people would ask me to join them eat lunch or hang anywhere! I was just contemplating the other day that maybe Ateneo didn’t break me, maybe I’m a failure of some sort… I may not be as broken as my batchmates who are set to change the country, but for what’s it worth, Ateneo brought down the walls which once forbid me from going out of my comfort zone, from setting out to go on adventures, from challenging conventions. And I guess in the process, Ateneo did break me. I don’t know if my small ways have affected others, from making them laugh, to just listening to them, to the amounts of hugs I have given, to the moments shared…but hey, I gave it a try. And perhaps, for now, that’s the only thing that matters. From that scared little kid who was confused in life, to a bigger man not scared anymore, ready to take on what life has in store for him. World, here I come!