On being a college sophomore and feeling infinite (Possibly TL;DR)

Friday. The last day of my second year in college. Goddamn, I feel old. I'm halfway through college. Granted, I'll be taking up law, so that's four more years of study, but I still feel so old. What happened to the days when I was just a frosh, and I looked at UST with wonder-filled eyes?


I spent my last day not with blockmates, but with The Best Friend. We went to SM North Edsa. First stop: Toy Kingdom!

 Megasketcher photos are becoming our "thing".

He bought a copy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the one with the original cover. I then persuaded him to give me his old copy. I just saved P300!

Guilty about how much money I keep costing him, I texted him,
"I’m sorry I’m such an expensive, high-maintenance best friend but I try to make up for it by being there, always. I know I’m no good for your wallet but maybe I can be good for your heart." Lololol.

We ate then sat at a corner outside the mall, eating Dairy Queen and singing The All-American Rejects, The Cab, Fall Out Boy, just to name a few. Music + ice cream + a great friend = awesome sauce.
Then my phone played The Smiths' There is a Light That Never Goes Out. I don't know if it was just the fact that Peter Angelo had just bought Perks, but the cool breeze and the bright red taillights of the cars below us, and the amazing song—in that moment, I swear we were infinite. It was the perfect end to a crazy year.



Speaking of my year, I'm far too lazy to write a proper recap of my sophomore life. I'll try to be cohesive and comprehensible, but I can't promise that because those ten months were full of ups and downs and I might get bogged down in the crazy of it all.


This year, our class went to Subic...

ran for the Pasig River...

attended the UST Paskuhan...

Hindi ko classmate si Andy, BTW. Hahaha.

proudly proclaimed "BES is the best!" during AB Week...

celebrated UST's quadricentennial.

The YC Buddies had our last PEs...

Best PE-mates ever!

celebrated eighteenth birthdays...

and dated each other on Valentine's.

Ten months in school, and I might not have learned everything I was supposed to *ehem Statistics ehem* but I sure as hell learned a lot.

1. I learned that as fun as it is to go drinking on school days, the consequences AKA losing my mom's trust and respect isn't really worth it.
2. That said, I learned not to go home drunk. I already got caught.
3. I learned that even if I can pass without any serious studying, it's still nice to look at  my grades and not see 3's.
4. I learned that group discussions are a bitch when nursing a hangover.
5. I learned to balance a healthy social life and schoolwork.
6. I learned to love my country even more, thanks to my Philippine History professor. (I plan to write about him soon.)
7. I learned to love España at midnight.
8. I learned that it's worth smiling for pictures even if I'm not photogenic, because it's a shame to let those memories fade.
9. I learned to open my heart again, to "love" and "trust" somehow, to be human again, to bounce back after feeling like complete and utter shit from a bad semi-pseudo-relationship.
10. I learned that true friends accept apologies when you humbly admit your mistakes.

Upon some reflection, I decided that my second year was amazing. It wasn't perfect; rather, it was mixture of awesome and sucky—in short, exactly like what life is.
If I'm lucky, maybe I can feel infinite again.