Franz Lenard Torres 
A semester has finally passed since my batchmates and I first stepped into the colosseum of university life. For what it’s worth, I feel like a gladiator for surviving the massive adjustment I had to make, not just in the academic sense, but also in my environment. However, I also feel like a gladiator in the way that I feel like I have been bludgeoned by a flying mace with big pointy spikes because of all the stitches I had to go through to walk out of this dog show alive, tooth and nail.
Everything has changed. It doesn’t take a world-famous pop star like Taylor Swift to remind us that everything feels new and mint. Throughout the first of many semesters I hopefully will experience, it has been very tough to place myself in the ever-changing landscape and unpredictability of college. One thing remains the same however. I still, we still, feel the need to pass.
Itching in the innermost parts of our beings, as children primed and glossed to be in academia, is the need to pass, ace, qualify, pull through as we have been manufactured to make it our life’s mission and joy. Since the start of our education, inside those colorful rooms, the seedling of this taxing obligation has been planted in us through faulty reward systems and letter grades. And I can say that that seedling may have started a plantation of whatever it is that has bloomed in us.
Trying to get by is already hard as is, making it that much more rewarding to pass. What a very steep trade off on our end isn’t it? Still, we tread through. A good few of us crawling, some even clawing to pursue what they have started. Nonetheless, we persist and develop ways to meet the stipulations we are heavily tolled with. Through the wonders of habituation, I slowly learn to make measures to hopefully march my way past this roller coaster with minor injuries or, if luck is on my side, scratch-free.
Alarms.
Your life as a student would never be complete if you didn’t have alarms blasting your ears off to heaven every morning. Unless you’re perfect, alarms are your best friend especially when subjects are rough and you have to pull all-nighters to be able to cope with the load you’re bearing. I, personally, have six alarms before the actual time to wake up and three more after that, just in case I oversleep and miss the seven before it. So far, it has been effective. But I await the day that my eyes double-cross me and not open to the cacophony of annoying ringtones.
Blisters.
Not to brag or anything, but my hands were pretty. Emphasis on the past tense. Growing up my hands were treasured extremities I took pride in. The palms were soft and the fingers were proportionate to the size of my hands (this is all according to my mother who apparently is a hand connoisseur). But the academe clearly had different plans and slowly but surely diverted me from my future hand modelling career. Blisters now take form in the middle phalanx of my middle finger as I try to make legible reviewers from one subject to another. Although I don’t really follow through and finish all of them, it makes me feel productive to make them even though half of the time I don’t use them as much.
Caffeine.
Starting college, I did not drink coffee, not an ounce and not a single drop. But despite trying to avoid it like the plague for most my life, it weaved its way into my routine like a snake slithering through pipes just to reach its prey. Dosages of the compound usually triples when exams are nearing. And boy, did the finals struck like five espressos through the nose. 10 days after exams and I still feel the caffeine crash linger every morning. I seriously need a break or a detox at this point.
Dozing off.
What you call dozing off from reviewing, I call resting. But in all seriousness, we all get tired sometimes. Especially when your body can’t meet the demands of the fast-paced world. And yes, sometimes we catch ourselves catching Zs while reading one reviewer to another. We even scold ourselves and claim we don’t deserve to sleep. However, let us remember to listen to our bodies and learn to pace ourselves when faced with a vast amount of work and requirements.
At the end of the day, we are all making these consistent efforts to stay afloat and proceed to the next stages of our lives. It may be rough but we still grapple our way through and step forward gradually towards our goals and aspirations. As we work hard, let us remember the people that stayed by our side, the time we spent and invested, the tiresome days and weeks we endured, and how hard we worked to do what needs to be done.
With the future’s uncertainty, I hope it holds a time where we are where we need to be. In the place and moments we deserve. And if we do reach that time, I hope we can look back to the alarms, the sore fingers riddled with blisters, the large intake of caffeine, dozing off between breaks and find them beautiful. May we consider them as part of the process of getting where we stand now. Cry if you must, take a little break if needed. But do not forget to stand up again and change the tides that once left you crying.
15 alarms set before the actual class: Check. Blisters from writing your essay-like reviewers: Check. A constant dose of caffeine: Check. Dozing off from trying to review (cram) a major subject: Check!
I’m proud of us for making it through this semester. We did great. Our efforts and the work we’ve put in will never betray us. We will pass the semester with flying colors. Amen!
#BehindTheTrades
