Graduation 2012

You know that feeling when you're looking forward to something and you feel all kinds of excitement beforehand? If you do, then you also probably know how it feels when that thing/event you've waited for and been excited about passes. Suddenly, all of those positive feelings you had is replaced with a sense of sadness and loss.

That's exactly how I felt after going home from UST after our graduation ceremony. But even though it kind of makes me feel crappy that it's all over now, what keeps me from feeling crappier are the moments I shared with my beloved friends and classmates right after we sang the UST Hymn altogether one last time. The smiles, the hugs, and words of congratulations to each other are things I most certainly will not forget.

I would not have been able to accomplish everything on time during the last stretch of my academic life if it weren't for the following people: my Thesis group mates, my group in Compiler Design, the rest of my class (4CSC), and finally, the professors who were forever supportive of our efforts to achieve our goal of finishing our degree in Computer Science.

Most especially, I would not be where I am today if it hadn't been for the endless love and support from my family. Even though only one of my brothers made it to see me get up on stage, I sincerely appreciated my two other brothers watching from Ustream. Hehe. It's times like this that I become really, really appreciative of technology. :)

And to all the Neocentennial graduates of the UST Faculty of Engineering -- Cheers to us for we have come out as victors from the most challenging task of our lives yet! From now on, we may face harder challenges and experience greater failures but that doesn't mean we should give up, even if the universe suggests otherwise. Keep in mind what J.K. Rowling once said:

"It is impossible to live without failure. Unless you live so cautiously that you avoid life -- in which case you fail by default." 

Baccalaureate Mass 2012

I know I should've blogged about this over the weekend but I got caught up in watching Friends, it's getting really, really good that I couldn't stop. I'm almost finished with the 8th season now. Anyway, so last Friday, my last day as a student, had to be the longest day I spent in UST, and we weren't even there for classes. In the morning we had the "Meet the Parents" activity which went really well, and in the afternoon was our baccalaureate mass.

To be honest, since we finished our final exams, I've been feeling indifferently about my oncoming graduation. I don't know, I guess, I feel like there's a huge chunk of my life that's suddenly not going to be there anymore. I remember feeling the same way when I graduated in high school. I wasn't really emotional during the ceremony but when I came back to my school like a couple days after, that's when the sadness hit me.

Now, thinking about the last time I'm going to be in the same room with all of my college friends and the last time we're gonna be singing the UST Hymn just makes me feel... kind of lost. Besides, I'm actually really gonna miss UST. I mean, I know it's still only one jeepney ride away from where I live but, you know? It's going to be different, going there from now on will just make me a visitor... It'll no longer be a "home."

But hey, it has been an amazing 4 years of my life and I'm surely gonna be keeping a lot of memories from my stay in the Royal and Pontifical Catholic University of Santo Tomas, the Catholic University of the Philippines.

I'm surely gonna remember literally running through the Arch of the Centuries with all of my classmates as a mark of our finishing our degree. Being with this class has been the most fun I've had throughout college. I love you forever, 4CSC!

Spectacular Pyromusical Showcase

The closing ceremony of UST's Quadricentennial celebration, also deemed as welcoming the university's Neo-Centennial, was a special one for Thomasians because of the best pyromusical we have seen yet.

The show was choreographed by an alumni, Don Villarosa, who's a graduate of CFAD batch 2009. Like UST Pyromusicals on Facebook!

I especially loved the moment when Coldplay's "Yellow" was playing and along the lines "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you," the fireworks looked like falling stars! It was so beautiful!

The 4 different spots in which the pyro were set up are actually the 4 landmarks declared National Cultural Treasures by UNESCO: the Arch of the Centuries, the Main Building, the Grandstand, and the Seminary Gym.