Mutual Friends

I'm not exactly a goody-two-shoes or a straight arrow. I was neither a dull student. I mean, I survived college unscathed- partially. So I guess it's safe to say I am- as cliche as this may sound- average.

I failed one of my courses on the second semester of my third year in college. I'm not really proud of it, but I am not embarrassed to say that indeed it was the first and only time I've ever flunked at anything academic related.

That summer of 2010, I had no choice but to retake the course. The good thing about it though was that I had the chance to have two advanced classes on courses being offered that summer. It was cool to think that I was an "advance" student.

But still...

So while everyone had the luxury of sunbathing and traveling to postcard-worthy, breathtaking, and awe-inspiring places, I was stuck to doing school stuff while the sun blazed it's hottest. Not that we didn't have air condition, but you get my point.

One summer night, I had an unexpected correspondence (through facebook) from my former classmate in the same course I did not pass. I wondered how he had the nerve to be vacationing in England since we were already graduating next school year. And he did not pass the course as well, did he? I thought it would be impossible for him to pass at all since only ten of our classmates did- out of fifty students. To my amazement, he told me he was indeed able to survive the torture. And then I felt sorry- for the guy because I underestimated him and for myself because I wanted to be in the same situation as him. Nevertheless, I enjoyed talking to him about anything- especially science. Before knowing it, we conversed almost every night and our favorite topic was time travel and theories about the possibility of having another dimension. Though I admit that I sometimes get through our conversations with a heavy heart because I felt too bad for myself and jealous at him. I mean, how was he able to pass when I failed?

I knew him during that same course- the only that we are classmates, by the way... or maybe the only course I know that we are classmates since I was invisible and preoccupied to notice anyway.

One of the days our professor is present, he conducts out-of-this-world quizzes and admits that one of the joys of teaching is the ability to make students sweat blood. To make the long story short, I did not do well in the quizzes our professor gave us. Well, actually I found out later that most of my classmates didn't too. I felt relieved.

One day, during the returning of exam papers, my friends and I were comparing scores. I also compared exam results with him- the guy who is a mutual friend since he's friends with my friend. Then out of nowhere, amidst the classroom babble, we high-fived just because we found out we had the same score. He remarkably was able to put a bookmark in my mind because being high-fived by a person you are not closely acquainted with does not happen to me every day. That's how we started the connection. From a stranger, he became my Facebook friend and from being my Facebook friend, my real life friend. And that's how I found out he was intelligent. Maybe way more intelligent than I am. Obviously. :)

Facing the Deep Blue

It’s a nervous thought. It’s really scary, looking beyond tomorrow and imagining what would happen to us in the future. I guess we really can’t help it, especially because all of us have that certain fear of the unknown. Here we are in college, preparing ourselves for the big “it” (The greatest turning point in our lives). Our performance in college would be the greatest basis of what we will be in our premium years.

When I think about it, I often end up with the most stupid but accurate analogy of sea turtles. I don’t know, but the more I think about it, the more I can relate our very lives (as students) to that of the sea turtles’.

By the time sea turtles are lay by their parents, deeply buried and hidden beneath the sand, they wait for the time that they are hatched. Sometimes, they don’t even reach that stage because of certain predators that eat them while they are still inside their shells… and at that stage; they die, without even the idea of how great the deep blue is.

Lucky sea turtles make it to another stage, and they experience the breath of life. Excited, they all crawl and make their way to the greatest adventure of all, to face the deep blue. Rushing through the shore, all one hundred of them are ready to become "Ambassadors of the sea". They want to explore it so badly that they didn’t notice the arrival of sharp-toothed sharks. They happily enjoy the warm water and then… the next second, they are already being attacked by those cruel predators. A bountiful number of sea turtles would narrow down to ten. It is now such a small number compared to how many they were from the very start.

Our parents carefully prepared us for our individual breakthroughs. Just like the sea turtles, we have been concealed and protected against those certain “predators” in our lives; predators that would cause us to drop school or put an end to our existence… (You know what I mean). Nowadays, most of us look for our predators instead of the other way around. For example, when we feel like having that certain urge to stay in bed the whole day instead of preparing for school, or going to the mall with our peers even though we still have huge piles of paperwork or projects on our desks; we place ourselves as very delicious meals for these predators that would hinder our success. And I think the difference between us and sea turtles is that they can’t do anything about their ill fate while we have complete control about everything that would happen to us.

Our life story doesn’t end there. What about the ten sea turtles that survived? They would compete against each other as they travel. Some would circle the world while some would die trying. Some would even stay on safe zones. These injured sea turtles are just like us when we continue our battles after graduating and earning a degree in college, and eventually we would succeed in what we really want…

Facing the deep blue, the sea turtles would have a look of contentment on their faces, and a grin which says, “I did it!”

~anamellie~