Top 10 Things I Miss About School

1. Friends

I will never survive 14 years of education without the people I’ve met in school. Imagine the headaches migraines that might have besieged me if I haven’t meet the people who made my stay in the learning institutions fun (and who helped me in my projects). I am still in contact with classmates from grade one. And thank you, Facebook, for reuniting me with classmates I hate and like and both.

2. Teachers

I don’t have a category for Most Favorite teachers. To me, they just come and go. Some might have left bigger impacts in my life but generally, I’m thankful for every teacher (yeah, even the crazy professors) I’ve met in school. They have taught me to the best of their abilities and I know all the hardships they encounter on a daily basis because of students like me. I miss having someone teach me just about everything I need to know. In real life, I have to figure out everything on my own. My sister has just graduated Education in college. Good luck to her.

3. Lunch and snack breaks

I have spent hours counting hours just so I can hear the bell ring. In between daydreams and winks, I wish for the time I’ll troop to the canteen, eat lunch, and share stories with my friends. From grade school to high school, I think I never really made a serious effort to bring baon. I eat whatever is in the canteen and my fave is a runny giniling. In college, the friends and I had a hard time deciding where to eat. “Kahit saan” seemed popular.

4. Allowance

We’re of the middle-class family and an increase in allowance comes with age, not with honor ribbons I take home. Well, at least there’s always allowance while schooling. I can always go to my mama and ask for more if I run out. Now that I’m already working, I can’t ask for allowance anymore. Sigh. Why do we need to graduate school again?

5. Commuting

Here in Saudi Arabia, I’m always driven around by my father, or my friends’ fathers, or taxi drivers. I miss the art of commuting in jeepneys, mini buses, and the LRT. I miss the hustle and bustle of a morning rush, which never failed to give me the boost I needed to go to school. And though it’s really stressful to commute, especially considering the traffic in Manila, at least I get to have the freedom to go anywhere without thinking if the ibang lahi driver is trust-worthy enough or if the taxi car is not smelly.

6. Subjects

In elementary and high school, subjects are pretty generic. I love English and Social Studies the best. I almost always have a hard time with Home Economics. I’m such an undomesticated diva. Lol. Math was okay but I’m not an expert thus Journalism was my course in college. We had lots of interesting subjects like Photo Journalism, Literary Criticism, World Literature, Broadcast Journalism... I just miss having subjects that I’m really interested with and am passionate about. How’s Journalism in Saudi Arabia doing? Don’t ask!

7. Field Trips

My school in the province doesn’t do field trips but we had one bonggang-bonggang field trip in the defunct Expo Filipino and Paskuhan Village. It was one grand field trip, one that was not repeated. Haha. The most memorable field trip I had in college was to the Muntinlupa Bilibid prison. We were at the medium security compound where my group interviewed a rapist. Uhuh. I think most students were there to catch a glimpse of their once famous inmate, Robin Padilla. Now I can catch a glimpse of him, even stare, in Wowowee.

8. School events

In CKC*, we have the most interesting events like the Students’ Day, Rambak Familia, and the mass every first Friday of the month. I seriously like singing during the mass, even if I’m not a Himig member. What we don’t have (during my time) was the JS Prom. Seriously. What we had was an overnight affair called “Senior’s Camp.” It was memorable too, yannow. In UST, we had Paskuhan. Obviously, we attended because of the fireworks.

9. School groups

I was a member of the school paper. *cough, cough*. Most of my friend were members of Himig, the school choir. We also had the theatre group, the dance group, the sports group, so on and so forth. These extracurricular activities make going to school worthwhile too. And outside the school groups, come the cliques. The nerdy bunch, the campus beauties, the dudes... I guess you all know where I’m at... the smart club. Echos! :P

10. Learning

Okay, I’m a nerd like that so sue me! Seriously, learning has always been fun inside the four walls of the classroom. Your senses are wide awake to absorb everything and there are a lot of familiar people who can help immediately. In a way, while we’re getting ready for the real world, we’re also being protected from it.

Being in school has taught me a lot of things and though I now know that they never taught me every single thing on the ‘real life’, at least education prepared me for it. I value my education and I hope the youth of today also value it like their lives depend on it. Actually, lives really depend on it. I have to thank my parents and grandparents for giving me the best education. Also, to my schools... Christ the King College in La Union and the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, I hope you’re proud of what I’ve become because of you.

► Read Janelle's previous column articles.