differences

I was browsing through my Friends' list at my Friendster account when I saw a former CLSUan whom I've sent a friend request before because he ranked 1st in the CLSU-Admission Test.

As I was looking at his profile, I found out that he has transferred to a private school in Manila.

Like so many stories that unfolded before me, his is not different.

I once thought of transferring to SLU to take up what I really wanted, Mass Communication or at WU-P and join the Nursing phenomena, or stay in the university that I have adored and respected since high school.

I opted to choose the latter.

Then I asked myself why.

For two semesters, I underwent through the dilemma of what path should I take and what dream should I pursue.
It was real-hard having to choose from what is there to see and experience in a university where I know a few people and the ability to live a comfortable life in a place where you have your friends or your sister.

But in the end, I stayed in my university and tried to make my stay worth it, and I can say that I have no regrets.

Now, whenever I hear CLSUans who are my former school-mates in high school having plans of transferring to another school, "hindi nila kinaya", I would say to myself.

Living in a university located in the far-north of Nueva Ecija isn't really easy for students who came from the southern part of the province, you have to deal with the Ilocanos who speak their native language as if they are talking about you and you cannot understand a thing because you only speak and understand Tagalog and that is the first time you hear the Iloko language in your entire existence.

Secondly, the real CLSU life happens in the dormitories and cottages where I have learned countless ways to eat without spending even a centavo, having a yummy dinner with just 20 pesos and picking that mango fruit smiling at you even if it is prohibited.

Then, there are the dorm residents who would scare you that you cannot live in a dormitory because you are too lazy to get up early in the morning and clean the assigned area for your room.

These are my frustrations before, I felt that I don't belong to the Iloko-speaking peeps, but then, I have learned to adopt to it over-time, trying to learn the language and asking my friends to teach me and interpret the joke our professor just said.

Differences are indeed inevitable.

I am just lucky that I was able to adopt to the transition between the world that I knew in high school and a much bigger world waiting to be explored in college.

And though I have doubted my decision and my ability to learn new things, I have no regrets for the dilemma that I went through, because it have made me realized that I could do things more that what I thought I could.

I just hope that students who have plans of transferring to another university especially my school-mates in high school, would bring with them a bunch of good memories and lessons learned in their short stay in the university.