Passing Notes in Secrecy - StellJun / PabStell AU

Chapter 1

Ajero

Wednesday, 8:00 am

CLING CLING

Message from John Paulo Nase

"Good day po to everyone. Due to the suspension of classes today, I'll be expecting you to study the handouts provided. We'll be having a quiz followed by grade consultation next meeting."

"Handout data.xlsx"

"PS: Please answer the sample data I sent. To be passed:

For sections 7 and 4: Monday

Section 6: Tuesday

1, 2, 3, 5: Thursday"

And here I thought I could rest my head after a stressful week. I mean, kakatapos lang ng prelim exams. Weeks' worth of stuDYING preparing for that three-day evaluation. I thought I was finally going to have a break but I should have known better.

The week that follows the exams is usually chill. We spend the first meetings for the new term on grade consultations with our professors so we can see how we did during the previous term. As for my grades, so far so good! I got my first flat one this semester and it's in my clinical chemistry class! That, honestly, came as a surprise because I thought I could have done better but when the results came out, it turned out I did enough.

My clinical chemistry professor, Ms. Eliz Dizon, is asking me for a specific score for the midterm major exam so she can exempt me from the final exams. I will study my ass off to achieve that. Having one less exam to study for our finals is always a big help lalo na pag nagkasabay-sabay na yung deadlines for the final requirements.

My closest friend in the university, Ken, often tells me to enjoy these good grades I'm getting because once na mag third year na ako, which would be next school year, high grades won't matter as much. Ang magiging importante na lang daw by that stage of a Veterinary Medicine student's life ay ang makapasa. Makasurvive ganon. I met Ken in my General Inorganic Chemistry class. Nung first time kong mag first year as a VetMed student.

Yes. Nung first time. As in may part one and part two ang pagiging freshie ko. There were hardly fifteen students in that class dahil na implement na yung K-12 at that time so walang mga incoming first year. The only freshmen that existed during that time were repeaters, irregular students, transferees, and me. So there I was... A 24-year-old freshie who is about to take on another four years of college in order to live the vet med dream. Unfortunately, dahil kakaramput na nga lang kaming first-year students, instead of moving up to our Sophomore year, we got transferred to the new curriculum.

Walang choice eh. Nagkandaloko na yung nangyari sa amin na mga remaining freshmen during the transition of the curriculum. So ayun, napasama ako sa new curriculum and that means, kahit ang ganda ng grades na naimbak ko, back to first year ulit ako.

As a result, kasama ko ngayon yung first batch ng mga competitive na senior high school grads — and I mean that as a compliment, their resilience is inspired! — along with some students who can no longer be entertained by the old curriculum. I was relieved when I found out that there were other students na nag shift ng course na inallow din to enter the university under the new curriculum kahit hindi din sila nag senior high. I was not alone.

Hay bull talaga yang K-12 na yan eh. Pinatagal lang talaga nila yung high school life nung mga bata. Wala naman palang effect pag dating sa college. Pantay-pantay pa rin.

Man, I sounded like a million years old there. Calling high school grads "mga bata." Hey. I'm not old. I am older than them, yes but I'm not OLD. Anyway, that's the story of my college life season two. Now I'm currently in the first semester of my Sophomore year. I'm glad to say I'm not merely surviving. I am thriving!