3 Chapter 2

I STOPPED the car as I arrived on the parking lot of the university. Dumiretso ako sa cafeteria ng Mass Communication Building. Dito lagi naka tambay ang mga kaibigan ko eh. Pagpasok ko pa lang rinig na rinig ko na ang malakas na tawanan ng mga sira kong mga kaibigan. Nang papalapit na ako sa kanila, napatingin sa 'kin si Anya at bumulong sa mga kaibigan ko. What's with them? Nang tuluyan na akong makalapit sa pwesto nila ay nagulat nalang ako sa kabaliwan nila.

"Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!", sigaw nila. Nagulat ako don. With all the banner pa 'tong mga 'to. Nag senyas ako na tumahimik at umupo na.

"So, what do you have for us?", sabi agad ni Miley sa 'kin. Natawa ako sa kanya.

"Geez, I know", then they exclaimed in excitement.

"Anong pakulo 'to? With banner talaga at talagang dito pa sa cafeteria?", sabi ko sa kanila. Nagtinginan kasi sa 'min ang mga tao dito. Natawa sila sa reaksyon ko.

"By the way, congrats din sa inyo", three of us are summa cum laude and the other two are cum laude. We are six, overall including me. "Now, I'm getting crazy for my speech", sabi ko sa kanila.

"Gosh, don't be", sabi ni Charmaine.

"I'll help you", sabi sa 'kin ni Kiyana.

After a minute of talking and waiting for Kiyana natapos narin siya sa sinusulat niya.

"Attention please!", sabi ni Kiyana and she cleared her throat. "This is just a part of your speech", sabi niya. "I would like to highly appreciate my friends who were as beautiful as they have always been, most especially to Kiyana P. Ramirez for being such a sweetheart. Blah, blah, blah and dot dot dot", napatulala ako kay Kiana. She handed me the paper at tinanggap ko naman.

"Wow. That'll helps a lot", sarcastically said by Goldie. Kiyana flips her hair.

"Papalakpakan ako ng mga instructors natin because of this Kiyana", sabi ko. Charmaine took the paper from me and throw it sa hindi kalayuang trash bin sa pwesto namin.

"Three points!", sabi pa niya.

"Hey, that hurts! I'm serious!", sabi ni Kiyana.

"Well, based on what you have written, it doesn't sound so serious Kiyana", Charmaine said while laughing.

"Hmph!", Kiyana whined.

"I'm sure you'll do it best, Faith. Ikaw pa", sabi sa 'kin ni Anya. "It's just a piece of cake for you", she added.

Sigh, honestly, I never expected this. It's kinda surreal. Marami kasing matatalino dito sa 'min eh tsaka I'm not that kind of student na studious. Hindi naman sa wala akong tiwala sa sarili, hindi lang talaga ako nag expect. Now, na e-e-stress na ako how to start this whole Summa Cum Laude speech thing. Maybe kailangang kong mag meditate. I want my speech to be remembered as a great one.

"What about your parents Faith? Alam na ba nila?", tanong sakin ni Anya. Tumango ako.

"Kagabi, pag-uwi namin galing sa party", I sighed. "They didn't care, anyway", sabi ko. They looked at me and they smiled.

"It's okay, kahit papaano alam nila", sabi ni Charmaine.

"Pinapatawag ka sa office Faith", Goldie said to me when she finished looking at her phone. Probably, tinext sa kanya ang information.

"Okay, I'll go ahead first. Let's meet at lunch. Treat ko", sabi ko sa kanila at parang nag celebrate naman sila dahil sa balita. I smiled at them. I am walking my way to the faculty room.

"Hey, Faith! Congratulations!", sabi ng nakasalubong ko.

"Thank you!", sagot ko sa kanya.

I knocked three times sa door ng faculty room at binuksan ito ng dahan-dahan at sumilip. Nagtinginan sa gawi ko ang mga instructors.

"Oh! Nandito na si Ms. Layanza!", sabi ng isa naming instructor. I smiled at tuluyan ng pumasok sa loob. Ano kayang sasabihin nila sa 'kin?

I SPENT almost 1 hour inside the faculty room. They just congratulated me and offered a lot of Publishing companies na pwede kong pasukan after graduation. Actually they don't know na I'm already working on a Publishing Company. Isa pa akong junior sa company and I still have many things to learn. I'll have my fourth book to be published but I never had a book signing and fan meeting event before. And it's okay, for me. I want it low pro. But I want to travel to start my next write up. I want to try new things. Explore the world. Meet new people. Create amazing stories, be a valuable author. Make my parents proud. How I wish all of the things that I've dreamt of will come true.

At exactly, 11:30 am, I met my friends at the cafeteria for lunch. While eating, we talked about nonsense things when suddenly a question about life plans after graduation came up.

"Anong plano niyo after graduation?", tanong ni Anya.

"I don't know. Maybe pahinga na muna ako. I mean, travel and when I'm done mag-aaply ako sa ACN for Scriptwriting", aniya Kiyana. Tumango kami bilang pagsang-ayon. Kiyana always wanted to be part of ACN as a staff. Tumingin kami kay Charmaine.

"Well, gusto ng parents ko na mag travel din ako at 'wag munang magtrabaho. Relax muna after this stressful college life, and they wanted me to go for masters already", sabi niya. Almost all of her tita's, tito's , auntie's and uncle's are teachers. Sabi nga ni Charmaine, mag te-take siya ng LET, Licensure Examination for Teachers kung may chance.

"As for me, magta-trabaho ako agad. Maybe, mag-aaply ako sa isang publishing company dito for two years for experience para go for gold na ako sa abroad", sabi ni Goldie sa 'min. One country for Goldie, Seoul, South Korea. Pangarap niyang makapunta don. Well, Seoul is part of my bucket list. Inspired pumunta don kasi fan girl.

"How about you Faith?", tanong sa 'kin ni Goldie.

"Well, I think I will be in Amsterdam to do my next write up", they looked at me shockingly. "Yes. But it's still a plan. I need to talk to the company first", sabi ko sa kanila. After kong sabihin 'yon sa kanila inulan na nila ako ng mga tanong. Alam kasi nila na imposible talagang payagan ako ni papa. Pero alam din nila kung gaano ko kagustong pumunta ng Amsterdam. Hindi pa na e-feature sa movie nila Julia Montes at Coco Martin at Kathry Bernardo at Daniel Padilla sa movie nilang The How's of Us ay talagang alam ko ng may isang paradise na nag-e-exist sa Europe, ang Amsterdam ng Netherlands.

Of course, I will still choose Philippines but the world is full of diversity. You can't focus on one thing and not be open to try new things. It is called being open minded. You accept and respect the other culture. That's why I can't understand why people are always bashing K-pop fans for loving Korea and its culture so much. It's not forgetting our motherland but it is being human. You appreciate the culture of other people. You're not the only one living in this world. Hindi lang Pilipinas ang nandito. All we can do to maintain peace and to achieve peace is to stop hate and be appreciative, be respectful and be mindful. Don't waste your energy bashing people who found happiness from being a fan. You don't know the pain they had to go through.

Anyway, what I love about the country, based on my research, Amsterdam, for me, is like a historic place. Full of mystery and history. And I want to experience it myself. All the things that I have read about the country, I want to feel it with my own hands and feet. I know there's something about the country. I know something good will happen to me in that place. And I couldn't even supressed my emotions, how excited I am.