A Time for New Adventures

Around this time last year, I graduated with honors from a reputable university in the Philippines. I had a clean slate once again and the future awaited with open arms. However, no amount of studying, socializing, planning or praying could have prepared me for the months that came after. I was literally a lost soul. I could not properly enjoy the summer months after graduation because I was jumping from one job interview to another and worrying about whether or not I would get a job that I would enjoy, or that would pay a decent salary, for that matter. As I sat in front of the television during my Friends, 24, and CSI DVD marathons during those hot summer months, I feared the unknown and I felt anxious about the lack of stability and familiarity that I had grown accustomed to in college.

Fortunately, around June, I found out that I had been accepted to the SIF-ASEAN Student Fellowship 2004. It was a program sponsored by the Singapore International Foundation that allowed me to study in a Singapore university for one semester, interact with students from different ASEAN countries, and travel around the ASEAN region. The program was just what I needed to get me out of the rut I was in. After a flurry of despedida parties, I flew to Singapore filled with hope and enthusiasm. My stint in Singapore was certainly an unforgettable and momentous experience. I built relationships with amazing people, took risks, and did things I had never done before.

Going back to the Philippines after five months in Singapore was tough for I terribly missed the people I had grown to love. But coming home was also good because it allowed me to catch up with my family and old friends. For the past two months of the new year, I have done nothing but go out for lunch, dinner, movies and weekend trips with old friends, and e-mail or chat with the new friends I left behind. Now, exactly a year after graduation, I am ready to enter the work force and embark on my next adventure.

I just hope that this year will be as memorable as the last.

A view of the crater lake inside Taal Volcano. February 26, 2005.