If there's one word that can describe my day today, this would be it. I went to visit my alma mater to submit some documents. While walking along its corridors, I had this weird, overwhelming experience. I first set foot on those corridors exactly twenty years ago. I was a young incoming high school freshman then. I was with my mom that time, on our way to the guidance counselor office where the admission requirements were submitted. The corridor was a plain, finished cement with coleman jugs and stroller bags at the sides. Gradeschoolers just leave their things in the corridors while they played with their classmates. All these without fear that their stuffs will be stolen. That was the sense of security that each student had back then.
The corridor I was walking on was already tiled. If I can remember it right, this was tiled after I graduated from college. Everytime it rains these tiles get wet and boy where there a lot of college students who slipped on those corridors. I guess we were better off with that finished cement. since my classmates in high school even deliberately slide their way on those halls without fear of falling.
Other than the tiled floor, gone are the signs on the beams of the corridor's roof. Back then, I could almost memorize what was written on those beams. Now, I tend to forget them already. A La Sallian is a man for others....a La Sallian is etcetera etcetera. These stuffs actually. Today, those signs on the beams were replaced by huge tarpaulins on the sides (must be a way of covering the corridor from the rain.wehehe) The lines written on those tarps were almost the same though. Reminding La Sallians who pass those corridors how to behave.
The rooms where different too. Some rooms already have double doors with grills. I am no longer aware if the school is as secure as 20 years ago. Based from what I saw however, I think things have changed too in the security aspect. A number of buildings were also built on a previously grassy park. I could no longer see the tennis court while I was walking through that corridor because of the new infrastructures. The ever memorable tennis court where I used to play tennis after school. Why memorable? I was kind of conscious in my shorts then every time I play. There were only a number of us girls in high school that time, being the 2nd batch of girls when La Salle high school turned coed. The tennis court was very visible from the corridor and all boys who passed that corridor can see me in my shorts running after the ball. Even my high school crush noticed me then. I was playing doubles with a grade school kid that time. When I got out of the court, my crush told me that I was playing with his brother. I forgot who won that match but the ending of talking with my crush was a winner.hahaha Basically, the tennis court was very open to prying eyes.
As I was nearing the College of Medicine office, I passed by our old high school classrooms. They were now turned into college classrooms. The doors are still the same, with openings in it shaped as crosses. I forgot to check if the door knobs were the same though. Those kind where I learned to use a plastic card rather than keys to open them. If there was a skill in high school that I still have today, this would be it. Our quadrangle got smaller in area too. It was no longer a quadrangle where students gather for the morning flag raising ceremony. It was also during that time that us girls were always reprimanded by our assistant principal for a stinking comfort room.hahaha Since this area was already occupied by the college department, it's now an open space where I hypothesize, college students could get their daily dose of vitamin D since most of the areas in the campus were already covered.hehehe
Twenty years forward, I am now a young internist who came back to her alma mater to apply as a part time faculty of the college of medicine. The nostalgia that I had today even made me more excited for the said teaching job. This is just one way of showing my alma mater my gratitude for molding me into a kind of doctor and person that I am. No matter how my old school looks now, with all the improvements and new buildings, there lies a part of me within its walls. Same thing with me. No matter how old I've grown and how many institutions I went to, I still a have a green blood in my system.
The corridor I was walking on was already tiled. If I can remember it right, this was tiled after I graduated from college. Everytime it rains these tiles get wet and boy where there a lot of college students who slipped on those corridors. I guess we were better off with that finished cement. since my classmates in high school even deliberately slide their way on those halls without fear of falling.
Other than the tiled floor, gone are the signs on the beams of the corridor's roof. Back then, I could almost memorize what was written on those beams. Now, I tend to forget them already. A La Sallian is a man for others....a La Sallian is etcetera etcetera. These stuffs actually. Today, those signs on the beams were replaced by huge tarpaulins on the sides (must be a way of covering the corridor from the rain.wehehe) The lines written on those tarps were almost the same though. Reminding La Sallians who pass those corridors how to behave.
The rooms where different too. Some rooms already have double doors with grills. I am no longer aware if the school is as secure as 20 years ago. Based from what I saw however, I think things have changed too in the security aspect. A number of buildings were also built on a previously grassy park. I could no longer see the tennis court while I was walking through that corridor because of the new infrastructures. The ever memorable tennis court where I used to play tennis after school. Why memorable? I was kind of conscious in my shorts then every time I play. There were only a number of us girls in high school that time, being the 2nd batch of girls when La Salle high school turned coed. The tennis court was very visible from the corridor and all boys who passed that corridor can see me in my shorts running after the ball. Even my high school crush noticed me then. I was playing doubles with a grade school kid that time. When I got out of the court, my crush told me that I was playing with his brother. I forgot who won that match but the ending of talking with my crush was a winner.hahaha Basically, the tennis court was very open to prying eyes.
As I was nearing the College of Medicine office, I passed by our old high school classrooms. They were now turned into college classrooms. The doors are still the same, with openings in it shaped as crosses. I forgot to check if the door knobs were the same though. Those kind where I learned to use a plastic card rather than keys to open them. If there was a skill in high school that I still have today, this would be it. Our quadrangle got smaller in area too. It was no longer a quadrangle where students gather for the morning flag raising ceremony. It was also during that time that us girls were always reprimanded by our assistant principal for a stinking comfort room.hahaha Since this area was already occupied by the college department, it's now an open space where I hypothesize, college students could get their daily dose of vitamin D since most of the areas in the campus were already covered.hehehe
Twenty years forward, I am now a young internist who came back to her alma mater to apply as a part time faculty of the college of medicine. The nostalgia that I had today even made me more excited for the said teaching job. This is just one way of showing my alma mater my gratitude for molding me into a kind of doctor and person that I am. No matter how my old school looks now, with all the improvements and new buildings, there lies a part of me within its walls. Same thing with me. No matter how old I've grown and how many institutions I went to, I still a have a green blood in my system.
