since it’s school opening week, which coincided with the onset of the rainy season, thus officially marking the end of the summer season, i decided to make a little change to my entry and sort of “reminisce” how things went during all those first-day(s)-of-school throughout my learning years. hope you come join me in this nostalgic trip down memory lane.

i always hated the first day of school. i mean, after two months of staying up late at night and waking up late the next day, there i was, painstakingly trying to get up at 5:30am, on a day i hated the most–monday–and reluctantly got ready for the yearly grind of homeworks, quizzes, projects, and daily interactions with teachers of different kinds. in some ways, the first day of school is not that bad. getting to meet your classmates, seeing if your core group of buddies would still be grouped in the same section you’re in, and finding out where you’re seated brings a little bit of excitement once you step into the school lobby. i don’t know about you people, but where i’m seated is a big factor for me. i never liked seating in front, much less settle my ass on a chair way behind the classroom because i’m prone to getting sleepy when the class or subkect is boring. i settled for sitting at least 3/4ths after the middle part of the room. yet in some cases, advisers would arrange their students’ seating arrangements in alphabetical order starting with their last names just to be fair. with my last name starting with C, well, i usually end up at the second row. bummer.

the one thing i find funny–well, not really, just kinda “entertaining” when i think about it–is that during the first week of classes (in grade school and high school), there would be different types of “school requirements” that need to be submitted. i mean, for a class of say, 45 students, especially in the advisory class, each student has to provide the following items (correct me if i’m wrong or feel free to add items using my comments section if i left out anything in particular):

one (1) box of thumb-tacks
two (2) pieces of cartolina (come to think of it, how did this get its name?)
two (2) pieces of felt paper
one (1) box of watercolor or cray-pas, or crayola (24’s, man, i missed those colored marker thingies)
one (1) box of staple wire
one (1) box of paper clips
one (1) rag (for classroom cleaning purposes)
two (2) pieces of japanese paper

think about it, every kid in class bringing more or less all the stuff listed above. thinking about it now, do all those things ever get used up througout the school year? i have my doubts, but i never thought of that back then whenever the school year ends because every freakin’ student wanted to get out of school so bad that they don’t even think of the unused items. at least those materials go mostly to the bulletin board behind the classroom, where designing it based on the season or theme of the quarter is utilized. if that wasn’t enough, think about the different kinds of subjects you have for the year and their own requirements. stuff like:

one (1) booklet of grade one, two, or three pad paper (depending on your elementary grade)
one (1) booklet of intermediate paper (for grades five and six and on to high school), either lengthwise or 1/4 size
one (1) composition notebook (per subject; take note, some require to be 100 or more pages or “leaves”)
one (1) math notebook (ahh, the ever-popular math notebook, one that which i don’t like the most because i hate the subject)
one (1) protractor, ruler, or triangle (based on the kind of math subject the student is taking)
one (1) set of art paper (for art class of course)
one (1) box of watercolor or cray-pas (again for art class)

i don’t know about people who underwent home economics class (being a bosconian, i sure didn’t) but i think there are also class requirements for those. in any case, these are the days where bookstores are full of people and students buying these requirements left and right, not to mention the different kinds of books per subject they need (unless they’re already provided for during enrollment period during the grade school and high school days). and then there’s the teacher-student introductions during the first few minutes of each subject. i can’t remember any other instance where you’ll stand up, recite your name and tell something about yourself at least six times the entire day. on the lighter side, especially in the grade school/elementary levels, students would come in in brand new school bags (take note, with strollers so that you can just pull them behind you), shoes, uniforms, and showing off their “high-tech” pencil cases (the ones which are double-sided, and have small compartments for other stuff aside from pencils and/or ballpens, and their “branded” lunchboxes of superheroes, or favorite movie stars (not to mention notebooks with teen idols all over them–makes me cringe even when i wrote that); and in higher levels, lunchboxes which have everything on it–food, drinks, utensils–even has room for a fruit dessert, say a banana. and remember the onset of the coleman jugs? damn, three out of five students would be bringing their own coleman jugs to school just to be “in.” i never imagined water coolers to be so….cool?

school opening in college was quite different. i remember when i was fresh out of high school, and into the college world, checking my registration form for my first subject of the day, finding the classroom in a sea of students running around, some still catching up on their enrollment at the dean’s office, seeing sophomores getting reacquainted with their buddies from freshman year, other freshmen like me wandering about, finding their own classrooms, and male senior students checking out vulnerable freshmen ladies who are hot. of course, there are still some requirements per subject, but mostly are similar, especially with the notebooks being “fillers” (cattleya quickly comes to mind). books are subject provided, and needed to be bought outside. one thing that comes to mind (for guys like me at least), is that students have their own binders made from illustration boards. being a heavy metal fan back in the day, i designed my own binder with pictures and cut-outs of rock bands, guitars, rock-sounding terms, and other illustrations and images that depict heavy metal. i placed shoestrings on each side to prevent books and notebooks from sliding off. there was also the onset of the “trapper keeper.” although there were already those kinds of binders when i was in high school, most who were seen carrying those are college studes. it was supposed to be a “notebook with an attitude,” though i think personalizing and creating your own binders are far more cool and brings out the personality and creativeness in you. ladies’ binders are less provocative, having simpler and more feminine designs. still, some include more famous hollywood actors and actresses. getting to know your classmates, especially during freshman year wherein everyone is new to you, was the highlight of college opening day. you only go through that once in your life, as succeeding years already have you experienced in that department and having old friends in the same block.

ah yes, school opening day. what a trip down memory lane. although i may not like being in school, i miss the atmosphere it brings. hearing the bell for recess, lunch, PE, and of course, dismissal were considered music to my ears. if we could only go back in time to see and feel what was it like back then, i’m sure everyone would be smiling and blushing at the same time. for most of you reading this entry, school days may be over for you permanently, but all of us remain a student one way or the other, going through a school called life. although we cannot exactly remember going through the first day of that school, each of us are still learning, and one day, our would-be children would experience the exact same thing we just reminisced. i now ask you, after going through what i just wrote, wouldn’t you be excited asking your child, “how was your first day of school?”