Dear Pisay student turned Atenean,
Congratulations. By taking this first step, you're now one of a kind. You're atypical, even for student in a school full of super nerds. Not perhaps because of any uncanny sort of intellect, but because of your bravery. You have, pardon the triteness, taken the road less traveled.
Maybe you're questioning it now. Maybe a lot of people are haranguing you with questions- why Ateneo? This will bother you. Maybe you regret it just a little bit. Maybe you're walking into it without any doubts, without any questions, without any regrets. (If so, I salute you. That's pretty rare.)
Rest assured, though- no matter what frame of mind you're in, Ateneo will teach you more about yourself than you'd expected to know (but that's life, I guess).
Firstly, you will learn not ever to rely on the familiar. You won't be around the same people anymore- and most of those you know will have their own individual experiences. A large chunk of your batch, too, will be experiencing the same things- the Ikot, the Oble, running from class from one faraway building to another.
You'll feel left out at first; (it's only natural), but you'll have your own experiences too. You'll look at your new classmates (perhaps a lot of them knew each other from high school). They won't be people you know yet (likely), but they'll be people you WILL know. And that's half the fun of it.
You'll have JSEC; you'll have Katipunan lunches with your block; you'll figure out whether Father de la Costa has his right hand over his left, or the other way around. You'll find ways to avoid the guards when you don't have your ID. You'll fall asleep on the Rizal Lib couches. You'll cram for Math long tests at Matteo. Maybe you'll even memorize the Ateneo cheers in time for UAAP.
Secondly, you will learn to be humbled by the intelligence you encounter day to day. For years, you've been exposed to the science and math geeks of the country. You've been led to believe that you are the cream of the cream of the crop. Perhaps you think it matters.
It doesn't. Sure, you may be labelled as a "smart Pisay kid", but you can't rely on that. Eventually you'll learn that intelligence comes in many forms and that the Pisay education, wonderful and comprehensive as it is, cannot always be your fallback. There will be people smarter than you (and admittedly, stupid-er than you), but the playing field is never even.
You may be the cream of the cream of the crop, but the crop is bountiful. You, too, will be awed.
Thirdly, you're going to learn that life isn't always about the "useful" things. You'll be taking core classes. You will wonder: "What does studying metafiction or the elements of drama or reading Kasunod ng 909 have to do with my degree program?" You will keep wondering that as you go on, (and cursing the hell Ateneo's putting you through) . Maybe, though, with a little bit of introspection, you'll learn that your critical thinking skills have sharpened with that bit of exposure to the "softer side" of academics.
It's not always about scientific investigations or mathematical proof- sometimes, human motivations and a love for art and whimsical things can make you a better person and a greater thinker, questioner and doer.
Lastly, and best of all, you'll learn to love this road less taken.
Congratulations, and see you around. :)
//
hastily written- I still have Psych papers, but I'm glad I got this out of my system.
