Memoirs of an Undergrad

The video above is my "goodbye song" for this blog. As with all good things, I believe that the "life of this blog" has come to an end. The time has finally come for me to start packing my bags and start blogging elsewhere. To tell you all the truth, when I made this blog, it was originally titled "Just One Yesterday" (named after Fall Out Boy's song) as you can see from this earlier screenshot of my Blogger Dashboard. The reason behind the name was that I was having trouble adjusting to my new college life, and that I missed my high school days. Because, actually, the central topic of this blog was supposed to be how high school is better than college. That was the case at first; however, I soon realized that college is actually far better than high school. I spent a few days coming up with a new title for this blog, and since it was around July (my "improve everything" phase), I decided to name this blog "A Better To...

Oh man, my second term at Asia Pacific College has just started and, well, it is . . . not what I expected. It is hard to say but, man, do I wish I could go back in time to the start of my  all-English term . Looking back, my English term was (actually) great. I mean, 3 (and a half) months ago, I was just starting out at Asia Pacific College. Now I am not gonna lie, the first few weeks were tough and scary. I had to adjust from my easy-going high school life to my tough life in college. I had to learn how to commute home, what to do and where to go whenever I could not find a jeep going home, and how to fit in to my new environment. Speaking of things I am going to miss, I am also starting to miss my professors and subjects last term. I miss the chills and nervousness I would get whenever I would speak in front during my Public Speaking 1 and Public Speaking 2 classes. I miss having to correct multiple sentences for parallelism in my  Grammar and Composi...

Foreword: I have already made this blog post way during my term break, I just have not published it for some odd reason. Also, this is going to be a LONG story. For those who love to read, you are in for a treat (I suppose). Oh, and this blog post originally had a lot of grammar errors, but I have already corrected some (if not, all) of the grammatical errors here. September 12, 2015 —the best Saturday that I have ever had. This was the day where my fellow members of APC Speaks and I went to Tagaytay. It was a day full of fun and friendship. Literally, a whole day bonding with friends and the other members of our organization. Now let me start from the beginning. The day started out just like any other day, I got dressed and I headed for Asia Pacific College. Until, on the way to APC, I met Luis Ginno , a fellow member APC Speaks that I admired a lot. He was carrying two or so bags that were filled with bottles soft drinks for the trip, and...

Hey, all! I am currently on my term break, and I am using this time to learn how to code in C#, and also how to write "Universal Windows" apps so I can distribute them to the Windows Store some day. Despite that, I will never forget my promise to Miss Eliz (the head of the English Resource Center at Asia Pacific College) that I would publish my speech on my blog some day. This is the extremely revised version of my original piece, titled Am I a Filipino? Like I said in a previous post , this is the final version of my speech, meaning that THERE WILL BE NO MORE REVISIONS . Sure, I can still revise this and whatnot, but the thing is that there will be no use to revising it any further. So, yeah, here's the final version of my speech that got me to the finals of the Inter-Class Public Speaking Competition. One last thing: I am not yet done finalizing my blog, I still have not posted a lot of content for Memoir Mode and I have not yet posted my story about my trip t...

"Our best isn't enough." The one thing I kept on saying to myself OVER and OVER again on the way home. To start, I competed in the Inter-Class Public Speaking Competition this morning, and boy, what a day to start the morning than with a public speaking competition. Personally, I aimed for a spot in that competition, 3 or 4 weeks ago. By preparing for the selection of the 6 participants for each block, I managed to be one of the 6 public speakers in my block, earning me a ticket to the competition. At first, I wondered why we were so many, the thought of having a competition wherein 6 participants for each and every block scared me. I expected that there would be people who are far greater than I, and that significantly damaged my hopes and ideals of winning. The weeks went by so slowly, day after day, night after night, I kept on revising my speech. The first revision was done by our professor, who managed to correct most parts of my speech. Then came the second, th...

A LION HEART is a vague and often confused term used by many. It usually describes a person with a strong will or extreme perseverance in the face of opposition. A lion heart is definitely what a person needs—but a lion heart alone cannot make someone a hero; however, it is a prerequisite of being one. There are a myriad of things that can make a hero. Say, for example, courage, determination, bravery, perseverance, and sacrifice for others. Wait a minute; a lion heart perfectly describes that. What gets my attention the most is that most of our Filipino heroes (and heroines) have this “lion heart.” So, do you think a lion heart is what makes a hero? YES , ABSOLUTELY YES , a lion heart can make someone a hero. But like I said earlier, a lion heart alone cannot make a person a hero. It is going to sound weird, but a person needs to have a seed. “A seed, you say? Tell me whyyy ,” you might ask. Yes, a seed, a seed that runs in the hot blood of every Filipino. It is not just your ...

Last week, I made a post about me firing on all cylinders and that I would continue trying my best to be a good public speaker and all. Now, I am tired, sleepy, exhausted, and I need a good break from things. Honestly, my schedule is extremely demanding. EXTREMELY DEMANDING . Here is my schedule this week: Monday: 7:30  a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Tuesday: 7:30  a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Wednesday: 7:30  a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Thursday: 7:30  a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Friday: We had an activity where we went from Asia Pacific College to Intramuros. I left my house at around 9 a.m. and I arrived home at 8 p.m. Saturday: I had my training with my fellow members of APC Speaks from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday: No activities planned for today. It is a tiring schedule, is it not? Honestly, this schedule barely gives me enough time to sleep, do my usual hobbies (watch educational videos on YouTube, listen to podcasts, blog, etc.), and worst of all, I barely have enough time to ...

The words in my mouth slurred and I slowly mumbled word after word as I failed to remember what the next sentence was. Then, I said to myself, "Welp, nope, no can do. We are going to have to do impromptu on this one, boys." With that thought, I resorted to my last bullet—impromptu speaking. That is what happened to me earlier when I was giving a speech about my moment of epiphany in front of my fellow members of APC Speaks. I was embarrassed and, after my speech, a lingering taste of disappointment was in my mouth. The feedback on my speech was generally good, they said that my voice modulation was fine, but my only problem was my speech itself as it lacked a proper structure. To tell you the truth, IT DID lack a proper structure because it was not good enough . On my way home, I thought of nothing but improving my speech-writing skills after realizing that my performance—both in hosting and delivering a prepared speech—was "mediocre" or, should I say, "l...

Well, my first term at Asia Pacific College is drawing to a close, and I can already feel the anticipation for the events planned ahead of us. "Everything in this world has an end," they say, and I believe that this blog's life is also drawing to a close as my first term is coming to an end. It has been fun blogging here, honestly, it was a delight. It was quite a break for me to start a new blog all over again—free from the mistakes, errors, and the compromises I have made in my old blogs—and start from scratch. I won't stop blogging, that is for sure; however, I will (soon) stop blogging here . As this blog, as the say, will become the "role model blog for the English Enrichment Program next term" as the head of the English Resource Center said. Personally, I would love to continue blogging here, sharing more and more stories as I go on with my college life at Asia Pacific College, but I created this blog for a purpose and one purpose only: to serve as ...

Type of essay: Definition essay Do you know any Korean pop songs? Have you ever heard of “Gangnam Style,” “Gee,” “Nobody,” and “Fire?” What do you feel whenever you hear a Korean pop song? Does it make you laugh, or does it make you angry? Whether you love it or hate it, you cannot deny the fact that Korean pop music (commonly known as K-Pop) is very popular here in the Philippines, and also around the world. You simply cannot deny its significance in today’s current pop culture. If you currently hate K-Pop, I am here to enlighten you by sharing a few secrets about the world-famous music genre. If you are already an avid listener of the said genre, you might find out some secrets about the music you have been playing. Believe it or not, listening to Korean pop music might actually be beneficial. For one, it can make people appreciate the culture of Korea; two, it can encourage people to learn the Korean language; and three, it can people them gain more friends, by having the same ...

Do I have what it takes to be a Filipino? The one question that lingered in my mind. The only question that I wanted to ask myself whenever I played a Korean pop song on my phone, whenever I embraced the culture of another instead of my own. “I have what it takes to be a Filipino.” Nine words, every day I practiced on how to declare those nine words with passion and with confidence. But, I realized that the more I practiced, the more I doubted myself. At the end of the day, I wondered if I have what it takes to be a Filipino or not. Until, one day, my question answered itself. “What does it take to be a Filipino? What do I have to do in order to consider myself a true Filipino?” I asked myself. “Do I have to pay taxes, do community service, or donate to Philippine charities?” I kept thinking of ways on how to have what it takes to be a Filipino until my uncle overheard what I was saying. He approached me and said, “Nephew, you need to embody the Filipino spirit in order to have wh...

Wow, my GRAMCOM classes are surely the best! I mean, if I had to choose between three of my favorite classes for this term—Public Speaking 1, Public Speaking 2, GRAMCOM—it would (most obviously) be my GRAMCOM class. Wait a second, what makes my GRAMCOM classes so great anyway? I mean, to you, it might seem like your ordinary "boring" English class, but for me, it is EVERYTHING. (Well, not literally everything, but it is like the "heart and soul" of this English term.) Think about it, without proper grammar, you would not be able to understand what I have written on this blog. Without proper grammar, this blog would look very unprofessional—meaning that, whatever is in here, will be discredited. But the subject of English Grammar and Composition Development is not enough to make me say that the subject is the best. What really makes this subject great is my professor . My professor in GRAMCOM is not a tough one, my professor is (like a) happy-go-lucky ...

The current logo of this blog. As most of you have probably seen, my profile picture on my social networking profiles (and other online profiles) has always been this logo with a letter "G" in it. That logo is actually my favorite logo, and it is the logo of my favorite album, Girls' Generation 's " Girls & Peace ." Despite its title, it had really great tracks which I have come to love over the years. Reflection and Not Alone are two of my favorite songs in the album. The album also gives me a sort of a "nostalgic feeling" because it was released in 2012. I listened to some of the tracks in the album for the first time in 2012 and it made me feel as if I was in Japan or something. It gave me a weird, but great, feeling while I was playing some of the songs whilst playing Wipeout Pulse (the game is not related to the Wipeout TV show ). In general, anything that reminds me of 2012 is a good thing. Anyway, as for the logo, my interest ...