Just in time

The last year in college is expected to be difficult. However, even though I was expecting it, I was unprepared by how difficult it truly is. I can admit that I am still adjusting with how loaded our subjects are right now.

I still feel a bit frustrated that they made changes with the curriculum. It used to be that our OJT is to be taken during the summer class before 4th year so that we can focus on our thesis when the full academic year started. But instead of stayin true to that, they moved the COE subject in the same semester as our Project Study.

I am not complaining, I am just feeling tired with the short sleep that I have been managing to get these days. It has really affected my mood stability for the worse.

The good news

Despite it all, some good thing still happened this academic year which is the start of limited face to face class for our course. Finally, after 2 years, we are able to see our classmates again. I am really surprised at how tall my classmates are. I forgot that I am one of the shorter ones in class.

We only have 1 face to face class. It is scheduled every Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. The class is for our thesis. We were extremely lucky since it is difficult to communicate with one another virtually. So being able to meet each other face to face for the project study made us more productive.

1st day in class

I woke up at 7:00am to prepare for our class. I needed to be there by 8:00am since the leaders and assistant leaders have to help in organizing the rooms (adjusting the tables, laying out the chairs, and cleaning the rooms). I left home at around 8:15am since I did not want to be too early.

I got there by 8:30am and I was really hesitant at first since I was unsure where the entrance would be. I was only a freshman when the pandemic happened so I did not get a lot of chance to explore the campus.

It basically felt like I was a freshman all over again.

Embarrassing moment

When I got to the right entrance, the guard asked me where I will be going. I said I am part of this college and all. I forgot what the building where our room was so I was beyond embarrassed. Good thing that the guards understood and I was able to enter the university with no problem.

The day went on

Of course, I did not forget to take a quick selfie to celebrate the first day of our limited face to face classes.

I decided to wear a yellow long-sleeves dress with a floral pattern for the first day since I could not find my shirts that morning.

We were not supposed to eat at our rooms but the thesis advisor allowed us to eat there as long as we clean up after ourselves.

This is what I ate for lunch. I did not spend a single peso for this meal since a classmate offered to treat me. I have my own money but why would I say no to a treat?

I was very full after eating the meal and I had a lot of energy to continue working on our thesis.

What we did in the first day

The first thing we did is greet each other since it has been a long time since we saw each other.

Then when 10am comes, we started to go to our respective groups to discuss our thesis.

We also decided to searate our groups where the majority of the members will focus on the paper while the remainin 3 members will focus on studying how to do 3D animation for the prototype that we want to create.

The main agenda for that day was to come up with a thesis title.

Our group already had an approved topic and we just needed to edit the title a bit for aporoval. We got an approved title after lunch and the professor advised us to present a draft for the introduction for 30 minutes.

This is where it gets interesting.

I know my group mates. I know that they do not work fast. This is not an insult but this is my observation. They always need a few hours given to them to complete a single task.

So I presented to be the one who will do the introduction part. It was a bit difficult since I did not have my laptop with me and I was unused to the small laptop that I am using but I still managed to make a draft for the introduction.

As this was happening, our leader started to assign tasks for the remaining parts for the Chapter 1 which will be passed on the 24th of September (next Saturday).

I managed to finish the draft and the leader accompanied me to have it checked by our adviser. He helped me figure out what is missing from my draft and I made sure to take a note of it.

After-class hangout

Me and my bestfriend decided to visit the nearby mall after class since it has been a while since we have done that.

We spent time walking around the mall and entering the stores that interested us. We went home at around 6:30PM since we wanted to rest after such a long week.

Did you know that we only have Sunday as our 'rest day'?

I barely have any sleep since the class started so I make sure to catch up on my sleep during Sunday.

Closing words

The first day of class proved that our group could be productive. We actually joked that we seem to be the only group who is laughin because the other groups are all so serious with their works. I hoe that we can keep up the good spirits until the end of our thesis.

The other groups were not so lucky. I think there were 2 groups who still did not have titles at the end of the class which will prove to be difficult for them since we need to pass the Chapter 1 for the next class. I just hope that they will be able to catch up.

Other groups were also unable to have their introduction drafts checked so they will not be able to revise the draft they made based on the advice of the professor.

Overall, our group got lucky that day. I was very happy with how my groupmates supported me by searching for the data that I need for the introduction.

I find that I am actually looking forward to the next face to face class even though I hate waking up that early.