I have exactly one month left here in the Philippines and as much as I’ve loved my experience here and I’ve grown so much overall, I’m feeling really eager and ready to go home.
Since school ends this May, all of my classes are doing last minute tests and projects before finals so I haven’t had much of a break from it and it’s been pretty overwhelming.
The weather has gotten hotter since it’s now Summer time. And the fact that there’s no air conditioning in most of the school buildings, my classes, and my dorm room has made it quite hard for me to want to go out. Not only is the sun directly on you, but the humidity also makes it hard to breath and makes it feel hotter than it actually is. Since this is the first time Ateneo has changed the school calendar to have school during this time, no one including the teachers is used to having to be in school during such hot weather. The drastic weather change has also caused a lot of my classmates to get sick. As a result, I got sick from them and I’m still recovering from it.
The average weather trend for the past month:
Other events:
4/8/16 ~ Reunion
Because of Facebook, I got to be rein-touch with one of my old classmates from when I studied in the Philippines in 5th grade. We met up at the mall and it was crazy how it felt like no time had passed. It was nice to reminisce and catch up. I also got to know how my other friends from my old school were doing.
4/9/16 ~ Little Italy
Kim and I decided to check out the newest project happening in the Philippines – Little Italy. Apparently it was were the best restaurants were. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of our meal, which was a large oven-baked pizza and croquettes with Italian sodas and it was one of the best meals we had in a while. The buildings are still being renovated but within the end of this year, everything will be shops and restaurants. They also gave gondola rides but we didn’t have enough time to wait in the line.
4/16/16~ Shindig
Last last weekend, however, I did manage to go out to the last school party hosted by Ateneo called Shindig. My friend and I booked a hotel for the party which was nice because we got to have air conditioning for a weekend which was nice and relaxing. We also got to see a lot of our friends that we hadn’t gotten a chance to see in a while and it was a nice break from the overwhelming stress of school. It was pretty funny that the event only played oldies music and the DJ’s especially loved to play disco music. Everyone wanted to make the last school party last so everyone stayed out until around 3am. I didn’t get to take any pictures but there were photographers at the event.
Pictures taken by Shindig Photographers:
4/22-24/16
World Trade Center Exhibit
My relatives were part of the Exhibitor event at the World Trade Center in Pasay. It was nicely air-conditioned and they were a lot of foreigners scouting the new Philippine products. There were a lot of amazing artworks and crafts but I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of most of it unfortunately.
Relatives’ Booth of their handcrafts:
Most popularly sold were handbags:
The venue: 
Above: Kim, Me, and my buddy failing out mission. 🙂
Manda in Manila 