UPCAT memories

my family accompanied my brother when he took his UPCAT last sunday. we were already up around 5am. we stopped by jollibee to get some "take-out" breakfast. i waited in the van while my family ordered breakfast. while in the van, i noticed the busy scene in front me. it was 5am or a little past 5am but the UP-philcoa jeepneys were easily filled (it looked like the UP-Philcoa jeeps were having a field day...or morning since the moment it strikes 630am, there wont be much people going to UP. they would have to wait until its time for the afternoon exam takers to arrive) and jollibee philcoa had vehicles with their hazard lights flashing (like mine, meaning they were also ordering breakfast and would eat it at the test site).

usually, the students that would take the exam were accompanied by their parents or by their families, like my brother. it seemed to me its some sort of family affair. it does look like that having someone take the UPCAT is a very big thing. i never saw it that way. when i took the UPCAT, it was just an entrance exam. it never dawned on me that my future was at stake or something like that. i wanted to pass the UPCAT because it was the university i liked most among the four (UP, Ateneo, La Salle and UST). if im going to go to college, i would have wanted to go to UP. when i saw the busy scene at Philcoa, the fuss people were making out of it and the look of concern not only on the exam takers but also on the parents, i never thought of it to be that significant. it seemed to me that the UPCAT mattered more than i thought it was eight years ago. if i have been more concerned and realized its importance, would it have made a difference? well, i still might not pass but it would have depressed me. so, i guess i was better off not knowing the gravity of the UPCAT back then. i mean, when i learned that i didnt pass the UPCAT, i easily shrugged it off. it wasnt the first time i failed. i didnt pass the entrance exam for UPIS and i wasnt picked to take the exam for UP elementary (not sure if its called UP elementary). and i thought, i could go to UST instead. well, i failed UST too. so i ended up in Ateneo, which wasnt really bad. its a good university but im still very hesitant to call myself an atenean. not that its something to be ashamed of, on the contrary, its something to be proud of but it just so happens that i feel its doesnt fit me. its like some shirt youre not comfortable wearing.

going back to the UPCAT. well, my brother took the exam at NIGS. i took it at the Math building. how nice, my favorite subject (insert sarsastic tone here). i remember listening to Sixpence None the Richer the night before the exam. so whenever i remember the time i took the UPCAT, i also remember Sixpence None the Richer. if i remember correctly, i took the UPCAT on August 07, 1999. if i remember correctly, we rode a taxi driven by a former driver of my uncle. what a coincidence (not sarcastic tone here, it really was a coincidence).