Surviving the Chaos: My Rollercoaster First Week of 2025 Classes!

The first week of class in 2025 was really something!

I think I was so used to the break after Christmas that Monday felt like Friday for me. The first day was already so tiring. In the morning, we had an exam in our Foreign Language 1 (Korean) class. Luckily, the exam was easy, and I’m sure I did well. After lunch, I had to give a massage to one of the faculty members. Doing the massage was exhausting; it felt like I used up all my energy. My wrist started aching badly afterward, almost like it was dislocated.

When I got home, I couldn’t even rest because I had so much work to do and preparations for an event on Friday. I think I ended up sleeping around 1 AM.

Tuesday came, and we presented and defended our Project Plan. It was about getting students, barangay officials, and the community to work together on local environmental issues. Everything went well, but we did have to change the budget a little. After lunch, we had our Research reviewed by our advisor. It was tough because we were struggling with it. In the end, our advisor suggested we change our Research topic, so we had to start all over again. I think it was for the best, though, because I wasn’t confident in our original research, and I’m not sure it would have been successful.

Wednesday was a little better, but still stressful with the event coming on Friday. We were all feeling the pressure because the workshop event wasn't going well yet. We still had a lot of things to do, like finding speakers and handling the budget. But we managed to relax a bit by eating at McDonald's to celebrate my close friend's birthday.

Thursday was even harder. Since the event was the next day, I went to school in the afternoon because I wasn’t feeling well. I only slept about 2 hours because of bad cramps, and it was the worst pain I’ve had. I had to take painkillers just to ease the pain. In the afternoon, we had our meeting for the event preparation, and we talked about the committees for the event.

Friday came, and I was in the Guest Registration committee, so I had to arrive early to manage the attendance and registration sheets.

My job wasn’t too stressful, but watching the event start was nerve-wracking. There were so many mistakes, and the event was delayed because some participants were late.

We were all so hungry during the event since some committees hadn’t had breakfast because they were preparing. Thankfully, around lunch, we got fast food and took a short break before attending a seminar on paid internships abroad. Since I’m a third-year student, I need to plan for my internship. It’s expensive to do an internship abroad, but I really hope to get the chance to experience working in the hospitality industry internationally.

After the seminar, I didn’t realize there was another event in the next room. There were Koreans showcasing their talents. They even gave us a free photo session, and we could wear their traditional clothes. The Koreans were so friendly and kind. I really enjoyed talking to them, especially the girl who helped me put on the Hanbok for the photo. It was my first time wearing Hanbok, and I think I don't look so bad in it.

I had so much fun at their event that I completely forgot our event wasn’t finished yet, and I didn’t even want to leave. They also gave us free snacks, which was really cute. When their event ended, we took a lot of photos together.

Reflecting on this week, it has been so overwhelming yet so rewarding. There were so many challenges, from exams and research problems to event preparations and physical exhaustion. But in the end, I managed to get through it all. I realized that even though it was tough, these kinds of experiences shape us. I learned a lot, not just academically, but also about managing stress and balancing responsibilities. I’m starting to realize that college is going to be full of these ups and downs, but the important thing is to keep going and find moments to enjoy, even if they come unexpectedly, like the Korean event.