Snippets from a Survivor

I was asked to do a short write-up/essay for the Management Economics (MEco) student primer describing my experience as a 3rd year MEco student and basically giving a message aka warning note to the incoming students. I must say, being asked to do this was really flattering since i never imagined my writing prowess is worthy of such.

But in the middle of writing my short essay i found myself staring at an empty MS word page, lost for words. As it turns out i've spent half an hour writing and deleting lines over and over again. at this point, my ego deflated and the "writing prowess" self-destructed. I decided to go on Tumblr and turn on my iTunes just to get some inspiration. Seriously at that very moment, i would kill for a glimpse of creative juice. Then it donned on me, how on earth can I possibly be inspired to write about the practically most horrific experience of my student life?! HOW?? and WHY SHOULD I EVEN DARE?! those were the words screaming from my mind. But minutes later, I have decided to repress the drama queen in me, and come to terms with the reality that junior life wasn't as bad as it seems.

Here's my output and I can share a thing or two about student life. 

Snippets from a Survivor

Julienne Elyss D. Manalang

You know the feeling you get when you were a kid and everything around you felt so big? That’s exactly how I felt staring at my AISIS curriculum page for third year. Five units of OPMAN coupled with Marketing was a knockout combo and to add insult to injury I ended up with Fr. Dacanay for Theology.

Second semester proved to be nothing easy as Finance brought back the nightmares I had from Accounting wherein I get “paralyzed” the week before, studying for the three-hour exam. No Facebook, no Gossip Girl, nothing at all, just my Mozart background music, my calculator, and I sharing each other’s company in misery.  

Indeed, junior year was no walk in the park, there were days where you literally had to run with 15 minutes of sleep after working on your research papers and drown yourself with caffeine just to stay up for your next class. This is where I learned you didn't have to be in a horror movie to look like a zombie but luckily you have your groupmates to keep you in good company.

However looking back, I certainly wouldn’t ask my junior year to be less than what it was. Why? Because it gave me the best feeling in the world: I SURVIVED.  

To the incoming juniors, I’m sure you can pass through the obstacles. You’re an Atenean after all, you are trained for nothing less than the extraordinary and you have the heart of a Blue Eagle so prepare yourself to soar. In the end, you’d realize that your only huge problem in college is how to get tickets to an Ateneo-LaSalle UAAP basketball game.

I had doubts with my course, I felt like MEco wasn’t the right choice, but realizing that I fought through accounting, finance, and economics, made me affirm that where I am is where I want to be.  Dare to defy the odds, take risks and abandon your safe harbour because at the end of the day, the things outside your comfort zone are the ones you celebrate waking up for. 

Hope for the Best, Get Ready for the Worst.

You know what people usually say about expectations? KEEP THEM LOW, because it can be pretty tough dealing with disappointments. Some people get through it, some people don’t. So yeah, it’ll be smart to just play it safe.  But you see, I’m not the smartest in the bunch and as the story goes I have had my fair share of upsets. 

Most recent disappointment is my “616” random number for this coming semester’s enlistment, which is no surprise since I’ve always been in the latter part of the random number system and the best I’ve ever gotten was being in the second batch for the first sem of sophomore year.  So I’ve come to terms with the idea that, the thing the “random” number system and the drug testing in Ateneo share in common is that they’re both NOT RANDOM! However, this one really affects me because I need to get high grades before I graduate from college, and there’s not much time left to do that. It definitely is crunchtime, where you either do or die, and the last thing I need is being in the LAST batch and ending up with “leftover” classes and missing out on the legendary professors, the type that inspires you to stand on your desk and seize the day.

So yeah, I really am upset about this!

I’m not the girl who rants about break-ups, inadequate wardrobe, and delayed monthly periods. Rather, I rant about low grades, stupid referees, and random numbers!  

But at this point, all I should do is hope for the best.I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

The movie I've watched 36 times

Every time I tell people how much I adore the movie, "A Walk to Remember" i tell them I've seen it 36 times, i don't know where that figure came from but i guess it's my way of saying I've really watched it so many times over and whenever i do, i still get the same emotions from it, as if i'm seeing it for the first time.
I've seen it in French, with English subtitles since i only learned basic French
I've read the Nicholas Sparks novel for 4 times and
I've memorized the lines in the scene where Jamie admits to Landon she has leukemia.

I love this movie because it is a beautiful story of things that are important to me: love, faith, hope, sacrifice, and how sometimes you don't need forever to find things that last.

If you still haven't seen this film, well friend i'd hate to break it to you but you are missing half of your life. so take two hours of your time to watch this! trust me, it's definitely a walk to remember ;)

I made this collage of various scenes from the movie.

Sometimes i wonder maybe the reason i'm still single is because Jamie and Landon have set the standards of how I want a relationship to be.

Anyhow, this movie is really on the top of my list along with my other favorite romantic movies of all time

One day i'll have my own romantic movie! <3

Short Thin Strips Called Juliennefries

One of the stuff i fondly share with friends, especially to those i've recently met, is the "did you know my name is in the dictionary?" trivia! I've always been fascinated with the fact that, unlike most people, my name is in Webster's, however i am a bit disappointed knowing that it's not in the thesaurus, but come to think of it, i just realize now that it's a good thing because it only means that there's no synonyms for Julienne, it's unique and no other word would suffice. Also, my narcissistic disposition towards my name doesn't stop there, i smile and giggle whenever i'm in the restaurant and stumble upon my name in the menu, exhibit A: Julienne Salad! sounds really yummy right?

However, having such unique name can be pretty difficult whenever people have to get your name when ordering food or drinks, like in Starbucks, Taco Bell or Happy Lemon. I've gotten Julian, Juliet, Julie, Jillian, and JuliAnne. But i guess that's the price I have to pay for being unique.

The adventures of my name doesn't stop there, in school most of the people i meet, ask me whether i have a nickname because they find my name too long to pronounce, which still boggles me to this day because Julienne is just 2 syllables. Is an extra syllable too much to ask? I really don't get it.

So now that you know what Julienne means, you probably have an idea why my email address, blog, twitter account, tumblr, is JULIENNEFRIES. and no, it's not because i love french fries! and one thing i'd always remember about this is when my ITM professor read my info card, saw my email address, and laughed. I knew he got it, which happens once in a blue moon. He even commented at how witty it is. it was definitely a proud and fascinating moment for me. True Story.

You had me at Hello :)

I’ve always wanted to make my own blog, however what pulls me from doing so is the thinking that I don’t have a clear focus on what to write about. Unlike other bloggers who talk about their fields of expertise, I usually end up blabbing about random stuff.   

However, I’ve come to realize various things over the summer that motivated me to make a blog and those are as follows:

1.      Since it’s my last year in college, I’d like to document this chapter of my life and hopefully share the so far2.  best experiences of my life;

2.       Ateneo will be hosting UAAP season 74 and I’m looking forward to writing about this year’s Blue Eagles! So watch out for more courtside action and

3.       Lastly, this blog is one of my ways of living everyday like it is 2012.

I’d probably talk a lot about basketball, music, movies, TV series, fashion, make-up, inspirational stuff, and a lot of emotions.  Perhaps, anything and everything that celebrates life, my life!

I am juliennefries. I’m just an ordinary girl trying to find extraordinary things in this world.

And ever since I was little I’ve always wanted to be a superhero, but I’m still in the process of figuring out how to save a life, so for now I’m resorting to just giving advice to people and giving all the support and love I can give.

So to all those reading my blog, I am looking forward to learn and share things from trivial things to transcendental thoughts and everything in between.

Cheers!