The Boarder

The Boarder


Independent. The right word we can associate for our fellow, “boarders” . How does it feel? Being alone, away from your parents and siblings? Usually, a typical adolescent would wake up in the morning, eat the breakfast his/her mother/nanny have prepared, take a bath, and then off to school. Everything is being provided to us. We don't have to worry with our allowances, 'cause surely, if we're out of penny, we could just simply ask for another to our parents. And most of all, we get to have our OWN PRIVACY with which “the boarders” couldn't have.

I was only 16 then, when I decided to study here in Davao. I really want to have independence at that time. And so, when I finally moved out from our house, all I know at that time was that I am so excited to be alone, to start on my own, and to start college far from home. But, what I didn't expect is that, being independent entails A LOT OF RESPONSIBILITY.

My mom came with me when I transferred here in Davao just to help me out fix my stuffs so that afterwards, she could immediately go home. And when my mom finally said she has to go, tears started to flow on my chicks. I was such a cry baby. But call me a cry baby, I really didn't expect that things like these really do happen. It's as if I don't want my mom to go yet. Then, that's the time I told myself “I can't do this, I can't stand to be alone”. If only I could just cling on to my mom's leg like a panda, or beg her not to go first, and stay with me just for a couple of days, I would really do that! But my mom told me, this is what I asked for, and now, they're giving me the right to become independent.

My first semester here was tough! Tougher than I thought. Almost every night I would cry myself to sleep.

“Nostalgia” This is the common enemy of “the boarders”. Once it started to crawl on your veins, expect the unexpected, just like in my case. When I feel like I'm in a state of nostalgia, no one can really stop me to pack my things and go straight home.

I don't mind traveling all the way from Davao to Cotabato, be it in the morning, noon time, or even at night. Almost every week, I go back to my hometown. Only then did I realize, that even though how many remarks others would put into my hometown “Cotabato”, for me there are still many great things it has to offer. Becoming a boarder, opened my eyes to everything. But being a boarder also, made me do stuffs I don't, I can't, and must not do. Usually when I was still in our hometown, my curfew time is 6p.m., for safety purposes. But when I moved here, the earliest time I could possibly go straight home is 8 in the evening. And I think only “the boarders” get to have a night life! I for one. Going home 1 in the morning is pretty much earlier when you are out for a gimmick.

But also, being a boarder, you don't have privacy at all. It's not that I'm in conflict with my co-boarders, it just that sometimes, we are not meeting half way through. Others may like this and you don't, others tend to be a slow foot and you're not, and others may be so time-consuming when using the bathroom, and you're not. Becoming a boarder, you really do have to increase your patience, just like what they say “Patience is a Virtue”.

But I never regretted being away from home, because being far away from home and becoming a “boarder” taught me so many lessons in life that a four-walled classroom cannot offer. It made me know myself more. And most of all, it made me independent, the thing I was asking for my whole life. But don't get me wrong, I do still miss my folks way back home, and I'm glad that finally this semester is about to end, meaning, I COULD FINALLY GO HOME!!!!