Blast Off!!!!!!

After months and months of anticipation, the day finally came....March 30, the day that all my friends and I have been waiting for. I woke up at 4 in the morning because I had to be at the airport at 5. I didn't really have a hard time waking up since I was already excited to go on the trip. I quickly got ready and before I knew it, I was already in the airport. I said my goodbyes to my dad and brother before I walked through the airport doors.( I had already said goodbye to my mum and younger brother at home...) I met up with my friends and we checked our bags in for the flight to Manila.

Upon reaching Manila, we went to the Mabuhay Manor, the hotel in which we would be staying in before flying to Xiamen. I immediately texted my parents to tell them that I made it to Manila since I had never traveled alone before. I also texted a special friend that I left back home since I had only two more days before leaving her and going to Xiamen. It was very obvious that all of my friends loved the feeling of being "free" for the summer because they were already running wild in Manila.

The orientation that we had was boooooooring. We sat in a a hall for 3 hours listening to instructions that we couldn't even understand! The speaker was speaking in Chinese and in Filipino which still sounded like Chinese so I didn't really get any of it...haha! Anyway, I was glad that it finally ended and we could all go back to the hotel.

The next day, we went on a tour in MOA( Mall of Asia). We had so much fun going around the huge mall. Although it wasn't my first time there, my friends made it fun to walk around especially since we got lost a number of times. We even bumped into a friend that we had in school before he moved to Manila. I enjoyed talking with him especially since he was already very Tagalog speaking and he seemed to have forgotten that he was Bisdak! (Visayan)

Finally, April 2 came and it was the day that we had all been waiting for...Time to leave the Philippines. yay! But despite my excitement, I could not help but think about leaving behind a lot of things and people that I love while I would be in Xiamen. A lot of thoughts came running into my head. I kept on thinking that I was going to be staying in a country that I barely knew and I would be seeing people whom I had never seen in my life. I began to feel uneasy about this whole trip but I just did not tell my friends about it since I knew that what they wouldn't really care. All that they were after was the "freedom" that they thought they would have in Xiamen and anything that wasn't related to that was not relevant. I had different things on my mind. And I could not stop thinking about these while waiting for our flight in the airport. Then, our teacher told us to get ready because we were already boarding. So, I quickly texted my parents and my special friend goodbye.

Just as we left Naia 2, I took one last look at the Philippines. And as it slowly disappeared beneath the clouds, I knew that I had already begun a whole new adventure. I let go of all my thoughts and I was ready to have the greatest summer of my life!!