Winners Winners Winners!!!

Sunday, November 16, 2008 dfg 1 Comments

I graduated from the University of the Philippines Manila. During that four years of college, I only used 1 bag – my green backpack which accompanied me through thick and thin. It was given to me by mom as a birthday gift during my last year in high school. Knowing that I will soon be entering the university, my mom made sure I will be having a sturdy bag to carry all my stuff (which turned out to be just a notebook and my kikay kit since I seldom buy textbooks for myself back in college). At first I was turned off with the backpack given to me – imagine, its green! I would have preferred pink! But as time went by, my green backpack proved to be very useful. For one, I was not able to have it washed all those for years and it still looked the same green backpack I received during my birthday!
I was able to easily fit in my new university with my green backpack. After all, I am at the University of the Philippines where everyone uses no other bag but a backpack. Plus, the green color matched the University’s official colors!
My green backpack was my constant companion all those four years. I hiked with it, went to rallies with it and survived pickpocket fiascos with it. Yeah, my bag was slashed two times – both times while I was inside the jeepney. The zipper was opened twice at Quiapo and taft Avenue. But I’m happy to say that my bag and I survived in one piece!
My bag witnessed my transition from the high school girl to the grown up I have become. And my bag transitioned too! It started clean before I entered UP. After four years, my bag is already unrecognizable with all those button pins attached to it – from the pins used by political groups in campus, pictures of Che Guevarra and Mao Zedong to the more conservative logos of my organization. My green backpack became a testimony of the political ideology I was supporting during my college years.
But wait, did I mention that my green backpack also shared my crying moments? We did! I was in Baguio when a guy whom I dated for sometime told me that he liked another guy. So there I was, under the Oblation at UP Baguio, with my green backpack. But since I was too embarrassed to let others know I was crying, I cried my heart out while covering my face with my backpack. I sobbed all afternoon but thank God, my back pack is absorbent, it absorbed all the tears!
After graduation, I let by bag retire. If I had a choice, I would have used it in law school. But nah – its time to get a new one. It has been years since I parted with my green backpack. But it shall remain a proof that yes, I survived my four years of college -- tattered, but in one piece.

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