The 20 Day Seclusion Phase

After 20 days, 6 awesome retreatmates, 3 pounds of weight gain, gazillion books and 2 days of make-or-break exam, i'm home and free. Well that is until the results come out after 2 months, then i'm shaking my poor knocked knees like crazy.

I have to say, the retreat house we stayed in wasn't that bad. Take my hints when I say:

-The room is adequate for 3 people, don't insist on 4, it just won't work. I'm referring to the private rooms.
-Cut your hair short in advance, the clogged hairball on that sink just isn't appealing when bathing. Especially bathing!
-Assign people to take out the trash. No really, unexpected visitors may come and stare at THAT corner. Ew.
-Prepare loads of sticky tape to put up those trusty easy to remember acronyms on that snazzy manila paper.
-Never hang your delicates by the window to dry. The boy's dorm is on the other side. So careful.
-Cover up the small window by your CR door at nite. Yes, pervs come out at dark.
-Eat the good food they serve. When I mention good, it's gooooood. 3 meals and 2 snacks. Who can complain.
-When you plan to grab some midnite snacks, share them. haha
-Look your best. Romance can grow any minute with a random guy from the boy's dorm. lol

So the Seclusion Phase is physically stagnant and mentally stimulating. Rushing to learn all those important bullets from all those reviewers is such a rush. And boring.. so if you have time. Go out and goof off (without disturbing the holiness of its estate).

Moments at the house:

-The uphill drive towards to the house was WOAH! but the house in its external view made me go WOW! Just the mere hustle and bustle to find our rooms, unpacking, fixing it up and then walking around kept me on the go. I was in a private room with cathy, rhegz and jacky. As for kathy and harrieth they were at the dorm. Jer was at the boy's dorm. And then our first dinner at the house was a hearty, scrumptuos balanced meal. More unpacking, laughters and then lights off.

-We decided to go off to the woods and explore. The exploration was heat induced but fun.

-So bored out of our wits, we caught a bear singing to a Britney Spear's song.

-Bisita Iglesia on 10 churches made me spiritually awake. 4 out of the 10 churches we went to had a wedding, we dazed on the I Do's a bit more and then left. haha That climb towards the chapel was breathtaking. Whew and we took some time to be with our daddy adviser. Isn't he just a father figure?

-Spring Cleaning on our room occurs once a week. So vacuum here and there. Especially the sink with the hairballs in sight. Ew.

-Thus when Sunday comes, food comes pouring in once again. And our food cabinet is filled up with all its gloriness. Familes can come over by this time and feed us and friends *wink* with favorites. And then goodbyes, next Sunday comes about.

-The most frightening thing happened while we were praying at the chapel. Rain, wind and lightning keeps shoving its powerful forces on us and the next thing I know, a friend of mine shrieked coz a burst of lightning hit the ground next to her seat. It was frightening and we still continued praying. The next day, the area we sat on was never the same again. We shifted to another set of seats. Haha

-Loads of eye candies at the house.

-The night before the exam, while we were praying inside our room, someone keeps knocking on our door and I assumed it was our chaperone and responded by saying "Sir, we're still praying". After the prayer and persistent knocking , I opened the door and found that the boys were caroling every door in the girl's area to wish us good luck and good night. Haha we were all caught by surprise.

-I miss my roommate's farting, butt slapping and chanting. Room 11 is most filled with our hair fall and smiles.

-There was a time when we attended the praise and worship. It was so tear-filled. And the songs they sing is heart wrenching. The Gospel songs we sang kinda unloaded some of the anxieties days before our exam. The preachers hit the matter of the heart so directly. We continued crying on our room right after.

-Oh and our previous record adviser called us all the way from New Zealand to wish us good luck. It was so sweet of her to do so. She spoke to each of us and sincerely sent us her best wishes. Awww.

-The day before the exam, we escaped from the house just so we could go out and have some fun. And to buy us some red delicates coz they say it's good luck when we wear them during the exam. At that day, I got to see my good friend Madz again. I miss her so much. What such luck to have come across her. I'm happy to hear that you're happy in your new choice of course.

-The day of the exam was palm-sweating. Woke up at 2AM so that by 4AM we will leave the house and go to our respective schools. I was doing my breathing and kept having flashbacks of my college days. All those moments, tests, schedules and hardwork have all come down to this day-- The day of reckoning. I was too jittery to even shade my answer. I conclude that the topics were relatively easy, basic and simple but the choices to the situation is darn confusing. I keep ending up passing last. Haha but I don't mind. After that day, I am leaving it all to the Lord.

-Immediately after the last day of exam, we all went back to the house to pack our bags and leave. Hustling an bustling across the hallways, pulling on our stroller bags, saying goodbyes and tight hugs made my eyes watery. I'll terribly miss the house.

The 20 Day Seclusion Phase was a good thing for me. I wouldn't have it any other way.