Hello lovely people! First of all, happy 2015! How are you guys doing after the Christmas/holiday break? I do hope that you guys had a wonderful time with your family and loved ones and I hope you guys had loads of fun during the quick break! Second, sorry if I have not updated you guys for days now I had a tight schedule a few weeks ago and I'm currently recuperating from my surgery two weeks ago and just yesterday, I had my suture re-done because of a suture absorption problem. No worries because I'm doing perfectly fine right now, and thank God for a week of break (again).

2015 started out great for me - just last week our block had our first and last retreat at Caleruega, Batangas and the experience was amazing! We were actually welcomed with quite a great and peaceful view of the retreat house and some forests, mountains anf fields around Batangas. The photos I took were all from Day 2 since we had most of our free time in the afternoon and a few sessions were held that day. 

I had to take a photo of this gorgeous staircase at the retreat house's lobby! It's disturbing that the guide calls it as "Fallopian Tubes" to indicate life. Whatever, it's still beautiful most especially with the Christmas ornaments!

3 days were spent reflecting and pondering on our life's journey and it's transition to meeting the "real world", I honestly heard amazing and inspiring stories from my blockmates and bestfriends and this really taught me that "What we see on the outside is not always the same in the inside." and I feel bad for misjudging some people. I really enjoyed the part where in we had to say words of kindness to people and it felt very liberating to say kind words to people who are not even close to you, at the same time it felt so good to hear how people appreciate the little things you do to them everyday with just a simple smile or "hi/hello". Also, I took the opportunity to apologize to some people I've offended and bossed around for a couple of years now.

In the afternoon my bestfriends and I took a walk around the place to find the hanging bridge on the way to the Church Tent on top of the hill. However, we ddin't make it on top because of my condition and we were too tired to trek further. But we enjoyed the view, the lovely flowers and each other's company/ We had a mini shoot but I'll just leave the details and photos to ourselves! 

After Dinner, we had a bonfire "celebration" (whatever you call it) and each section did spontaneous 10-minute presentations. Everyone were all smiles and were enjoying each other's gimmick, too bad our block did not finish the presentation because it was time for lights out and closing. 

Three days went well for us. The last day, we had an activity where in we have to make a "5 things in 5 years" list about what we've learned all throughout out college life, during the retreat, we want to achieve in the future and a letter to God and to our future self. Such big things to fill in just an hour, but I realized that 2 pieces of paper is not enough to  list down all the things that I've learned and I want to accomplish in life. 

I'm definitely going back to Caleruega - I'm actually asking my parents to have our annual pilgrimage there and I'm planning to add Batangas to my travel bucketlist before leaving the country in a year or two!