Ever wished to get a second chance?

Well, I got mine, and my entries are going to be discussing about it, so I hope you guys enjoy some serious stuff coming from a channel where that doesn't happen very often!

About 11 years ago, slightly before Arch was born, I was in my HS senior year, and here in Brazil, that's when you can takes exams in order to be admitted into the university. At that time, there was no unified exam for all unis, each one had its own tests, and you had to compete with every other senior student for a set amount of spots. In the college I applied for, they had around 67 students for each spot, and a total of 20 spots, so while that wasn't as high as the medical school ratios (it had 110 per), architecture was actually the second highest across all the courses (still is actually). We had 2 options: to take the exam in the middle of our senior year, and/or after graduation. You don't have to pass during your senior year, but you won't be admitted if you don't after you graduate. There was no credit system, and your HS grades didn't matter at all at the time - they do now to some extent. So I took the exam, not expecting to pass or anything, mainly because I didn't have to, and because the university is in my town, so there was nothing lost for not taking it, and I passed placed in 7th. It was a quite a shock.

I thought my life was set by then; I was even dismissed 2 months earlier in HS, since all my grades were above 90%, and I never skipped any classes that year. I was certain that my admiration for buildings, technology and interior design was all I needed to get through the college years; I really had no fears, only the excitement to see my life moving on normally. There was a problem I didn't realise though: I was 15 years old.

You are not mature at that age.

You are certainly not prepared to choose what to do for the rest of your life either.

I was so happy about not having to worry with the exam anymore, and that my vacations were going to be very long that I didn't really start to wonder if I had done the right choice. I knew I wanted to study away from my town, like many people do here, and over there as well, but parents did not approve that, and I didn't want to argue with them. I've always been that "perfect child" after all, it wouldn't be right to force my parents to do things the way I wanted, they are the authority, and even if I disagree with them, I must still show respect. I accepted that things were happening the way they were supposed to, and waited until classes started. The wait was a little longer because all universities went on strike for 6 months that year, but in July 2001 I set foot at the campus.

We are still 6 (or 7?) years behind the first time I saw that Miseri person standing by the Banker Guy's fence in Lunia. Yeah, that's right, mis was the first person I saw in lunia, but I never spoke to him until later. Not sure why, I think I just hated mis before I got to know him better. Sorry mis.

Gonna stop here for now. Next up, first years in college, and when everything fell apart!