Miguel Ángel Ballesteros Martínez

My school life
“Put love into things and they will have sense, take it, and they will be meaningless”
_ St.Augustine
13 years has passed, it is quite amazing, isn’t it? 13 years since I first walked in through the yellow
doors of kindergarten, I remember walking through the hall, it was darker then, the lights were only
installed recently, before, it was matter of luck to walk those halls without falling or tripping with
something. Anyway, I remember as well holding my mother’s hand, I didn’t see any child crying, or
not as many as I expected, as the classic scene of the first day of school, the one you see on TV or in
movies, with all the children crying and screaming, being pulled by their mothers into the classroom,
which by the way, in my case at least, was quite fine, with the garden outside, and the colorful chairs
and tables, my teacher, Janeth, gave as soda and cookies, and that mostly the only thing I did that
day, and also the days after that one, we did not do that much those first weeks.
Not all days were so quiet during my life on school; there were some experiences that I consider just
unforgettable. For example, there is the trip to Villa de Leyva we had on 5 th grade, the excursion itself
wasn’t so memorable; the reason, on the other hand, of why the trip wasn’t so great is what I clearly
remember. I will never forget the fact that I got sick exactly the day before we travelled, and although
I managed to go, I had to stay in the room most of the time, I could barely go to a couple of places
and I couldn’t even enjoy the food, as I could not taste it, so it is obvious why the trip wasn’t so
exciting for me.
There is plenty of experiences like this one, but there is one I cannot get of my mind right now, the
trip to Neusa, the very definition of disaster, may I add, we had in 6 th grade. It all started so normal,
they just told as we were going there, and that it could rain so we should take a raincoat with us, we
thought it was quite normal so we did it, and on the day of the trip, we just innocently took the school
bus, thinking it was going to be a normal trip. It was fine until we got there, as we were got closer and
closer to the place , the temperature started to decrease, first only a little, then the windows started to
cover with mist, and finally we could even see our breath, only the, the guide dares to tell us that the
temperature could drop to minus two degrees, but well, we were supposed to get to a fish farm on the
other side of the Neusa lake, so we would just have to resist there in the bus. Then, the bus got
stuck, and they made us get out and start walking, they had not planned anything for this situation, so
we had to go through electrical fences and spiky wild bushes which completely tore apart our
raincoats, plus we had to cross a river, it wasn’t so wide, but because of the rain, god, it rained so
hard, I thought the sky was going to fall over our heads, anyway, we had to throw our backpacks and
then jumped, almost half of them fell into the river, the other half´s backpack fell and got wet. Not me,
off course, I found a pipe that crossed the river, and I used it as a bridge. Then, as if it wasn’t enough,
the guides disappeared and we had to find our way by ourselves, finally, we managed to get to the
fish farms, which turned out to be really boring. There’s no need to say that with all that rain and
everything, we all got sick, and didn’t go to school the next week. As one can see, a lot of my
experiences have to see with sickness.
One can’t deny, nonetheless, that, whether we want it or not, or even without knowing, there is
always something we take from school. For instance, I know I will get some of those Augustinian
values the school so hard tries to teach us, things like honesty, responsibility, generosity, between
 Miguel Ángel Ballesteros Martínez

other things. Off course there is as well the academic knowledge, but a lot of this things we will forget
in a couple of years, and only a few of them will we use or need ever again.
Anyway, when I look back, I find myself being quite thankful for having the opportunity to study in the
‘Liceo de Cervantes’ school, and not in some other school. Because, yes there are other school
which are private, have recognized teachers, a big infrastructure, usually have good results in the
ICFES exam , but few of them have all of these things together, all in one, like the ‘Liceo de
Cervantes’. There are, as well, things that no other school has, like our pre-ICFES, considered one of
the best of the country, allowing us, the students to have always good results in this exam. Also, the
English, Chemistry and Physics taught in this school are quite advanced compared to other schools,
we study things in 10th grade, most schools don’t see until the end of 11th, if they study it at all.
That is why we usually stand out in any career we choose. I, for instance, am going to study chemical
engineer, I don’t know if at the National University or the Andes University, and I want to study it
because that is what I see myself doing in the future, in investigation and research, for new materials
and technologies. The National University is less expensive, but at the Andes University I can study
two careers at the same times, and both universities very good, so, I don’t know which one to
choose.
To conclude, I consider important to acknowledge those people who have helped me during this life
in school, like my parents, who have been always there for me, and my friends, my teachers, but
above all, I want to thank me, for all my effort and sacrifice during these years, I just don’t know what
would I do without me. This is a chapter of my life that is finally coming to an end, and to all of you
who are in the same situation, all I have to say is:” Congratulation promotion of the 2011, we did it!”.