my new Lakbayan grade!

YESSS!! My new grade increased a notch! =) So what's Lakbayan? Click HERE. And before we go to my new Lakbayan grade, here's a rather longish backround --

July 2007 is what I consider my freedom month -- finally my formal education was over AND I WAS FREE!!! =) Six years of primary education, four years of science high school, four years of college in UP, four years of medical school and one year of post-graduate medical internship has taken a toll on my creative self. Mind you, 19 years of straight schooling (breaks during summer and Christmas vacations only) with good grades to boot is quite a creativity killer. I felt like an artist imprisoned and struggling to get out of the system and unleash my art on the world! Errmm, I'm not really an artist in the real sense okay?? Hehe!

Anyhoo, I realized in July 2007 that I just wanna loaf around for some time and not worry about what my parents will think about my life. You know how parents are, always worrying about their kids -- multiply that to infinity and you get my parents' worrying level ;-) I was set to take the August 2007 Medical Board Exam but my inner self kept on telling me to rest and nourish my soul. My inner self knew that once I'm a licensed doctor, my parents will not let up and will just pressure me to go into Residency (and then go into practice as a Specialist and so on) immediately. There would be no respite for me then =(

And so I put my foot down and "promised" that I will take the Medical Board Exam on February 2008. Of course, we all know that didn't happen coz Labsie and I announced our engagement that month and my parents were caught up in the excitement that their only daughter is getting married to think about my Boards. Hehe! ;-) Anyhoo, since I was off the hook and free to do what I want, I went traveling (with my family, of course). From October-November 2007, I was all over Luzon (Makati, Manila, Subic) and Boracay. I also spent time in the pretty Samal Island beaches with Labsie =) Then on December 2007, my family went to General Santos City (Gensan) and Lake Sebu. 

My Lakbayan grade is B!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan! Created by Eugene Villar.

Yup, that's my new Lakbayan grade above =) I was B- in mid-2007 and now I'm a B! Whee! All the traveling I did for about 6 months really made a difference. YEAH!! Aside from my late 2007 trips, I traveled anew early 2008. The plan was to have a road/sea trip from Visayas to Mindanao. Awesome huh?? My grandmas were very thrilled about it =) So on March 2008, we flew to Iloilo City (from Davao) then rode a barge to Bacolod City which belongs to the province of Negros Occidental that we explored. From there we drove whole day to Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental. The next day we rode a barge to Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte where we visited Jose Rizal's home and the awesome Dakak Park and Beach Resort.

Then we criss-crossed Mindanao to reach Kidapawan City, my grandmas' hometown. We passed by several cities like Dipolog, Ozamis, Iligan, Cagayan de Oro, and other places I'm not familiar with. Hehe! In April 2008 I went back to Makati/Manila to scour for cheap wedding supplies in Divisoria. Our family also went to cool Tagaytay and visited Manila Ocean Park + Malabon Zoo =) After that I was busy reviewing for my Boards and planning our wedding. My last trip for 2008 was our honeymoon to Makati, Manila, Laguna and Coron in Northern Palawan which was more than awesome!! I still have to blog about Coron so stay tuned for that! ^_^ How about you? What's your Lakbayan grade? How much of our beloved Philippines have you seen?