Unforgettable Memories

                Life in Manado International School is a life worth having. With the hospitable community and friendly society in and around this school with MIS’ internationally known prestige, it would be better off calling it home and not just an international school. A life in Manado International School is a life that will lead you to your dreams and beyond.

                Manado International School, the school where anyone belongs, is a great institution. MIS is most probably one of the most known schools in its entire region. Its vast array of facilities and growing numbers in both student population and staff population make it a school worth knowing. Manado International School is a landmark like none other. It soars up in the sky and covers an area that takes up most of the landscape around it. There are 2 main buildings and MIS is creating a new building as we speak.

                My life in Manado International School started in 2008. I enrolled in MIS when i was just in grade 4. I was just a little boy when i first layed my eyes on this school.  It was like a school I’ve never seen before but of course just like every other exchange student that comes to a new school, i had no idea what this school had in store for me. I got on the bus with my brother, not knowing anyone but my brother, and then 2 interesting kids about my age sat right in front of me. They looked fun but I was too shy to talk with them. I was really curious with these 2 boys because they were laughing the whole time. When the time for leaving the bus came, I, as the new student didn’t know where my class was. So I told my self to just follow the 2 boys that I were on the same bus with me. They looked at me liked they knew I didn’t know where to go, and I looked at them like I was telling them that I wanted to follow them. So from a moderate distance I slowly followed them not knowing where I was going. Every few times when we were walking that long walk down the hallways and through the teams of people, they continually checked on me just to make sure that I was following them. Into my dismay, these 2 boys would be guys that would be one of the closest people to me in the future.  These 2 boys are none other than Brian Polii who is now in grade eight, a year younger then me,  and Jordy Sitorus, one of my most best friends that I would ever have in Manado International School. Going back to my life when I first got to MIS, I was following the 2 devious boys that I would know quite well in the future. When the long journey for me was over, we arrived at what I thought would be my class. I was joyfully introduced to my new class by a girl that I would later know as Andrey Caridad. She welcomed me as if we were friends from when we were little  children. She was a really bright kind-hearted type of girl who didn’t really care about what was happening around her. When I walked in the class, people who looked the same age and were about the same height with me stared at me with the most intimidating eyes. This class would be infamously known as “Grade 4”. After making all my introductions and comfortabely knowing everybody, I got to know the teachers. Like in every other country in the world, its the first impression that counts. I outgrew my shy state and let myself go because of my new so called friends. I gained the affection of many teachers unwillingly but soon I would find that this would be a great advantage in learning in an institution like this. Soon this school would come to my liking.

                As my time in this school, Manado International School continued, I became more and more confident in myself and my ways. Manado International School became more than a home to me. I could say that it was my life. I spent most of my day in this school, learning, playing, laughing, crying, cherishing, wanting, loving, and remembering times that I would cherish forever. The moments we had together as a class with the rest of my classmates led to me not wanting to leave MIS. “The Grade 6 Batch” or what the teachers called our group was name none of us would forget. It was quite the entertaining show all of us had. The ride we rid together, the laughs we shared, and the hard times we faced, pulled us more and more together. We were almost like a beloved family in a happy TV Show. Sadly, the time for graduation came. With our names being called out, one by one, we stood up walking to the fate we had set for ourselves. The last and final performance of the ceremony, a song from the graduating class together. The voices of our class soared through the room, touching the hearts of our parents. Telling them that we loved this school and were eternally greatful to the staff and teachers who nurtured us and treated us as their own sons and daughters. We took a class picture with the principle, our class advisor who cared for us and the director of the school. It was an event that would remind us of the days we had together when we all became adults and lived our own lives. Graduation, the day that would change our lives forever.

                Now in the midst of ourselves was the daunting task of something we were waiting for a long time. The long awaited arrival of middle school, or junior high should I say. Even though quite a few of us have left, no one has ever left “The Grade 6 Batch”. Now we are in middle school with a whole new mammoth of challenges in front of us. What will we do? What we always do, stick together, have fun, learn little, laugh lots, live life! What was our story in Junior High? Thats a story that is to be told next time!