Expect the unexpected

A personal insight. "If you expect the unexpected, wouldn't the unexpected be expected?" When we were first told about the term “work immersion” my mind instantly thought of a lot of things which then made me feel of mixed and different kinds of emotions. I couldn’t fathom if I was excited, nervous, or if it was a mix of both. It immediately became the gossip between the Senior High School students regardless of the Academic track that each is taking. From the nervousness of what the term work immersion may bring us, the scary feeling then transformed to mild excitement when teachers started clearing up and announcing what may happen. We were then informed that we may freely choose which department of a certain institution we wanted to work to. There was the Social Welfare, … My choice was the Legal Department. It sent multiple butterflies in my stomach when I learned what legal department was offering us. There were a total of 6 people in the legal department; all of which were my classmates. Days after, a big news came for us – we had to choose between the Supreme court, Regional court, and the Court of Appeals. Because of the differences of the demand that each institution was offering, it eventually became the cause of misunderstanding between us 6 people. When the issue reached the assistant principal, it was then decided that they will be the one to choose who will be given to the different institutions – two persons each. To avoid a biased decision, it ended up being a matter of draw lots. Luckily, my friend Bianca and I were picked for the same place and that was enough for me. We were both picked for Regional Court which was unfortunately the least favorite of all but Bianca and I personally didn’t mind. It was definitely a funny story because despite us fighting which institution we wanted to be in, we ended up all being in the same place and what’s worse is that we ended up doing our work immersion at the Provincial Capitol of Laguna at Sta, Cruz instead. Not the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, or a Regional court but the Provincial Capitol of Laguna. However, despite us being slightly disappointed we still accepted it wholeheartedly. We weren’t disappointed because we ended up at the Provincial Capitol of Laguna, but in lieu of having our hopes up that we were going to be a part of such prominent institutions only to be told that it wouldn’t happen. January 08, 2018 – this was our first day at the Capitol. We were informed by the teachers that we have to be at the school at exactly 6:00 am because our school Rosa will be bringing us to our designated department. There were a lot of stops that the Rosa will be going to and the Capitol of Laguna was second to the last. That morning, we already had a problem because there were too many students and there were only 2 available Rosas but of course, we ended up over-occupying the vehicle. We arrived at the Capitol in the afternoon – later than what we expected. However, despite us arriving late, the teachers in-charge decided that we have our lunch first and go back at 1:00. All of us gathered at the exact time and were then guided to our designated departments. The six of us were second to the last to bring to their department. However, due to a matter of confidentiality, we weren’t able to work at the Legal Department and were relocated at the Peace and Order Department instead. After we met the head of the POD, we were immediately oriented and slightly toured us because the office wasn’t really that big and were then sent home and told us to officially start our training the next day. Based on the stories we gathered from our friends from the different departments at the capitol, our group was the luckiest because unlike them, the officials were very friendly and strict in a nice way. Because of that, all of us immediately clicked despite the age difference. They were very approachable and have a good sense of humor which pretty much saved us. We worked for 10 days, 8 hours each to complete the 80 hours that we needed but on the last day, the head of the department asked us if we could stay for another day so they could prepare something for us and have a mini celebration of us having spent a short time with them. In those 10 days, our worked only revolved around sorting, typing of documents, carrying piles of papers, receiving letters from different departments, and writing down important notes. My personal favorite was the sorting out, I think all of us enjoyed that part because there was a thrilling feeling of getting one paper to another and another and another and stapling it at the end. We were told that the papers that we sort and staple are the waivers that they bring to the different Barangays in Laguna and I thought it was cool because it went to our hands first and it was us who made it. Admittedly, despite the good company that we bonded with for 10 days, the jokes and the laughter that each of us shared, and the experience that we definitely enjoyed, I was honestly hoping for more. I imagined the work immersion to be filled with experiences that will help and guide us more for the career that we will be taking in the future. However, I will not deny the fact that this was Indeed a memorable experience.