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Dances. Music. Food. Fun. Friendship—that is how people in Ateneo de Zamboanga University describe the annual Ateneo Fiesta. But for me, these remain to be discovered and experienced.
I have traveled a hundred miles from a small town somewhere in a quaint coastal town of Jolo, Sulu. I have no familiar experience of such a flamboyant imagination—my childhood’s playground is a battleground; of frenzied exchange of gun fires and mortars. Celebration is a foreign sight for a person whose comfort zone is the hostile silence between truce whenever they ran out of bullets or get tired of meaningless killings.
Zamboanga City, of concrete forest is an escape from the unfriendly nature of Jolo. This is the place where I can build my aspirations away from the nightmare I have long hoped to wake up from.
For some, Ateneo Fiesta is just another annual communal celebration to break away from the stress of college life. Ateneo fiesta has different meaning for everyone, some have it deeper than the others but for me, it is beyond the dances, music, fun, food and friendship.
But for me, Ateneo Fiesta symbolizes my inner call for optimism, happiness and harmony.
***Do you have any literary work to share? Send it to ateneofiesta2014@gmail.com and be featured at the Ateneo Fiesta blog!
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