Decoding Rexinne Arrabaca

I, Rexinne G. Arrabaca am a freshman attending Liceo de Cagayan University

majoring in Medical Laboratory Science. I am born into a very supportive and caring family with
my parents, younger brother and my soon to be sister. My father, Rex S. Arrabaca is a
businessman who is wedded to my mother, Rina G. Arrabaca who is a teacher-businesswoman.
My parents met long long ago since they were batch mates in Elementary but never knew each
other so well back then. My father is a close friend with my mother’s cousin which is the reason
why they met as adults and became friends, which, soon after resulted in marriage and had me.
Counting the days from the first day they have set foot on church ‘till today, they have already
been together for 20 years. My brother Rinex Nathan G. Arrabaca, 8 years old, who is 11 years
apart from me is a grade 2 Elementary student and a proud first rank in their class. My sister,
who will soon see the world is 19 years apart from me and is scheduled to be born next week.

My mother has always been very cautious and meticulous ever since she was pregnant
with me which is why I was born as a healthy baby, however, I was diagnosed with a Congenital
Heart Disease since I was born in the hospital. Since I had a Congenital heart disease, I
remember my childhood days to have been spent frequently to the hospital since I often had
check-ups because of my heart condition, nonetheless, I grew up having a normal life since
having a disease never restraint me, in fact I was even introduced to sports at a young age and a
proud degree holder in Karate. I had a lot of friends growing up since I grew up in a
neighborhood with a lot of children my age, furthermore, my relatives’ houses are in the same
neighborhood to where we reside, however, even as a kid I was always reminded of how mature
I behaved and how I think was different with the kids my age since I also preferred hanging out
with grow-ups more especially my grandparents since I was also spoiled a lot by them. In school,
although I had a lot of friends and played with them a lot, I still preferred to be alone at times
since even as a kid, I was already quite introverted and preferred frequenting in the library more
since I grew up surrounded by books at home. Just like any other kids my age, I loved eating
sweets when I was young especially chocolate and “kakanin” and other delicacies that had
coconut milk. I remembered that I adored Detective Conan so much when I was young which is
why it’s very evident that I still have a fascination for detectives even in my age right now.
 As they say, high school is where you will be able to have memories which you will
never be able to forget and find friends who will last for a lifetime which I definitely agree since
high school is where my fondest experiences and people in my life apart from my family who
value most were formed. I gained a lot of new friends and met a lot of people when I entered
high school especially my closest friends whom I was with since being a high school first year.
My circle of friends are mostly formed by people who shared the same interests as me, however,
there are also a lot of things which differs us from one another which makes our circle more fun.
My friends are very supportive which in return, I also try to do in the best way that I can to repay
the support and care that I receive from them. Although I mostly identify myself as an introvert,
there were many decisions during my high school days where I definitely stepped out from my
comfort zone which in turn helped me to become better by honing my skills and talents and
made me the person I am today. High school is also where I discovered that I am actually a good
leader despite my quiet nature. Just as high school can help you develop into a better person,
being a teenager, I also experienced making decisions out of impulse like jumping out of a
moving tricycle to retrieve the envelop that fell from my hand which I regretted a lot back then
because of all the injuries and bruises I gained from it. Intramurals was one of the most
memorable experiences that I probably had with my friends in high school since we experienced
a lot of enjoyable moments during out intramural days specifically when we entered the horror
house hosted by our seniors, although I am naturally a stoic person, I still enjoyed going in the
horror house so much since I was able to see the horrid reactions and funny screams that my
friends had when the ghosts were approaching us, to my friends, this memory will probably be
one of the most horrible mental tortures for them, but for me, it was one of my most
unforgettable experiences. I always had a unique taste and set of interest even in high school
which is probably the reason for the wide variation of music genre that I have including the type
of people a looked up to.

In 5 years, I see myself as someone still studying to become a physician and doing her
best to be good at the things she wants to do in order to achieve her dreams and living in a house
independently away from my parents with a large garden with my 2 dogs and cat. The greatest
lesson thus far that I have learned from living in this world for 19 years is to never regret
anything because at one time; it was exactly what we wanted, more so, living in bitterness in a
short life that we have is not my thing, instead of being stuck up in the past we should instead
look far ahead and move forward and seek more opportunities instead of being tied down
because of the past mistakes that we have committed. Compared to when I was younger, the me
right now is much calmer and less impulsive when resolving conflicts which was probably
because of time and the experiences I gained through time. Despite being in a Christian and
religion centered institution for 6 years, I don’t think that I am actually that religious enough to
even be clarified as a faithful person in terms of my belief since growing up surrounded by
science and logic there are so many things that make me doubtful in things that have no scientific
proof thus classifying my faith in the unseen barely low despite my foundation in a Marian
school and religion-oriented family.my greatest dream would probably be too shallow when seen
on an outside perspective since I only want to live in a peaceful place with a large house and
enormous garden with my dog and my family while doing the things I want without constraint
and never worrying about stability in my finances. A dream place that I want to go or probably
where I want to live in is deep in the countryside with fresh air and mountains surrounded by a
lot of trees and spring flower followed by the gushing sound of a river or a lake nearby just like
what I see in the scenery of Ghibli movies. The person I aspire to be is someone who could make
wise decisions and actions while considering the welfare of the people around me.

Although it is true that the society and culture you grew up in can influence how you
grow and your beliefs and upbringing as an individual, there are still things that are intangible to
ones’ self that the society and culture we grew up in cannot affect since as human persons, we
are capable of shaping our own lives and making decisions for ourselves without any hindrances
from our society and culture since as we grow and mature, we meet a lot of people, experience
new experiences and discover the unknown making us independent to what we were raised to
believe thus shaping our own personalities. Heredity can greatly influence us since, sometimes
our heredity and environment sets limitation and standards to what we can do, however,
considering heredity and environment as a decisive factor to our being is degrading since there
are so many thing that we can probably never imagine we can do if we just try hard enough since
after all, hard work and perseverance will always pay off.

Each one of us leaves find a legacy as we fulfill our purpose and aspirations in life. As a student
majoring in Medical technology, I will contribute my understanding of the human condition to
help our society become better while continuing to live life as I imagine, adding my own flavor,
while taking away invaluable experiences of my own.