ASA is the acronym for the American School of Asuncion. ASA is an international school located in Paraguay’s capitol Asuncion. This school is 55 years old and is full of traditions. ASA is a place that will challenge your views on some issues and that will make your views stay untouched for other topics. All in all, ASA is unique and un-clonable (I found no better word to define what I was trying to say, so I made up a word).
I am a student at ASA. So where my two older brothers. And so was my mother. I have been at ASA ever since K-4, or August of ’97. I have come to think of this place as magical, happy, stressful, lovable, and most important: My Home. I thought that I would never be able to say and even think about saying that, “13 years of my life went as fast as a bullet.” Yes, that’s right I SAID IT!
Anyhow, what makes this year more special than previous years is that I am a senior. This is my last year in the place I once called home and will call it a year from now: the place where I went to school. This is the year that I am suppose to say goodbye to the place that saw me grow, laugh, live, lie, cry, smile, punch people, run, and be myself. This is a year that I am suppose to have the best time of my life, and the year that I say goodbye to an old me and build a new and better me. This is a year where magic is no longer a reality, rather a fantasy. This is a year, a year to remember. This is a year where expected farewells, expected see you later, expected goodbye, expect the best of luck, expected hope all comes true, expected I hope your dreams will come true, all comes in place.
As highly noticeable, senior year has a strong impact and influence in me. Not only senior year does, but better yet, senior year at ASA. To commemorate the best years of our lives seniors celebrate their last first day of a school year. This year it was my turn to celebrate it.
The party is awesome and we all have the best of times. Again, this would be the heaven for the normal outgoing teenager. The night before the first day of school, all raising seniors get together in a house and party like rock stars—literally. At about 9 pm the party starts with people just talking to each other (let me be clear that ASA is a school of classes having at most 45 students per class). A DJ is hired and plays reggeaton, techno, and trance music throughout the entire night. There is plenty to drink (wink, wink), and as for food a “lomitero” is hired to cook the lomitos. Lomitos are the equivalent of hamburgers in Paraguay, only tastier and much cheaper. At about 12 am people start dancing, and since then, do not stop doing so. Dancing, eating, drinking, chatting, and letting the good times roll happens throughout the entire night until about 7:30 am, when the sun is out, the DJ stops, and people are starting to get dressed.
Something quite special about this tradition, besides the whole amount of fun, is that each year the group of entering seniors chooses a costume so that all seniors come dressed the same way and enter school all together with the same costume. This year the costume was Police and the topics was, of course, SEN10RS.
All of the students have to get ready and get their stuffs ready since a big truck picks us up and takes us to school, where all our parents are waiting for us. The entire high school student is waiting for us in the gym where a ceremony takes place. Once in school bombs are heard, bombs like the type used during New Years Eve and New Year’s Day. We jump around yelling seniors 2010! Seniors 2010! Repeatedly. After we get out of the truck we go running to the gym and start yelling and run around the gym. The entire high school claps and cheers us. A few words are given by the director general and the high school principal. Introduction to the new faculty is also part of the plan. After the ceremony is over we go and run around school spreading some of our joy. After the running is done, off to home we go.
The simplest way to define this day and previous night would be: fun!
I had the beast of times and made my transition as a last year student at ASA way easier. SEN10R year is definitely the best and funniest year, or so they say. Only thing I know is that I have the job to figure it out.
CM :)
