Student life like no other

After being a student for over 16 years, I thought life would be more fun once I finish school. No more lessons to study, assignments to do, project deadlines to beat.

I was wrong. The real world is a jungle where competition is very strong. You also have a lot of assignments to do, like researches, writing cover letters, dealing with interviews, etc.

To unwind, I think of my student days, when I had fun with friends and watched Grease with them.

In the movie John Travolta (Danny Zuko) and Olivia Newton John (Sandy Olsson) play students in the ’50s. They first met in the summer before their senior year in high school. They enjoyed the beach so much they didn’t realize summer was almost over. As they were exchanging goodbyes, Danny and Sandy thought their young summer love was just as over.

Fast-forward to the first day in school. Danny and his gang, the T-Birds are excited. Little does Danny know his path would cross with Sandy’s once more.

It turns out that Sandy, like Danny, is also a student at Rydell High. Here, she meets Frenchy (Didi Conn) who becomes her best friend and the Pink Ladies with Rizzo (Stockard Channing, who plays their leader).

When the T-Birds ask Danny and the Pink Ladies grill Sandy about what they did that summer, things get more exciting.

The Pink Ladies, learning that Sandy was talking about Danny as the sweet boy she met at the beach that summer, set her up to meet him again at the bonfire for their football team.

They were so happy about their reunion. Until Danny realized he was losing his cool guy image when he kept on asking Sandy about school and other things. He told Sandy that what happened that summer wasn’t really special and it meant nothing to him.

Feeling betrayed and hopeless, Sandy left and spent the night with the Pink Ladies at Frenchy’s place. Now, who could forget Newton John’s beautiful rendition of Hopelessly Devoted to You?

Danny tried to win her back by joining all kinds of sports in school. But he failed. Then, he apologized and promised she would be his date at the prom. Danny and Sandy were back in each other’s arms.

The close of the school year saw a different Sandy. She shed her girl-next door-image, donned tights and leotards, and showed up with a cigarette in her hand.

Danny was also a changed guy. He showed up in a leather jacket and tight jeans and applied gel on his hair. Before the gangs parted ways to start a new chapter in their lives, they sang their hearts out in We Go Together.

As I watched the movie again and again, all memories of my student life came flashing back to me. I realized now more than ever that we should always cherish every moment of our lives as students because we get to kindergarten, grade school, high school and college only once. And student life will mold us to become the person we will be in the future. We should not only concentrate on studying but also have fun with friends. The Grease, although set in a different decade, is still relevant to today’s generation. I really got the chance to watch it on the big screen when the movie celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1998.

That was seven years ago, when I was only in high school.

Whatever decade we find ourselves in, Grease is still something we can find joy in and sing along to with all our hearts.

After all, we have been students once and we will always be students in the school we call life.