Rizal's Childhood to Adulthood

Raised in a family that excelled academically, he grew encouraged to learn harder about a wide range of subjects. Although as a child, he became recognized to possess revolutionary views about personal rights that were being looked upon by the government.

Jose Rizal's first educator was his mother, which taught him to write, read and motivated him to compose poems. He learned alphabet in the age of 3.

Growth

Growing up, Jose Rizal had many pleasant recollections of childhood in his native town Calamba where he grew up with his family. The happiest age of Rizal’s life was spent in this lakefront village, a suitable prelude to his Hamlet-like tragic manhood. At the age of seven (7), Rizal wrote a comedy for a local fiesta where he showed early signs of potential in writing.

Education

Rizal was able to read at the age of three (3) years old.
He was significantly influenced by his mother in his education and interest in poetry, music, and European literature.
He studied Bachelor in Arts in Ateneo Municipal de Manila(1872-1877)
Rizal studied Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas, and after a year, in 1878, he took medicine.
While he was studying, he also took land surveying in Ateneo Municipal de Manila (1877-1882)
Rizal studied Licentiate in Philosophy and Letters and Opthalmology in Universidad Central de Madrid (1882-1885)

Lovers

Leonor Rivera

The Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion de la Concordia, often known as Colegio de la Concordia or just La Concordia, was where Rivera attended school. The sisters of Rizal went to the same school. At the University of Santo Tomas in Intramuros, Rizal was already in his second year of medical school when he met Rivera. He lived at Rivera's parents' house as a boarder. Ambeth Ocampo, a historian from the Philippines, claims that Rizal and Rivera became engaged in 1880, the same year they first met. She was 13, and he was 19. Today, many individuals would frown at this extremely early engagement.

Seiko Usui

Seiko Usui, often referred to as O Sei San, was the daughter of a Japanese samurai. When she first met Jose Rizal, she was 23 years old. She often worked at a Spanish Legation in Tokyo's Azabu district, where he had relocated. Throughout his time in Japan, she acted as his interpreter. She also taught him how to read and write Nihonggo and the Japanese painting style known as su-mie, all of which helped him get more accustomed to Japanese culture. They went to various universities, the Shokubutsu-en (Botanical Garden), the Hibiya Park, the Imperial Art Gallery, the Imperial Library, and other shrines.

Josephine Bracken

Called by Dr. Jose Rizal as his “dulce extranjera,” Josephine Bracken lived a short and largely sad life. Bracken was the daughter of Irish parents, James Bracken and Elizabeth MacBride. Her father was a corporal in the British Army. An attraction developed between Rizal, the lonely exile, and the young lady, and a romance developed. It was not an easy one because Rizal's sisters, who were in Dapitan to improve the quality of life for their brother, believed Josephine to be a Spanish spy. Nevertheless, Rizal loved Josephine and gave her the nickname Josefina.