This brought a wave of nostagia.
When we were young and carefree, OK lang mag-cut, masaya kahit walang pera o kotse o kahit nasa OM lang or nasa pool dahil sobrang init sa dorm, maglalasingan kahit di na makatayo or may pasok o paper due kinabukasan at umuwi sa dorm sa kalagitnaan ng madaling araw, manilip sa cervini for that certain cute guy using binoculars, maligo sa ulan, maligo sa covered courts kasi walang tubig sa dorm, makakuha ang 10/100 sa Math11, manligaw, maligawan, magmahal, masaktan, tumawa, malito, umiyak at matumba pero ok lang, find true friends, bumangon, mag-graduate na luhuan sa tuwa at sa lungkot...
the best 4 years of my life.
As an Atenenean (pronounced by the soe-sy ones and mocking ones as Arnean), I:
(X) eat at Manang’s - Pork chop! + magic suka (still mysterious up to this day) + patis = yum, nothing like it. Soup of the day – Munggo! I crave for these even after 6 years of officially saying goodbye
(X) learn the alma mater song - We stand on a hill…. Mary for your white & blue…Win or lose, it’s the school we choose!
( ) get on the dean’s list - Almost. 0.03 shy from that coveted academic distinction. If not for Caballa’s C+ (I think). Grrr..
( ) lie down and sleep on a bench along EDSA walk - why sleep on the bench when my bed and the lulling sound of the archaic electric fan are beckoning me from the dorm????
( ) be a TNT! - Never been a TNT for the college ACP, but was a CERSA-Orientation-Manila-Tour Guide.
(X) jog around the campus in the evening - and get swallowed up by the thick fog/smog surrounding the campus sometime February 1997
( ) visit the art gallery - we had one? Joke. Never been there. Too creepy for me.
(X) know at least one xerox lady, manong, or technician by name - shux, I forgot their names. But I called all the xerox ladies by “Ate”. Ehehe.
( ) get a Jesuit for a teacher - nope… too bad
( ) itch from higad bites - thank God, I didn’t make “tambay” in the quad!
(X) have gotten an F in something - Math 11 with Capistrano. It was a very humbling & terrible experience. But it taught me a lot.
(X) have taken a crap in school - In the dorm, which in the school grounds…
(x) watch a La Salle vs. Ateneo UAAP game - Of course. Win or lose!
(X) give a powerpoint presentation--never-ending…
( ) study in the Caf Upstairs - too noisy
(X) watch a T.A. play - Usually for philo papers…
(X) sit on the SEC ledge and watch the stars - And the sacred heart hill (which is no more), and the Bel field, and the football field, and the Eagle’s point (?)
(X) eat in Full House, Martha’s Kitchen, and Ken Afford - crispy pata, sylvannas, chopseuy, and the ever loyal Manong (who was still there even after I graduated. I think these 3 restos are not in Katipunan, or anywhere for that matter, anymore. How sad.
(X) sleep in the lib – oh yes, libreng aircon and peace and quiet. Libre din ang backpains
(x) visit Mr. San Andres---hhhmmmm…
(X) go to the chapel - constantly praying for strength & determination, so that I don’t get burned out or have a nervous breakdown, at least not before I graduate; thanking God for the great opportunity He has given me.
(X) have gotten a pebble stuck in your shoe/slippers in the middle of the quad - syempre, uso pa ang Birks and cute socks then. Pebbles tend to be attracted to those…
(X) cut class with your block to watch a movie -- Cut class. Period.
(X) sign up for those institutional (i.e. difficult but brilliant) teachers: Ferriols, Dacanay, David, Manacsa, Ang, Escaler, Arcilla, Totanes, and many others - Totanes was the best History prof I ever had. He had to crunch in 2 classes in one time slot. Imagine us, close to 50 in a classroom with sliding walls. Fun!
(X) go to CERSA night - But of course.
(X) have eaten siomai rice - rice, rice, rice, rice…
(X) learn how to smoke - when I was about to have a nervous breakdown (which was often as the skill of cramming was perfected during college), I would puff (more like hit-hit-buga) while staring blankly OM. but never became a serious smoker, thank God.
(XXX) fall in love - With the greatest love(r) of my life.
(X) actually read the book you keep borrowing from the lib -but I can’t remember the title.
( ) play cards during your free timeI slept. - My bed was only a few buildings away. --- Amen!!!
(X) dress in business attirefor all those business/case/defense presentations. - Looking great but feeling like a zombie due to lack of sleep and overdose in caffeine
(X) learn to stay awake for more than 24 hours straight - DEFENSE.
( ) have gotten side comments from ASSOC - I didn’t care. I pretended they didn’t exist.
(X) take (and enjoy) Saturday classes - and 730 am at that!!!! Cruelty.
(x) go to your immersion - Urban poor. My pillow was getting drenched because of the leak in the roof, and I couldn’t move because I was sharing the bed with another immersee. Depressing.
(X) eat Food for Thought sandwiches - Ham and egg (as in sunny-side up) + P12 bottomless iced tea
(X) get a boyfriend/girlfriend
(X) take time to read the vandalism in the CR doors - Oh yes, esp the lib CR ones.... quite entertaining hehehehehe. --- I 2nd the motion.
(x) watch “Minsan Lang Sila Bata” and “Macho Dancer” for class - “Minsan lang sila bata”
(X) ate at a food fair - just to eat something different from the usual caf food
(X) do a last minute paperlike I said, skills in cramming and procrastination are perfect during college.
( ) have spent a lot for 1x1 ID pictures - Not really. More like grad pix.
(X) get exempted from final exams - History, philo, film theory
(X) attend a college mass - as if we could avoid it…
(X) promise to quit smoking
(X) play hide-and-seek in the mini-forest - and the whole campus as well. College people are scared of the school after dark. We, dormers, always wonder why…
(X) know where the best restrooms are on campus - During the years ending in 2000, those were the Lib, SS and SEC. --- true, true.
(X) join an org - CERSA, MISA, ACP Log Comm, ACMG
(X) allow yourself to make mistakes
(X) take summer classes - required. Either I take summer classes or extend 1 sem. Spanish at 2pm. Murder.
(X) admire the sacred heart statue in the evening - with the shadows of Jesus, melding into shadows that form the face of Mary. Some people find it creepy. I find it comforting.
(X) make a video for a project - video + some major ME elective. Bad idea. Good thing, we still passed, through sheer force and will power, I think…
( ) have a crush on a teacher - nope. But I’ve seen a lot of teachers (both male and female) get crushes on their students. Much to the chagrin for the rest of us normal beings.
( ) attend a Jesuit retreat (a must for everyone) - my 4 whole years in Ateneo was a very long retreat. Standing on the hill, and all that…
( ) have gotten a parking ticket - first, the car. Which was non-existent.
(X) come to school in your crappiest yet most comfy clothes - like everyday?
(X) learn how to use the Bayantel pay phones - just so I can call home and tell my folks that I’m still breathing despite being neck-deep with deadlines
(X) participate in school activities - Rallies, NAMFREL, blue roast, etc…
(x) catch the Blue Babble Battalion tryouts - that's Entertainment.
(X) date an Atenean - and his whole box-out team
(X) ride a tricycle on campus - Comm to Bel at 3pm during El Niño summer, are you kidding me???????
(X) find a tambayan (Soc Sci 4-eva, pubroom, Comm Dep) - the dorm was the best tambayan. I can be in my undies and just-woken up hair and nobody notices. Heaven.
(X) admire the marikina valley at night - Every night. So many couples have come together and said goodbye in this spot.
(X) go drinking along Katipunan - every Friday and Saturday. Like clockwork. Drink to the brink at Tias, pre & post grad gulps at Gills? Kung wala pa ang allowance, sa MJD.
(X) learn how to beg for a higher grade - Never.
(X) use your cuts wisely - Just cut. Period.
( ) volunteer to be class beadle - NO, I will not be a slave and teacher’s pet.
(X) had the worst lottery schedule for reg - Thus, I got Mariano for Philo, which turned to be a blessing; got Capistrano AGAIN for an ME elective, which turned out OK because my Math 11 grade turned out OK.
(X) admire the trees on campus - Everyday. Yep, everyday. Even during summer, with all the fiery red blossoms.
(X) have forgotten about your free cut and gone to that class - at least malapit lang ang dorm.
(X) eat in the ISO canteen - para lang di ako kumain sa Cervini Caf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
( ) be active in your org - I was neck-deep with CERSA, that I just existed as a member (in paper) in my other college orgs.
( ) have signed up on an ACP class just because the girl or guy u like signed up for it - Nope…
(X) get as many app forms as you can during the job fair - Like it helped.
(X) learn how to cram - Inevitable.
(X) sell tickets (or watch) an org-sponsored movie premiere - OO NAMAN. LECHENG CABLE GUY. --- Korek!
(X) save money to Xerox all of your seatmate’s notes - I think I made my own notes. Helped me memorize all that had to be memorized.
( ) have accidentally seen a make-out session - damn, I missed out on this… pero I’ve heard. And not accidentally. Thanks to the very masugid Blue Guards.
(X) check out the Meron Lagoon and Lambingan Bridge - Site of many an Eliazoan's debut, etc. etc.
(X) have dozed off in class in Bel right after a class in CTC/SOM/Comm. Bldg or vice-versa - Spanish class. Summer. 2pm. I slept right through my C+.
(X) learn how to work with groupmates from hell - Group mates???? What groupmates?????
( ) perfect the art of parking on campus - Park what?
( ) had a bad encounter with one of the guards on campus - They’re usually nice to girls, so I wouldn’t know.
(X) develop a love for sisig - I never new this kind of artery-clogging dish existed before I came to ADMU…
(x) learn how to pronounce “AEGIS” properly
( ) have used typing rooms at the library - Typing rooms?
(X) have reserved a classroom, AVR, etc. for a class or org function
( ) have asked the library for an endorsement to research in other libraries
(X) have lost a perfectly functioning umbrella
(X) have used consultation hours properly - for Philo, ME/CS electives
(X) Looked forward to lab breakage refund, in case you didn’t break any equipment - Oh yes! Lab breakage fee & dorm breakage fee. Of course, Mom and Dad didn’t know about this.
(X) visit the Guidance Officerequired and for processing of a horrendous “slashing accident” of a friend.
(X) and Infirmary - I constantly had psycho-somatic bowel disorders, so…
(X) learn to swear in different dialects - LINTE!
(X) ran in the rain (even storm) without a care in the world.