first day of classes

The day I'd been looking forward to since setting foot in Manila: first day of college! Come to think about it, a college education is actually the whole reason why I'm here. Oh, but not just a college education, but a holistic learning experience and spiritual formation you can only find in the Ateneo. (Shameless school promotion, anyone?)

Right. So. I woke up at 6:15, fell asleep, then woke up at 6:30. When I checked my phone after I showered, I panicked because Rap, my blockmate and ally in the war of the races (HALF CHINESE FTW IN YOUR FACE ALBERT YOU KOREAN YOU), was already asking me where I was.

I grabbed the nearest pack of Sky Flakes and started dipping the pieces in cheese spread like hell. Breakfast ;)

Met up with Andy, Karl, Rap and Kaye at the Gonzaga cafeteria and then caught up with a few more blockmates. We went to our first class of the day, Filipino 11.

When we got to the classroom in Berchman's Hall, Room 209, we found most of our other blockmates already waiting for us - and the professor, too! Gulp.

It was okay, though, because when we arrived, the professor started to assign us our seats alphabetically. And after that was the DIAGNOSTIC EXAM (cue scary music). It was so hard. :'( I didn't finish the exam. There were like fifteen items that I just guessed the answers to. Sighhh. See you all in Fil 10 :)

After that, we had like an hour and a half to kill before Chemistry 7. So we headed over to the Zen Garden (Which, I'm starting to realize, is a freshie fest! It's so full of freshmen hanging out with their blocks!) and sat around, waiting for 10:30. Janina reminded me that she had to go get her ID, and I did too, so we caught up with a few more blockmates at Xavier Hall.

Mission successful! I now have my Ateneo de Manila University I.D., complete with sling! Haha. Wow. I feel like my ID is like a wedding ring - I need to have it on at all times, and it symbolizes a sacred and everlasting bond with my university...

...Uhhh, wait, forget I said that. That's just dorky.

Anyway. We went to Gonzaga cafeteria for some eats, and then moved back to the Zen Garden (I seriously love that place!) for some picture taking! :D Albert, bless his Korean soul, brought his huge DSLR cam,  so we pretty much went snap-happy taking lots of pictures. Beautiful, beautiful pictures. I'll post them here sometime, if Albert will let me.

Chemistry 7 came. We walked to Schmidtt Hall for our first "real" class of the day, since Filipino was a DIAGNOSTIC EXAM (resume scary music). Our teacher, Ms Mailyn Terrado, seems like a very friendly woman. The introduction to our topic was presented via PowerPoint and screen projector - really high tech. I wonder if all our lessons will be done that way, too. Oh, and the classroom is air conditioned and has four ceiling fans (if I counted correctly). I'm taking all these as a sign that it's time to rekindle my romance with Chemistry, but the thing is, it never existed in the first place >:(

We didn't tackle any lessons yet though. Mostly just a first-day-of-school-what-are-your-expectations sort of thing. We got dismissed pretty early :)

The Block (yes, I'm going to start refering to my block collectively as "The Block" now) decided to go out for lunch, but after we squeezed through the giant crowd at the JSEC (the place where you can find student-run businesses, mostly from the School of Management) our numbers decreased!

Seriously. It's like half the block went missing! So, the ones that survived went to Jollibee. And the ones that got left behind, we later learned, went to McDonald's! (I went to Jollibee. Haha!)

We met up with the McDonald's people in our next class, Math 18A, which we share with a block of ECE freshmen. There were only five of them.

What a depressing life they lead.

Our Math teacher is Mr. Mark Tolentino, and he seems a really cool guy. He says that in case we need to study for our next subject during his period, it's fine with him, just as long as we disturb anyone else. Oh, and he said that if your phone rings, and your ringtone is a Justin Bieber song, he will send you out of the class. Hahaha!

Math freaked me out though, because Mr. Tolentino said that we were just going to review some of the basic concepts of inequalities that we covered in high school. But when he went over it, I was like, "Baby, baby, baby, ohhhh, like baby, baby, baby, noooo! Like baby, baby, baby, ohhh...."

No, just kidding. I was really like: O___O

Because Math 18 A, as I see it, is all about taking something very easy to understand, something a fifth grader would know, and then twisting it and turning it and exploiting it in ways that will make you crap bricks.

Ex. A is a positive number. WHY IS IT A POSITIVE NUMBER?
(Okay so it's not exactly that, but it's very similar. I just reread my notes right now and it made me want to chuck my binder across the room.)

I may not understand Math all that well, but it's a good thing that in the Ateneo, students have this right to consultation, which means that we can approach teachers during the schedule that they set and ask for help and talk about our study problems and such. It's highly encouraged, in fact. Pret-ty cooool. B-)

Oh, and yes, we had actual class in Math on our first day. None of that expectations sort of business high school teachers are all about.

It felt so different to be in class with my blockmates. Because in my high school classrroom, I was among the brightest. But now that I'm with these people - these people who, just like me, passed the ACET and made it into an honors course and made it into the Director's List (for some) - now that I'm amidst these great minds, I feel so...

I hate to say average, but yes. I feel so average.

I know I've come a long way, and that being a part of the Ateneo community is supposed to mean that I'm so not average, that I'm special and intelligent and gifted. But I can't help thinking if maybe I've had it easy all my life up to this point. Because, to be honest, I wonder sometimes how on Earth I was able to get accepted into this amazing school and was able to be blessed with the company of such amazing people, when in high school, I was pretty much a slacker. Always putting things off, cramming, putting half my heart into my studies.

But I genuinely think that college will be different for me. Because it's all so stimulating, and exciting, and frightening and new - well, maybe I'm just saying this because I'm a freshman. And maybe I won't be this much of an eager beaver in a few years/months/week's time.

Maybe so. But I won't even dwell on that anymore. I'll just live in the present, because time is a gift - that's why it's called the present!

Okay, lame. You have to excuse me. I'm tired.

See you guys tomorrow.

(Sorry for ending this post all of a sudden. I just can't think of any more things to say... Okay bye.)