Orsem day 1
SORRY FOR THE MESSY LAYOUT - I MADE THIS IN MS WORD BACK WHEN THE INTERNET WAS CRAPPY AND NOW I'M TOO LAZY TO EDIT THIS SO OKAY, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. - Aimee/Bea
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OrSem day.
When I woke up this morning, I wasn’t feeling like P. Diddy (Dad, if you’re reading this, I’m making a reference to a famous pop song by Ke$ha, okay?). In fact, what I felt was more like...
Um, to be honest with you, I don’t really remember what I felt like. This morning seems to me like so long ago. (It’s now 11:28 PM according to my laptop clock, by the way.) All I can walk you through is the technical stuff, and none of the “what I felt like” part. (Oh look, it just turned 11:29.) I feel like a robot now.
Anyway, so here’s what happened, without the feelings:
· Woke up at 6:25. Had camote fries for breakfast, courtesy of Twa-e (oh, did I mention that “Twa-e” roughly means eldest aunt in Chinese?)
· Showered, dressed, then put away the things I needed to bring to the dorm.
· Taxied to the dorm with Momshma.
· Left things at dorm.
· Walked to Ateneo.
We had to go to the Covered Courts, where the OrSem was taking place. (Oh! I should mention here too that OrSem means Orientation Seminar. It’s an annual thing that the upperclassmen throw for the freshies to help welcome us into the Ateneo. Our OrSem is three days long, and today is the first day.)
We didn’t really know where to go, so we just followed this group of freshmen. How did we know they were freshmen? Well, we freshies have to wear colored shirts that correspond to our school. The School of Management wears red, the School of Humanities, brown, the School of Social Sciences, yellow, and the School of Science and Engineering (that’s where I belong!) wears orange. And this particular group of people was decked in red, so I figured they’re part of School of Management.
True enough, they led us to the Covered Courts, which is surprisingly far from where the gate we came through. We had been to the Covered Court area last April, via Ate Angela’s car, and it didn’t seem that far then.
Anyway. I had to say goodbye to Mom (NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!), whose flight was scheduled at 4 PM. Again, I won’t go into the “feelings” part of that story. Not because I don’t remember the emotions I had, because trust me, I remember. But because I just don’t wanna bring it up again.
When I got inside the Cov Courts, it was a riot. (“Hey. Riot”. <- Dad if you’re reading, please pass that inside joke on to Caitlin and/or Jiggy) Loud music was playing, people were standing on chairs, waving signs around, shouting and dancing. The energy was just amazing.
I signed up at the registration desk, where they gave me a free sachet of something. A Garnier product, I think. They’re one of the OrSem’s sponsors. Well whatever it was, I can’t check now, because I lost it amidst all the hullabaloo.
So, about that hullabaloo. I was greeted at the registration desk by my adorbz friend and blockmate Cheryl, whom I had previously befriended via Facebook and Yahoo! Messenger (oh, I think she commented on one of my blog posts too! Thanks Cheryl! J). She introduced me to Jeth and Jhalec, my two other blockmates.
Then I went inside to look for my block. It wasn’t that hard really, because these facilitators were standing on top of chairs and dancing and waving around signs with block names printed on them. I spotted Block XX quickly.
I met Kuya Ian, Ate Stef and Ate Anne, the Block XX facilitators. Actually, they’re called “TNT’s”, meaning “Talk N Tour” (according to blockmate Arthur). I was then pointed to a seat where I found my name tag and a Freshman kit waiting for me.
Then I met Patricia, also an online friend from Facebook! She’s so nice and friendly. And then Ren! Also an online friend! He’s so hyper pala in real life. Haha.
Okay, I can’t mention all my blockmates and what I think of them because – would you really care about that? (Unless you ARE one of my blockmates and you DO care about what other people think of you – GASP! For shame, blockmate. For shame.) So, I’ll just go ahead and mention my friends online, plus a few:
Albert is this guy I’m really racist and mean to online, because there’s just a lot of things about him you can make fun of – his being half Korean and his being in English 11, to name a few. Haha. I have yet to make fun of him in person.
Andrew is someone whose name caused a lot of confusion on Facebook. In real life, he’s someone you could make countless YouTube videos of.
Oh jeez. Why do I sound like a yearbook? A very poorly-written yearbook? I’ll end this segment here.
In the covered courts, after everyone had gathered, there was a mass, presided by the president of the Loyola Schools. And then, MOBE.
“Mobe” is this word the TNT’s use a lot to mean “mobilize.” And “mobilize” is a word that the freshmen dread hearing, because it means “RUN LIKE HELL.” (Sorry about the harsh language, Jiggy.)
Seriously. All the blocks were being led out of the covered courts to classrooms where each block would have a bonding session. But “led out” is such a gentle term. It was really more like two facilitators, every meter, yelling at you to go faster, faster! Come on freshmen! FASTER!
Ugh. I don’t think my legs will be working well tomorrow. And we have to do more running, too.
Anyway. Fast forward to when we were finally inside the classroom, complete, and tired, and sweaty, and gasping for air. We had a lot of getting-to-know yous and such, and we were taught some dances. Okay, for your sake, Dad, I’ll be more descriptive here even though I’m drawing a blank. We did that Porn Star Name thing I told you about, and then Samson and Delilah too, and then there was this little game that involved reaction time to words. It’s like each word that Kuya Ian said corresponded to a certain action we had to do. Basta. Sounds really boring if I put it in writing!
There was this thing they called The Blanket Game, where there are two teams, and then two chairs facing each other. Two facilitators hold up a blanket between the chairs, and then one person from each team sits in a chair. The blanket is dropped, and the first person to say the name of the blockmate in front of him/her scores a point for their team.
Again, not as fun in writing.
But I’d been getting good vibes about being in Block XX even before I met my blockmates. And now that I have, I’m getting even better vibes! Haha! Because we’re all so diverse, and we all have different personalities, and that’s what makes my block so interesting. I love it.
The other Health Sciences blocks, Block XX1 and Block XX2, were nice enough to drop by and entertain us with a little dance (their punishment for losing a game).
After that, MOBE again. Ugh. Groans from everybody. We had to run all the way back to the Covered Courts. We sat back down in our seats, and bands were playing on stage. Not Myx Hit Chart bands. Just some bands comprised of Ateneo students. But they sounded extremely good and could make it to the Myx Hit Chart if given the chance, I bet.
The facilitators handed each of us Tupperware filled with food – fried chicken and rice, courtesy of Shakey’s! And then a bottle of C2, courtesy of, well, C2. We were to bring home the Tupperware, wash it, and then return it the next day. (Mine’s already squeaky-clean and ready to go! J Thanks for buying me that dishwashing liquid and sponge, Mom!)
The afternoon was quite boring. Full of lectures from the deans in the Erwin Theatre. (To clarify, I mean the lectures were from the deans of the different schools in Ateneo, and it was held in the Erwin Theatre. Not that the deans were from the Erwin Theater. Okay? Just so we’re clear.)
Some lectures were really cool, i.e. the presentation of Mr. Rudy Ang, the dean of the John Gokongwei School of Management. JGSOM. He took JGSOM and then presented it in a language we young people spoke – GLEE! He showed a presentation featuring actual clips from the show “Glee”, only took out the audio, replaced it with that Glee “doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doot doo” background music, and then added subtitles. So then it looked like Finn was really asking Mr. Schu, “I’m confused. Where should I go to college?” even though he was really saying, “I didn’t do it, Mr. Schu.”
It was so well-made, that I wonder why an amazing presentation like that didn’t come from the School of Humanities, home to the Arts programs. In fact, their presentation was... So-so.
After all the lectures, it was back to the Covered Courts for a wrap-up (No more “mobilizing” this time, because it was raining and the ground was slippery). In our seats were bottles of water. Oh, thank God for water. And thank you Mom for buying two liters of it! <3
I made friends with Tomas a.k.a. “Please Don’t Google My Condition” Mico.
. . .
And that’s what you missed, on Glee. (Glee!)
I can’t think so clearly right now. I gotta sleep. So, goodnight! I might clean up this blog tomorrow before posting it.
Or not.
Night Dad, night Cait, night Jigs, night Mom. Love and miss you all.
When I woke up this morning, I wasn’t feeling like P. Diddy (Dad, if you’re reading this, I’m making a reference to a famous pop song by Ke$ha, okay?). In fact, what I felt was more like...
Um, to be honest with you, I don’t really remember what I felt like. This morning seems to me like so long ago. (It’s now 11:28 PM according to my laptop clock, by the way.) All I can walk you through is the technical stuff, and none of the “what I felt like” part. (Oh look, it just turned 11:29.) I feel like a robot now.
Anyway, so here’s what happened, without the feelings:
· Woke up at 6:25. Had camote fries for breakfast, courtesy of Twa-e (oh, did I mention that “Twa-e” roughly means eldest aunt in Chinese?)
· Showered, dressed, then put away the things I needed to bring to the dorm.
· Taxied to the dorm with Momshma.
· Left things at dorm.
· Walked to Ateneo.
We had to go to the Covered Courts, where the OrSem was taking place. (Oh! I should mention here too that OrSem means Orientation Seminar. It’s an annual thing that the upperclassmen throw for the freshies to help welcome us into the Ateneo. Our OrSem is three days long, and today is the first day.)
We didn’t really know where to go, so we just followed this group of freshmen. How did we know they were freshmen? Well, we freshies have to wear colored shirts that correspond to our school. The School of Management wears red, the School of Humanities, brown, the School of Social Sciences, yellow, and the School of Science and Engineering (that’s where I belong!) wears orange. And this particular group of people was decked in red, so I figured they’re part of School of Management.
True enough, they led us to the Covered Courts, which is surprisingly far from where the gate we came through. We had been to the Covered Court area last April, via Ate Angela’s car, and it didn’t seem that far then.
Anyway. I had to say goodbye to Mom (NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!), whose flight was scheduled at 4 PM. Again, I won’t go into the “feelings” part of that story. Not because I don’t remember the emotions I had, because trust me, I remember. But because I just don’t wanna bring it up again.
When I got inside the Cov Courts, it was a riot. (“Hey. Riot”. <- Dad if you’re reading, please pass that inside joke on to Caitlin and/or Jiggy) Loud music was playing, people were standing on chairs, waving signs around, shouting and dancing. The energy was just amazing.
I signed up at the registration desk, where they gave me a free sachet of something. A Garnier product, I think. They’re one of the OrSem’s sponsors. Well whatever it was, I can’t check now, because I lost it amidst all the hullabaloo.
So, about that hullabaloo. I was greeted at the registration desk by my adorbz friend and blockmate Cheryl, whom I had previously befriended via Facebook and Yahoo! Messenger (oh, I think she commented on one of my blog posts too! Thanks Cheryl! J). She introduced me to Jeth and Jhalec, my two other blockmates.
Then I went inside to look for my block. It wasn’t that hard really, because these facilitators were standing on top of chairs and dancing and waving around signs with block names printed on them. I spotted Block XX quickly.
I met Kuya Ian, Ate Stef and Ate Anne, the Block XX facilitators. Actually, they’re called “TNT’s”, meaning “Talk N Tour” (according to blockmate Arthur). I was then pointed to a seat where I found my name tag and a Freshman kit waiting for me.
Then I met Patricia, also an online friend from Facebook! She’s so nice and friendly. And then Ren! Also an online friend! He’s so hyper pala in real life. Haha.
Okay, I can’t mention all my blockmates and what I think of them because – would you really care about that? (Unless you ARE one of my blockmates and you DO care about what other people think of you – GASP! For shame, blockmate. For shame.) So, I’ll just go ahead and mention my friends online, plus a few:
Albert is this guy I’m really racist and mean to online, because there’s just a lot of things about him you can make fun of – his being half Korean and his being in English 11, to name a few. Haha. I have yet to make fun of him in person.
Andrew is someone whose name caused a lot of confusion on Facebook. In real life, he’s someone you could make countless YouTube videos of.
Oh jeez. Why do I sound like a yearbook? A very poorly-written yearbook? I’ll end this segment here.
In the covered courts, after everyone had gathered, there was a mass, presided by the president of the Loyola Schools. And then, MOBE.
“Mobe” is this word the TNT’s use a lot to mean “mobilize.” And “mobilize” is a word that the freshmen dread hearing, because it means “RUN LIKE HELL.” (Sorry about the harsh language, Jiggy.)
Seriously. All the blocks were being led out of the covered courts to classrooms where each block would have a bonding session. But “led out” is such a gentle term. It was really more like two facilitators, every meter, yelling at you to go faster, faster! Come on freshmen! FASTER!
Ugh. I don’t think my legs will be working well tomorrow. And we have to do more running, too.
Anyway. Fast forward to when we were finally inside the classroom, complete, and tired, and sweaty, and gasping for air. We had a lot of getting-to-know yous and such, and we were taught some dances. Okay, for your sake, Dad, I’ll be more descriptive here even though I’m drawing a blank. We did that Porn Star Name thing I told you about, and then Samson and Delilah too, and then there was this little game that involved reaction time to words. It’s like each word that Kuya Ian said corresponded to a certain action we had to do. Basta. Sounds really boring if I put it in writing!
There was this thing they called The Blanket Game, where there are two teams, and then two chairs facing each other. Two facilitators hold up a blanket between the chairs, and then one person from each team sits in a chair. The blanket is dropped, and the first person to say the name of the blockmate in front of him/her scores a point for their team.
Again, not as fun in writing.
But I’d been getting good vibes about being in Block XX even before I met my blockmates. And now that I have, I’m getting even better vibes! Haha! Because we’re all so diverse, and we all have different personalities, and that’s what makes my block so interesting. I love it.
The other Health Sciences blocks, Block XX1 and Block XX2, were nice enough to drop by and entertain us with a little dance (their punishment for losing a game).
After that, MOBE again. Ugh. Groans from everybody. We had to run all the way back to the Covered Courts. We sat back down in our seats, and bands were playing on stage. Not Myx Hit Chart bands. Just some bands comprised of Ateneo students. But they sounded extremely good and could make it to the Myx Hit Chart if given the chance, I bet.
The facilitators handed each of us Tupperware filled with food – fried chicken and rice, courtesy of Shakey’s! And then a bottle of C2, courtesy of, well, C2. We were to bring home the Tupperware, wash it, and then return it the next day. (Mine’s already squeaky-clean and ready to go! J Thanks for buying me that dishwashing liquid and sponge, Mom!)
The afternoon was quite boring. Full of lectures from the deans in the Erwin Theatre. (To clarify, I mean the lectures were from the deans of the different schools in Ateneo, and it was held in the Erwin Theatre. Not that the deans were from the Erwin Theater. Okay? Just so we’re clear.)
Some lectures were really cool, i.e. the presentation of Mr. Rudy Ang, the dean of the John Gokongwei School of Management. JGSOM. He took JGSOM and then presented it in a language we young people spoke – GLEE! He showed a presentation featuring actual clips from the show “Glee”, only took out the audio, replaced it with that Glee “doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doot doo” background music, and then added subtitles. So then it looked like Finn was really asking Mr. Schu, “I’m confused. Where should I go to college?” even though he was really saying, “I didn’t do it, Mr. Schu.”
It was so well-made, that I wonder why an amazing presentation like that didn’t come from the School of Humanities, home to the Arts programs. In fact, their presentation was... So-so.
After all the lectures, it was back to the Covered Courts for a wrap-up (No more “mobilizing” this time, because it was raining and the ground was slippery). In our seats were bottles of water. Oh, thank God for water. And thank you Mom for buying two liters of it! <3
I made friends with Tomas a.k.a. “Please Don’t Google My Condition” Mico.
. . .
And that’s what you missed, on Glee. (Glee!)
I can’t think so clearly right now. I gotta sleep. So, goodnight! I might clean up this blog tomorrow before posting it.
Or not.
Night Dad, night Cait, night Jigs, night Mom. Love and miss you all.
Yes, Aimee! We care about what you think! :)) I love the sabaw-ness of the post. That's the Ateneo way! =)) The essence of the blue eagle lies in the sabaw-ness of every individual. Ok. I'm sabaw right now too. G'nyt, bye. =))
ReplyDelete- Cheryl again.
O hai Cheryl 8D
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you actually read through this! Rap just skipped it :))
And yes you're very sabaw. Better get some sleep :D
Night! :D
knowing that you are enjoying your life there makes it all worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteMwah!
Hi Ate Aimee! I'm an incoming HSc student. How many blocks are there in HSc? And how many students/block? Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteHi! Three blocks, and roughly 30 people per block. That number will change over the years tho :)
DeleteThanks, ate :) I'm very grateful that I discovered your blog. It inspired me to choose Ateneo, in the end :)
DeleteHi! I found your blog after googling "bs psy ateneo tips" (which is weird cuz you're not even a psych major but I'm so glad I found your blog). I was really nervous about the online enlistments and college in general, but thanks to you, I'm feeling less scared haha.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm really slow at writing essays and I don't have a very wide vocabulary, so I was wondering if you have any tips on how to survive en12.
-a very worried freshie
P.s. It's so cute when your parents leave comments on your posts! Hehehe :)