University of the Philippines Diliman

      If you are, or have ever been, a high school student in the Philippines, I'm assuming that you know about the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines, more commonly known as UPD. Because if you are/have ever been in high school, and you don't know about this university, then you should be ashamed of yourself. Go curl up in a corner and listen to My Chemical Romance and cry. I am ashamed of you.*

     Fortunately, being the good soul that I am, I will provide you a little background about the place. Be grateful that somebody actually had the decency to relieve you of your ignorance and blindness. Yeah, that's right. Just call me The Illuminator.** And, yes, you are forgiven.

    UP Diliman is the Holy Grail of universities here in the Philippines. Its entrance exam, the UPCAT, is the hardest to pass (I think it's because of the right-minus-wrong system). Among all the UP campuses in the country, the Diliman campus is the biggest and most prestigious, having produced powerful personalities such as national artist Fernando Amorsolo, Philippine hero Benigno Aquino Jr., infamous dictators Ferdinand Marcos and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and of course, the most revolutionary band in Pinoy music history, the Eraserheads.

    It is every high school student's dream to go to UP Diliman and be an iskolar ng bayan (scholar of the nation). Well, that was my dream, at least (see: this really old post that I now see as superficial and stupid). I craved for the recognition and prestige that came with being an Isko. Going to Ateneo de Manila was a choice that was made for me (as you would know, had you read that dumb old blog post I linked you to a few sentences back). But I digress.

. . .

    Today, my friend Jason and I went to UP Diliman to go visit our friend Joseph. (From my batch in Kong Hua, only five people proceeded to study in Manila: Jason and I, the only two people who went to Ateneo de Manila, Joseph, the only one who went to UPD, and Karen and Michael, who both went to Enderun, a famous [and expensive] culinary/HRM college in Fort Bonifacio.)

    I had asked my roommate Jean, a student at UPD herself, how to get there, and it didn't seem that hard. From my dorm, I walk to a green overpass that's some two blocks away, and then get a jeep that says UP Diliman Campus. (There are lots of UP Diliman jeeps, but you have to get the one that says Campus. All the other UPD jeeps just stop at the gates. The Campus jeeps actually go inside.) After meeting up with Jason in Ateneo, we did just that.

    We didn't have much difficulty getting to UP. Well, I did have to ask the girl beside me how much the fare was (P7.00), and I actually asked the jeepney to stop when we were just a few meters away from the drop-off point (how was I supposed to know!?), but other than that, things went okay.

     When we got down, poor Joseph had to walk all the way from his dorm to where we were, which was right on the opposite side of the campus.

     It's a big campus.

     We walked to Joseph's dorm called Kalayaan. It's beautiful. They even have this rec room with a piano and a big, flat-screen TV!  Joseph tells me that in a day, he only spends about P80 on meals. That would be P20-P30 per meal! Such a far cry from the P80 you have to spend to get a decent meal in Ateneo.

     Joseph showed us the Shopping Center, where one can go to find all sorts of stores: copiers, boutiques, Internet cafe's, restaurants, tailoring shops, salons, and even a dermatology clinic! We had lunch in one of the restaurants there (forgot the name).

       Check it out. That's the UP Supermarket. It has everything you'll ever need: school supplies, food, water, even tools and Tupperware!

There's the spirit of revolution that UP is so (in)famous for.

There's this myth that says if a UP student has his or her picture taken with the Oblation statue, s/he won't graduate on time. Guess that rules out me getting my degree in Medicine at UP!

UP is just so beautiful to walk around on Sundays. So shady. So peaceful.  So many ice cream and chicheria vendors every few blocks :D

. . .

      I wonder what my life would be like right now had I chosen UP instead of Ateneo. I think I'd have a harder time adjusting to college life over there. Also, I wouldn't have met the awesome, wonderful, insanely cool people that I know right now. 

      Jason says that his visit to UP makes him love Ateneo even more. Well, I can't say the same is true for me. Yes, I DO love Ateneo with all my heart and mind and soul that I just get shivers thinking about it.

      But I can't help thinking that if I were to go back in time to that point where I could chose between UP and Ateneo (and given that there were no conflicts with my scholarship), I would have chosen UP. 

     Woah woah woah! Any violent reactions, direct to the comment box, and not to me!  

     *I'm kidding. I am in no way ashamed of you. I LOVE you, dear, sweet, precious reader! Please don't go curl up in a corner and cry because of me. Neither listen to My Chemical Romance. I'm so sorry. I can be so mean sometimes. :(

     **Don't call me The Illuminator.