first few days of school

Man oh man it's been six days since my last update, which wasn't even a real update.

Anyway check out these pictures that I totally neglected to upload!

Look at that. Look at all those awesome pins I collected from the events I went to! They're from the Health Sci Society, Loyola Film Circle, Gabay, and the SOSE Sanggu. Sad thing is, apparently I forgot to take them down from the inside of my old closet in Room 202 when I moved into Room 2-I. Now that closet is gone, and so are my precious pins. *sigh of acceptance of loss*

Okay, now look at this! It's a guitar pick which I so happily and passionately cut out from my old PMSA membership card (thanks for kicking me out of the org, yo). I drew Jules on it and gave it to him for his 18th birthday! 

Speaking of birthdays! Meet the choir (sans Vera) that sang during Pat's surprise 18th birthday lunch. Awesome photo by the awesome Andy Europa. 

Also speaking of birthdays! Look at this other awesome photo by Andy - it's the paper airplanes that my friends pelted me with during my own surprise birthday party. I still cannot visit this site without crying. ;_; I love these guys so much. 

Wokay! That's enough reminiscing for now. Here's what happened in the two weeks I have failed to blog:

First day of classes (June 13)

Arrived in Manila just in time for Org Chem class (I missed Org Chem lab and Bio). Pretty dramatic entrance I had too, because I was expecting to see just my blockmates and two teachers (yeah we have two teachers for one class), but when I opened the door I saw that it wasn't just Block XX, but also Block XX1 and a Mr. Raul Floirendo (who was my friend from high school!) and a few other people I don't really know yet. It's a full house, with around sixty students in one class. Anyway, after attendance was checked, we watched a really cute Kung Fu Panda short. Dr. Guidote and Ma'am Chua, our two teachers, seem like really awesome people.

How can two people teach one class, you ask? I had imagined it as some sort of live show, with the teachers on two opposite ends of the room, speaking in unison to emphasize some points (Dr. G: "And that's what you caaaall..." Both: "Sp hybridization!!!" *confetti*). And then maybe for the audience participation segments one teacher would stay in the front asking all the questions while the other one would move around in between our chairs, picking out willing audience members to answer and pointing a microphone in their faces. 

Anyway we'd all find out how that worked soon enough.

Theology came afterwards. I'm classmates with only a quarter of the block (the people whose last names are from A-D), which is sad. The one redeeming point of the alphabetical grouping, however (and it is a lot more than redeeming) is that I'm classmates with Raprap. Mind you, I say this not for any sweetsy, adorable reason, but simply because he is mega ultra super fun to debate with, and what better subject to debate about than Theology? n_n 

Our professor is a guy named Bro. Gil Donayre. Also seemed like a cool guy. He took pictures of us with his phone so that he could stare at our faces later on and try to memorize our names. @_@ 

He asked us to answer two questions on the back of our index cards, and these were: 1. Do you believe in God? 2. Why or why not? 

I answered yes to the first, and for the second question I said "Where else did the universe come from?" 

He explained that he would not fail anyone for not believing in God and that he respects everyone's beliefs (at this I was slightly disappointed, the heated arguments I dreamed of witnessing in class slowly swirling into drainage). So yeah. He seems rather open-minded. *sigh of disappointment in the slightest*

After class, the block met up at Sec-B for some snacks (I brought the usual pastel from home, and some chocolate from Hong Kong), photocopying (we have a LOT of readings now), and catching up tiemz. Photo courtesy of Albert Song! (You can see a hint of his watermark in the lower right-hand corner!)

Second day of classes (Tuesday)

Sociology and Anthropology first thing in the morning with Block XX. We had a substitute teacher for this period because apparently our real teacher was in Ilocos Sur on a dig (He's an archeologist!!! Coolbeans!!!). Got dismissed early woohoo.

My next class was immediately afterwards - Asian History taught by a TBA prof. The thing with History in Ateneo is that it's a subject that most people have to enlist for, like a PE class. So you end up talking to your blockmates (or your other friends, if you're not too chummy with your block) about which time slots are good and which professors to take. I read in some Ateneo forum that if you are presented a choice between a good time slot but TBA prof and an inconvenient time slot but with a legendary prof, always pick the legendary prof. However, I read this piece of advice after I had already enlisted for a 9:30 class with an unknown teacher. 

Apparently I was not alone in not reading this bit of information, because I enlisted in the same class as my blockmates Cheryl, Jules, AC and Arthur. Yay for not being alone~

Anyway, we found out that our prof was a Ms. Krysty Choi. She seems really funny and nice and cool. I just got nervous when she said that every meeting we'd have graded recitation, because unlike some people, I am not a history buff (*ahem*AC*ahem*Rap). 

P.E. came afterwards. Basketball for Women. I found out I was with my friends Syrielle (from Theo), Justine (my fellow Pulan kid), and Diane (my blockmate). Our teacher, Ma'am Vinarao, seemed pretty cool too (can you count the number of times I've said the word "cool" in this post? :|). We didn't do anything.

Annnnnnd that's it. My last class on Tuesday ends at 12, so after PE I was free as a bird. I can't remember what I spent my free time doing though. It might have been LFC stuff, but come to think about it I've been saying that I've been busy with LFC stuff when in reality I don't really have anything to do for the org just yet. :|

Wednesday

First class is at 1:30!!! Bio! Woohoo! We're under a Ma'am Pimentel, and yes, she also seems cool. We talked about really general biology stuff like ecosystems and populations and species and What Is Life? (not a philosophical question).

In Org Chem we had a five-item quiz about the Kung Fu Panda short. :| 

In Theo we discussed an article by a Edilberto (?) Jimenez about the importance of studying Theology. He basically said that we need to study Theology because there is a gap between what we say we believe in and what we actually practice. Stuff about how Christians are supposed to be nice people but then we end up doing bad things anyway.

I enjoyed our discussion on this very much, because our teacher raised the very same questions that I used to ask myself (questions that I will not discuss here). He asked us which of us went to Mass and which of us didn't, and then the homework for those who do go to Mass was to think of an intelligent reason why they go.

Thursday

For SA (Sociology and Anthropology), we watched The Village. Directed by none other than M. Night Shyamalan. I couldn't believe how awful some of the dialogue was ("Do not fear. We have magic rocks.") BLECH.

In Histo we had a graded recitation. Scary. I know so little about history.

In P.E. we were grouped into teams. I'm with Justine and Syrielle. And then a couple of basketbally stuff was explained. At the end of the period we had to practice dropping a ball behind our necks, clapping our hands in front of our heads, and then reaching back just in time to catch the ball. It is not as easy as it sounds.

We had our first Bio lab session afterwards, and it was actually very... Dragging. We're classmates with XX2 in Bio lab and lecture, by the way. We found out our lab groupmates, and I'm with Mike and AC as well as Hannah and Lianne from XX2. 

I am boring myself now. 

Moving on! 

Friday

Class is at 1:30 again WOOOHOOOO!!! 

Nothing significant probably happened that day, and I've become too lazy to talk about my individual classes (as if you really care). Sooooo let us skip to Friday night.

(c) Andy Europa!

"Now you can see bones in real life AND on TV!" (c) Micha Aldea!

Block barbeque! Woohoo! Our block does the most adorable things. There was isaw and burgers (soooooo goooooooood) and then the usual party fare (karaoke, Kinect, Monopoly Deal <--- not as dorky as it sounds). The awesome thing was that (mostly) everyone was there! Woohoo! Thanks for letting us use your place, Albert!

Saturday
Our NSTP orientation was not until next week. Woohoo!

In the afternoon I attended a Council of Organizations of the Ateneo (COA) training workshop for secretary-generals. I went with other LFC officers. I learned the importance of evaluations and databases and social networking and such. Lalalalala whatevs. I am NOT cut out to be a secretary-general.

After that, Eastwood n________________n

Sunday

Happy father's day Dad!

The rest of the week all clumped into one because I'm too lazy to recall individual days

Check out this checklist of slides from Bio lab (lame picture coutesy of my phone). It has all sorts of awesome Harry Pottery stuff like "Liver, Frog," "Human Blood," "Toad's Stomach," "Cat's Trachea."

Okay so in no particular order, here's what happened last week:

1. Touched a horse. @u@
2. Saw the Rizal exhibit.
3. Discussed infant baptism in Theo class. The thing with infant baptism is that you're forcing a baby who barely knows a thing about the world into a religion that he or she did not willingly choose.
4. Discussed church weddings in another Theo class. Why do we need to get married in a church? Is it so that God can bear witness to the marriage? If God is everywhere, why can't God be a witness to a couple who gets married in a civil union? 
5. Health Sciences first GA! WELCOME HEALTH SCI FRESHMEN!!!



(Clockwise from left:) Mico, Deo, me, Rap, Jules, Sophia (the newest addition to Block XX!)



DEOOOOOO

6. Viewed really awesome slides through a microscope in Bio lab. I saw human blood cells. AC's squamous epithelial cells (cheek cells), and my personal favorite, the tiny organisms in pond water. You could see green globs moving around and bumping into each other and such. @u@ SOOOO MUCH AWESOME. (Pardon my fangirling over microscope slides. I didn't have this in high school. u_u)
7. Did some passing exercises for basketball. Some of the other girls in my class are scary. :|
8. My dad's birthday! I made a five-second animation for him. Happy birthday Dad!
9. 
   
10. Learned that if you google "bird fly above rain," (in order to possibly find out what kind of bird can fly above rain) you get a lot of Neil Young in your search results. (Specially if you google in Yahoo.)

Kidding about that last sentence. If there's one thing I've learned through online media it's that sarcasm is hard to detect in text form. 

Anyway I think I'm about done. This has been a really long post. I dont' know for how long I'll disappear next (because I'm gonna be really busy this coming week), but in the meantime check out Aluminum Folio! It's back! (Oh, some people have actually been asking why it's called Aluminum Folio. I guess that the weird name has got them foiled. <-- I don't even think that's the right usage of the word but whatever.)

JOIN LFC THIS RECWEEK!!!