it's been a week since classes started. all those long lines for enlistment and paying last week finally paid off. except for one flaw. one of the subjects i enlisted was Fil128 (Mga Diskurso sa Wika at Lipunan) since those in charge said it was a ge subject. fast forward to tuesday, 8:30 am at the CAL new building room 209, the prof said it wasn't. so i had to cancel and look for another class. so i've spent most of that afternoon, wednesday and thursday contemplating and asking people around me of a ge subject they know that still accepts prerogs. i even asked help from my landlady since she knows some people in the teaching staff being a former budget officer at the NEC but the one she told me to approach couldn't assure me of a slot in any subject. i've been really nervous since my mom would kind of scold me if i took less than 18 units this sem. siyempre, because of all the financial stuff and all. sayang ung time ko d2 kung d ko lu2busin. i've actually been thinking of taking another ge subject but one more look at my current schedule tells me not to burden myself anymore.
so finally, last thursday, after being let out early from our chem17 lab class, i looked through the schedules at crs and looked for geog subjects. i initially wanted subjects that were scheduled for tuesdays&fridays, from 7-10 am or 11:30 am, preferably those on the 8:30-10 class but since i can't be sure on the following day, i decided to try my luck on one of the geog classes for 4-5:30 on the fourth floor. and fortunately, the prof i approached took me in, no questions asked. he just went on, wrote my name on his list of students and signed my form 26a or my change (of) mat(riculation) form. i was so relieved. finally, tpos na rin. so here's how my week goes:
Mondays and Thursdays
8:30-10 Chem 17 lec
10-11:15 Math 53
11:30-1 FS 106 (Gen. Microbiology) lec
1-4 Chem 17 lab
4-5:30 Geog 1
Tuesdays and Fridays
10-11:15 Math 53
1-4 FS 106 lab
Wednesdays
8-10 Scuba Diving @ the Dive Republic at the Kodak Bldg. near Don Antonio Heights
so there..
***
during the first day, the only prof that i met was for my math 53 class. all the others were no show. i think it has been tradition that during the first day, the only profs who show up are those in math, some even starting their lessons right away, like my prof in math 17 during the 1st sem in my 1st year here. we could call him sir adj. he's what my roommate calls mahinhin since he was her prof last sem in the same subject. i kind of agree. mejo malambot po siya. pero no offense. i think that's just his way. he's a real guy. and he doesn't like writing on chalk. makes his hand itch daw.
in the afternoon, it was said that classes were suspended because of the freshmen orientation but still we waited for our chem lab prof coz you never know. since we're supposed to wait for 20% of the entire class time, we were there for 1 hour waiting for a prof who didn't show up, just like the other classes.
in our fs106 lec class, she showed up. there were like 50 of us in that class (i'm not sure if that's the real number) but we were many. and she's going to be our teacher in lab too. so what we did was that we just filled out our classcards.
so there, just two profs on the first day.
***
on the second day, of course, lecture continues in math 53. and then in our lab in fs 106, our teacher just discussed the syllabus for our lec and lab classes then we were let off. nice. but there, i had a lot of work to do because of my non-ge subject. it was even so hot walking from building to building, even just looking at schedules of profs and classes in the cal building.
***
wednesday: woke up feeling excited since this time, the venue of my pe class is at the pool and no longer at the ylanan hall a.k.a. gym. at first, i thought that on the first day, the instructors will meet us on the gym floor since that what happens every first day of every pe class regardless of the venue of that class. but then, alessa - my roommate and classmate in pe - and i, had to go to the pool. we arrived past 8 but the instructors weren't around yet. so we just talked about stuff and listened to the others talking until they arrived.
the instructors were really knowledgeable. and they got me pretty excited. so they told us that we were not going to hold our pe class here in the pool but at dive republic since the facilites and tools/equipments are there. that's where our P2500.00 will go which is actually cheap already, considering the current price that is offered to non-UP students. and our training is quite long, longer than the required time for the first level training they offer to their members (they're with the CMAS, a european scientific diving community, otherwise known as World Underwater Federation, if i'm not mistaken) accdg. to the dive master with them, sir dick.
***
thursday: we finally met our prof. it's sir edwin de ocampo. however, i didn't bring my class card in chem 16 so i wasn't able to fill out a class card yet. i like him better - way better - than my prof in lec in chem 16, who unfortunately, from description of appearance, happens to be the prof of mars, my roommate, in her own chem17 lec class, who was previously under sir de ocampo. so we switched profs. i almost feel bad for her. she just has to study to keep up. and chem 17 is, hey say, the hardest chem subject.
so after everybody who could had filled up a classcard, he started introducing himself. graduated in bs chem in 1989 and completed his ms chem in 1999, completing his lab in canada where his daughter, now six yrs old and studying is upis, was born. used to play badminton; had wanted to take it up again but he got a sprained ankle. reads dan brown (his only novels that i know of are fight club w/c i've watched and the da vinci code which i wanted to read.) so after introducing himself, he asked each one of us to do the same too mentioning the name, course, highschool, hobbies and what we liked and didn't like in chem 16. found a good number of people who didn't like practical exams esp. with the bunsen burner, others their profs or the labs since it was pretty warm. i also found out that our class had specific subgroups: chem majors, materials eng'g majors, food tech majors and chem eng'g majors. there was only one metallurgical eng'g major there, if you can rely on my sense of hearing.
that afternoon was when we were transferred to another room in math bec. sir adj wanted to write on a white board. i thought we were stil in the same room so when i came up, i was wondering why my classmates were like people i've never seen before and why one of my classmates was continually coming in and out of a diff. classroom. after awhile, it hit me. finally got a chair in our present room, while my friend and orgmate madel related the same thing that happened to her earlier on.
in fs 106, we started discussing about microbiology. so as with almost every subject i know, we started with its history w/c came about bec. of anton van leeuwenhoek's invention of the microscope and how the spontaneous generation theory - where it was stated that living things came from non-living things - was rebuffed by proponents of the biogenesis, the most popular of w/c was the experiment done by louis pasteur. it was only then that i understood what his experiment was about.
now we finally met our prof in our lab in chem 17. i think he's newly graduated. he looked like a student when he came in. i initially thought he was just somebody sent in bec. the prof was not yet around, but turns out, he's the real thing. he was wearing jeans and a black shirt. he has long curly hair, reminiscent of students who well, had long, curly hair. my coursemate, faith pointed out at once that he was cute and i had to agree. he really is. and just yesterday, she mentioned that his eyes and the bridge of his nose were what made him cute, even if his hair was short. i was never a good observer of a person's face but i think he has quite this appeal on me. cheka! but then i don't have a partner yet since when everyone was told to pick one, there were only 5 of us coursemates and all the others had picked already. so my partner is going to be the absent one. fortunately, she's a girl. the 4 inch test tubes on our locker weren't clean. it was as if they've been used over the summer then put back to store. hate them.
so after sir deocarizo signing my change mat form, i joined the class. found out that sir corpuz, sergeant colonel of the UP ROTC is in my class too. he had us fill up some info sheet about us. then he let us transfer to the second floor (we were on the fourth floor), on the room that's specifically assigned to geography classes. there, to facilitate getting-to-know-yous, we had a sort of debate. class divided into two, one affirmative, the other the negative and changing perspectives after the first topic. first topic was: kris aquino is the epitome of a model Filipina. we were the affirmative side. didn't have anything to say. they said a lot but it's been tough affirming that statement. next topic: mmda is doing a good job. this time, we're the negative side. nothing to say again. however, my groupmates had a lot to say, and it's easier negating it. third topic: phils. is still going to move forward. for that, say your name and course and your stand on the topic. only two didn't believe it. one of them was sir francis corpuz. he said that the problem was deep-rooted and any change to the system scares away the filipinos. he also commented on the second issue (on the negative side) that what the mmda does is not good. putting up fences to solve jaywalking problem has turned aurora blvd into a chicken coop. dismissed late, around 5:45 and went straight home.
***
friday: still went out around 8 to have my adviser's signature on my change mat form before going to assessment. waited until 9:45. when i was outside the building, that's when he arrived. my gosh! so assessment, then straight to math. what a waste of time. just spent it rereading the first few chapters of runaway jury since i last read it during the month of march and haven't finished it yet. i was also carrying madel's brown and lemay chem book plus the chem 16 lab manual w/c i then returned to her, bec she also needs the book for chem 17. got to talk to my former classmate in streetdance. i think his name is carlo, a groupmate of mine. i asked his course. he said film. just had to wonder so i found out that he was shifting to chem. didn't ask the reason but can't help wondering why. he's supposed to be in his 3rd year already and it's just now that he's taking up math 53 and chem 16.
in our microbiology lab, the microbial thought of the day (taken from some of our lecture visuals) was "Flame the mouth." it turns out the bunsen burner is going to be a central part of our laboratory life here in fs 106. everything has to be sterile before, during and after use as we're dealing with microorganisms here. i'm pretty excited now on the various things we'll be doing with microbes whose food cost P5,000 per half-kilo. can you imagine that? no wonder our lab fee is expensive, P500.
we didn't take until 4 to finish. so i headed home for awhile to cool myself since it was extremely hot and read up on john grisham. then before 5:30, i headed to up music circle's tambayan for our first GA of the sem. a lot of things have been planned with the aim of being recognized not only in UP but also outside UP and being focused and totally musically-inclined. new leadership, new stuff to look forward too. need to practice again. excited to form a band and take part in the MC productions planned. hope i can manage my time, as well as my prospective bandmates. btw, we were planning an all-girl band, all from my batch, 03-A.
***
since it's a weekend and today's independence day, a national holiday, all my roommates went home or somewhere else. since there are no bar reviews today, ate kash and ate mariz took some time to relax and so, i was alone in the room last night and will be until tomorrow.
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