Refresh

Okay, a lot of my recent posts have been crap. This blog is about my life as an Atenean, not a record of my... hang on, it IS a record of my college life. What it is not is a blow-by-blow account of everything that happens.

I never wrote a fifth week or sixth week post. If I'm not mistaken this Friday, August 5th, marks the end of my seventh week at the Ateneo. Seven weeks have passed and I have already had 3 long tests (two in Math--both passed, one in Chemistry just yesterday) and still have not received a freaking LETTER GRADE. Seriously, my O.B. classmates have been getting their B's, their A's, and I have NOTHING. I don't know my academic standing, and it's worrying me quite a bit because I don't know what to expect when I log on to my AISIS account and see my grades there.

In Math, Dr. Garces never gave us a syllabus. He said he would after the first two 'elimination' Long Tests, but I guess he forgot. He also forgot to assign a beadle, but that's not a problem because he erases his own work at the end of class. Like I said, he never gave us his syllabus, so I don't know how he grades. But I think I'm pretty much hovering around the C to B area.

Being a former straight-A (I actually am not, since O.B. doesn't give letter grades besides their E, AS, S, NI, P thingy, but you get the idea) student, it's still kinda hard to adjust to being one of the lower-ranked students in your Math class. I don't mean this in an arrogant way but, honestly, back in High school, I was one of the best in Math. We Math whizzes didn't study Math at all because once you were familiar with the concepts, the rest follow through. So what is so different about THIS Math? This freaking Math 18: Principles of Modern Math II?

I know the answer. That was a rhetorical question. The answer is that back in High school, we weren't trained to THINK. We were simply trained to answer the problem given, follow certain steps, taking note of certain rules. My Math Long Tests would almost never simply ask of us, 'what is x?' Instead, they will ask us some of the most impossible things to answer at first glance.

I can still vaguely remember my experience with the first Long Test. I tried answering the first, hit a snag, so I skipped and went to the second. The same thing happened again and again, until I realized I ran out of things to skip. That mental wall that you just hit triggers your panic mode. You start to think "oh my God, I can't answer a thing!" another voice in your head tells you you have probably an hour and a quarter left after your useless skipping. You mind starts getting blurry (I'm serious) and for a moment--just a moment--you forget totally everything. Your mind goes blank and you can already see yourself failing the test.

After snapping out of that, I started back at number 1. This time I got an answer, I moved on. Realizing that this could be solved by doing that, the rest just came naturally. Of course, I didn't get ALL the items, but I got enough to make me feel comfortable enough. I even guessed my exact score. I got 6 out of the 7 questions but my score was only 75 because I made a mistake in writing the final answer. Well, I knew when I was writing them that something was wrong anyway.

So my Math midterm is this Wednesday. The day before, Tuesday, is my 3rd Long Test, all about Functions. So far, I don't think they will cause me much trouble, because I have been able to answer much of the exercises given in the book. However, my Math teacher is Dr. Garces, one of the infamous GCF terror profs (though, as I have already said, I don't get the point because he seems really nice) and he does not give just any other Long Test. You see, the first two LT's are Departmental, since they are the elimination LT's, so it has to be fair for all of us. But after the shuffling of Ma 18 classes, the profs are free to do whatever LT's they want to.

This weekend I will be studying hard for my Math LT and Math midterm. I am thankful that I've been granted even just a little Math prowess from my genes, and from God. I only wish that my skills would have been honed even more in High school. Not that I'm dissing O.B. They just don't have a solid curriculum, that's all. I would have liked to know Math like this back in High school, rather than repeat a lot of the lessons. Although, 4th year Math was actually a lot related to my Math now.

Nobody reads my blogs, but if ever there were, I'm sorry for ranting about Math in almost every one of my posts. It could be an exaggeration, but it's a really huge chunk of what bothers a lot of us. So if you're a high school student, reading about Management Engineering, you'll know what's in store for you.

I remember during the Prep Course, one speaker told us to begin with the end in mind. Remember what and who I'm doing this for. I've been getting increasingly nervous because sometimes the 'end' in my mind is simply being rich and being the head of a multinational corporation. I had to remind myself that that is not my plan, my plan is to change the world. I am wise ENOUGH to know that you can't do that without money or power. You could, but what are the chances of that? I want to graduate ME so that I can finally start helping people.

Also, like that Tibetan Personality Test Paolo asked me take, I apparently value pride a lot. And perhaps that is true, but pride for the right reasons. Aaaand maybe a few bitter ones. Over the summer before college, when I met my relatives, they asked me what school I'd go to. I said Ateneo. Immediately, they were impressed. I guess my English teacher is right, the name does come with a certain effect. They asked what course. I replied with 'Management Engineering'. I hadn't expected my relatives to know what that was because, honestly, I didn't know what it was either, only that it was a hard course, that it offered a lot of job opportunities, and it brought in tons of money.

After my relatives found out I passed ME, they started talking about how good a course it was, and that, yeah, you could get a lot of money. I sat there quietly nodding as they gradually expounded into a wider range of topics (my uncle who graduated from a similar course but in La Salle) and I shifted out of the conversation. You COULD say that I am anti-social, but I just really don't talk to my relatives that much because I speak English and they speak in Kapampangan. Don't blame me, blame my parents for raising me in English.

And because I didn't speak in Kapampangan, my relatives hardly spoke to me as well. And I am at this unfortunate age where I am the second youngest of all my cousins, the youngest was in the fifth (now sixth) grade. So I wasn't the kid, and neither was I employed. So basically, they had nothing to talk to me about. Instead they fixated on my brother, the architect student. I have a cousin who's already an architect, so he and his family talk to my brother about all kinds of architect stuff. Meanwhile, I'm left to talk to the youngest cousin about kiddy stuff, which I am too old for already.

So my point here is, I guess I really want to graduate ME not only for the chance of earning money and having the opportunity to make a difference, but also because of my pride. If I graduate from ME, my relatives who think nothing of me but the girl who doesn't talk will start to look up to me because I'm freaking rich haha. So yeah, that's the pride part about graduating ME. I guess I'm not surprised that I'm focused so much on pride. I've never really had anything to be proud about--scratch that, I've never had anything to BOAST about. That's also because I'm an extremely humble person by nature. HAHAHA.

It's half-past ten at night. Tomorrow I will begin my studying in Math. I think I'll wake up early and grab some breakfast at McDo. This is my first time (I think) staying the weekend. I love the feeling of independence, but I also fear it. Typical teenager, eh?

Good night.

Fourth Week Review

Okay, I know my last few blog posts seem like they were written by a half-asleep zombie or something, so I'll make it up to you with a much detailed account of my fourth week.

MONDAY

Highlight of the Day: Received the results of my Math 18 Long Test #1

If you have read my earlier posts (or if you know me), you'd know that I'm an ME student, yeah, and our Math subject is called Math 18 a/b or, you know, we just call it Math 18 or write 'Ma18'. So anyway, it's Principles of Modern Mathematics. It's basically a review of high school Math.

In ME, they have this rule that you must garner a total score of 100/200 in the first two Long Tests in Math 18. Our classes started on June 13; our first long test was scheduled for June 30. That gave us about two weeks to learn pretty much the hardest Math I have ever experienced--so far. Our topics were quite simple, really. First was Proving. I'd like to show you a little something about what proving is like, if you don't mind haha. If you do, you can just scroll down.

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Proving goes kinda like this... everything you do has to have proof, so there's this thing called the Law of Trichotomy. It means that for any real number a , exactly ONE of these can happen:

a < 0, a = 0, or a > 0

There is also a rule that goes, if a > b, then a - b > 0

And simple rules like: a + c > b + c --this is called the Order Axiom (ii) , and ac > bc -- Order Axiom (iii).

So remembering these rules, we are asked to prove stuff like...

If a > b > 3, prove that b^2 + 6a - 2ab < 9

SOLUTION

Since a > b, a - b > 0. Similarly, b - 3 > 0 and by transitive property, a > 3, and therefore a - 3 > 0.

By Order Axiom (iii), we have

(a-b)(b-3) > 0

-b^2 + ab - 3a + 3b > 0

Also by Order Axiom (iii), we have

(a - 3)(b-3) > 0

ab - 3a - 3b + 9 > 0

By Order Axiom (ii),

(-b^2 + ab - 3a + 3b) + (ab - 3a - 3b + 9) > 0

-b^2 + 2ab - 6a + 9 > 0

Therefore,

9 > b^2 + 2ab - 6a + 9

*The words do have to be written like that.

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So besides Proving, our other topics for the first Long Test 1 were solving inequalities, I don't need to tell you how they are...

The last topic was circles and lines, but not just your ordinary circles and lines, my friend! Can you imagine trying to solve for the equation of a line that passes through a circle at some random given point, or trying to find the equation of the circle instead, given a line tangent to the circle at some point. Well, now that I think about it, it's kinda easy... but that's just 'coz I know what to do. At the start of the term, I had no idea how I would answer something like that.

So the first Long Test consisted of 7 items, the last one is always Proving because Proving is the hardest and the professors put it there for only the smart students to answer, which I find entirely untrue because I was able to answer it and I'm not a smart student haha. It's a lot easier if you work backwards on your scratch paper. So anyway, we took the test last... Thursday, June 30. I remember I wasn't feeling extremely nervous to the point where my heart wasn't beating wildly, nor was it frozen like the first time I met Dr. Garces. But I remember I was nervous enough to have my hands shaking while answering item #1.

One annoying thing about being nervous DURING a test is that you seem to be looking ahead, instead of focusing on what's right there, right then. I tried to answer a number, and then I'd hit a snag--by snag, I mean I realized this would either be a long solution, or my solution so far was incorrect--so I moved on to another item. I find out that I need a lot of thinking time to answer this item, so I move on to the next one for fear of running out of time. And move on to the next one, the next one, and back to the other one. The annoying part was that I KNEW I was wasting time hopping from one question to another when I should try and focus on answering one question and finishing it.

So our answers were to be written in bond paper. Before the test I took out a bunch of papers and wrote my name on all of them to save time. Everyone was doing it anyway. So blablabla I answered everything except for one where they asked me to prove that two circles did NOT intersect by giving us their equations haha. I just scribbled a few solutions, like finding the radius and the midpoints, etc. because I knew I'd get 'partial points' and damn right I did. I got 8 points for that item (out of 15) just for getting the radius, midpoint, and distance.

So MONDAY, we had our Math class at a computer lab, which was fun because Dr. Garces introduced us to a program kinda like Word but for Math equations and graphs and stuff. It was really fun because it was mixing Math with Computers, we even got to do this wicked.. 3D-like parabola thing that reminded me of the behind-the-scenes footage I see of animated films or video games (like SSX!) and it was really cool...

So at the end of the class, Dr. Garces handed out our results. I got a measly 75 out of 100, our highest scorer was Sylbeeeeert who got 90 out of the hundred. I guess I could've gotten 80 or something if I knew how to write the final answer properly on those inequalities... dammit haha. I dunno if you're supposed to get the intersection or the union of the sets, you see. And in one item, we were supposed to write the equation in slope-intercept form, I didn't know the thing I did WASN'T the slope-intercept form... o.O

So that's it for Monday's highlights.

Other stuff we did on Monday: Chem Lab experiment where we mixed different solutions and recorded our observations. Another experiment where we measured unnamed solutions of different colors, solved for their densities, and put them in a test tube to see the layers of different colored solutions haha.

TUESDAY

Highlight of the Day: Nothing

My TTH schedule is pretty relaxed. I only have three classes for the day, the first of which is Filipino at 7h30 to 9h00. Coroza (my prof) was out, so he sent a substitute, and we answered two essay questions. Next, I was supposed to have PE at 9h00 to 10h00 but our instructor was having surgery on his right forearm so I stayed at the library. My last class is a one and a half hour Math class from 10h30 to 12h00. After class I usually just go home and eat lunch there. But today I went with my blockmate Lizle to do our MEA interview.

* MEA stands for Management Engineering Association. It's the 'home org' for ME students. Similar to AMA for MGT, MISA for MIS, MACA for.. the Management with Chem in it...

So during the MEA interview, they explained to us the different projects under MEA. And they asked us what our skills/talents were.. and who our MEA crush was. I'm not gonna expound on that. But I WILL tell you what I did haha, since it was Tuesday and I had an early leave, I was itching to go home early and watch my Korean movie. So when Delfin asked if we had any class afterwards I said yes, I had class at 12h30 (it was 12h00) so they said okay, they'd hurry it up. Then 12h30 came and they said, oh Ashley has to go, so I said no, I always arrive 30 minutes early for class. So we went on haha.

WEDNESDAY

Highlight of the Day: AIESEC Orientation Seminar at the MVP Roofdeck

Academic-wise, the day was normal. Every Wednesdays I have a 4-hr break period between Chemistry (lecture) and Math so I usually stay with two of my blockmates at the Rizal Library Information Commons (where the computers are). I spent quite a lot--A LOT--of time on the internet for some reason... I think that was when I asked Paolo all those formspring questions. So with about fifteen minutes to 10h00 I answered a few Math problems, then we had lunch at Gonzaga Hall. I ordered this spicy tuna bowl from that Bento (?) stall and they weren't kidding. I kept blowing my spoon thinking it was still hot when actually my tongue was on fire and made everything feel hot.

So I attended the AIESEC Orientation Seminar because--duh--I joined AIESEC. You can search that on your own, it's too hard to explain. But I don't think you can find this online so I'll just tell you about it. There are, I think, six divisions or departments you can get in to. Outgoing Exchange, Incoming Exchange, External Relations, Projects, Communications, Talent Management, and Finance.

Yeah... I got distracted while watching Marites vs. the Superfriends =)) You should really check that out.

So I figured out that I wanna go into-----

DAAAAMN, I totally forgot about this post I was gonna make =)) And now I have no recollection of what I did last week, since it's already the end of the fifth week. Oh, well. At least you learned an important Math lesson.

College Life So Far

I think three weeks is enough to get the hang of college life, yeah?

So RECWEEK started... for the non-Ateneans who read my blog.. nobody reads my blog but whatever hahaha.. RecWeek is when the orgs start recruiting freshies, or I think not only freshies, to join the different organizations. There are 49 accredited orgs, meaning there are a bunch of other orgs (probably) but are mostly for hobbies or sports. The 49 orgs are grouped into 9 'clusters' I do not remember the names, just one: the Business Cluster, obviously because the ME home org, MEA, is under that cluster...

So I decided I wouldn't join MEA until Friday or Thursday afternoon, since I'd like to know how my first long test goes before I sign up for MEA. They do say that "once a MEAn, always a MEAn" but come on, there's no denying it's EMBARRASSING as hell to join MEA, then not be an ME student in the new few weeks.

What else is there to say about college...

Well, the classes are going well. It is indeed true that the Ateneo only hires the best teachers for us. A lot of them are PhD's or whatever, so they do have the right to be called 'professors'. Oh, but my teacher in Chem 1, I think, is still studying.

The campus is, I've said this before, BEAUTIFUL. I knew the moment I entered that I was in the right place. Hard to believe, but the first time I entered the Ateneo campus was actually... when I was confirming haha. I have never stepped foot inside the campus before that day.

I particularly like the fact that we WALK haha. Some students, like my friend Alex, probably hate that. But you're walking, you see things... it's like a mini-adventure between class. But the sad thing is that about... 60% of my walkings are done alone haha.

The food... JSEC is a given. The food there is great, but an entire lunch costs P100 (P130 - P30, haha because of the return thing). The food at Gonzaga... well I only ate there twice--and ordered the same thing on both occasions. So it's not very good. But it's cheaper than JSEC food. There are other cafeterias (like Manang's) that are cheaper and have good food, but they're out of the way, so I don't get to eat there.

I'll talk about college more some other time. I really doubt anyone reads this anyway. The purpose of this is to just record my college life, so when I'm older, I can look back at these events.

Just a Quick Tuesday Post

My first class for today was the dreaded Fil 11 with the famous Michael Coroza. Luckily (or unluckily), he never arrived so we got a free cut for that class. We waited for thirty minutes just in case he would suddenly arrive because word on the street was that there would be a Diagnostic Test.

With PE being my immediate next class, I found myself with about an hour of free time. I joined my blockmates (shocking) to Gonzaga Hall where we played a bunch of games like Judge-Victim-Spy-Killer (only the Spy was called 'Police' and there was a Healer), and spin the bottle.

I left for the Table Tennis area, where I met up with Cha, twenty minutes before the class. I found out one of my blockmates was also taking Table Tennis, Patty Gaw (the one who looks like Cam Ang, wait, how would you know, I never told you that). I was glad that Cha was there with me, because somehow it made meeting new people easier.

So our teacher was really cool, he was funny, and understanding. He told us that there would be no class this coming Thursday, so that's nice... His number one rule was that we should not take our friends to the Table Tennis area, only until the class is about to finish. He's not strict, he just doesn't like getting distracted.

So after PE, I went to check both the rooms on my Ma 18a/b schedule. On TTH, our classroom would be at CTC 307, so I sat at the SEC walk benches for a while, then the stairs at the CTC building, where I listened as my blockmates talked about famous Ateneans from their respective High schools.

So Math didn't go so badly, I read the book (like four times, seriously, over and over) the night before, so I pretty much understood the lesson. But understanding isn't even half of it, our topic is proving, so it requires a different kind of thinking.

So, basically, today was a very positive day. But the best part comes AFTER Math.

My totally awesome beyond all reason BEST FRIEND, Paolo, who studies (for now) at UP-M was having some sort of orientation at UP-D and was planning on visiting us at ADMU to get his transfer application--yes, I just made that public, Paolo is TRANSFERRING.

I finished class at 12h00, and had a lot of time, so I decided to go to Kodak to have my 1X1 pictures taken but the line was very long. If I had known what would happen later today, I'd have just waited for the line. Paolo poked me on my left shoulder and there he was in all his jacket-y glory. On the way to Ateneo, I told him to remove his jacket because (1) it was really hot, and (2) people would look at him funny.

He refused, of course, and so we walked to the Loyola Bookstore first, where I showed him the cheaper Harry Potter hardbounds. Then we went to the OAA but found out they were on their lunch break and would be back at 13h00. So we walked around some more and I gave him a brief description of some buildings.

So are we were walking along the red brick road, in front of Faura Hall, we met Macy (OB friend) who was on her way to her PE class. We accompanied her to Manang's where we sat down and I had a C2 Apple. At 13h00 we left Macy to head over to the OAA.

We filled out the forms, paid at Cashier 8, and received his brown envelope. After that, we communicated with Cha and Alex about having lunch together. They said they already ate with their blockmates so Paolo and I were headed to Leong Hall to leave for KFC when they texted us and said they were at the bookstore, which is near Leong Hall. So we went to them and ended up having lunch with all our OB friends haha.

So, annoying Kodak place... after our long late lunch, Paolo left and a few minutes later we left, too. Cha and I went to Kodak to get 1x1 ID pics before we went to KFC, and we just checked. They said come back at 18h00 so I went home, started reading my Lit papers, then Cha called me up to tell me she was at 7-11 so I went down and we both went to Kodak but our pictures weren't there yet. We stood there for like, thirty minutes. Our numbers were 1814 and 1816, and they were only at 1750's but lucky for us, the lady sensed I was in a hurry so she hurried ours up haha. We got ours at 18h30 and I brisk-walked back to the flat because I still had to finish 10 more pages.

I finished them awhile ago, around 8-something. It wasn't really hard, I'm just nervous about what our teacher expects us to do. I read it, understood lots of it, and I have a four hour break tomorrow to refresh my memory. So far, so good.

Hopefully the following days will go just as good, and the workload won't pile up too high. I don't have a planner so that could be a problem haha. Oh, I'll ask my brother to get me a Nestle one...

FIRST DAY

There's not much to say about the events in between classes so this blog will be centered around my new professors. No, sorry, I can't say "new", can I? I've never had professors before.

I'll be adding some anecdotes unrelated to my professors, just so this wont be boring (not like that will help... but still).

I woke up at 05h00 because I had to leave the flat at precisely 06h45. I took a shower at 06h00, and don't ask me what I did for an hour because, frankly, I don't remember... I know I went online, but I don't know what took me one hour... I think I read Yahoo, or that could've been last night...

So anyway, I chatted briefly with Alex and then left at 06h45. I crossed the overpass footbridge (I don't think that's the correct term, but I'll use it anyway) and got to Faura Hall through JSEC and more walking.

I sat in front of the classroom, F-115, and waited for 07h30 (this is really tiring, Paolo). My blockmates who chose Chem showed up, and so did those who chose Physics since their classroom was just beside ours, I think.

The teacher was nearly late, but it was worth it to have met him. His name was Leo Yambot, he's currently taking his masters in Chem at UPD, I think, and he has been teaching part-time at the Ateneo for a year, this is his second, I think. He was a nice teacher, the kind who isn't strict, you know, just chill-chill. He said our Chem would be A-able if we studied, but the regular grade would be B-B+. That doesn't sound so bad. He's 27 years old, still plays PSP (which makes him ten times cooler, AND he's currently playing Dissidia), doesn't like sports games, and has difficulty hearing.

My grade: A (if the Ateneo had A+, then he would be A+)

He dismissed us quite early, so our block walked together to ADSA for some of us to get our ID's but then they told us we should get them at Co.. something Hall, so we went there but there was no ID validation anywhere. So the others just helped those who chose Physics with their quiz/homework (lucky me, I almost chose Physics to get a good PE, dodged that bullet).

I got my ID and next we had Chem lab at Schmitt. Stephen and I were the first to get to the classroom but we found out that we conflicted with another Chem lab class so our classroom was transferred one floor up. We met our Chem lab teacher, Eunice Biteng.

"She's new." That's what's written on the notes I took down. She graduated Biochemistry from UST, is taking up her masters at UPD, I'm not sure, and is planning to take get her PhD at the Ateneo (I didn't know they had one). She was nice, strict about following proper procedure and protocol. She seems nice, but I'm sensing mood swings in the future. But I'm not psychic, so this probably isn't true.

My grade: B+

So after Chem the block opted to have lunch, first at the JSEC, and then at Gonzaga Hall, but both times were unsuccessful; they were both full. Stephen suggested we eat at McDo outside. Knowing that Math with "terror prof/ME-killer" Garces was next, I decided to just stay inside the campus. So I walked around all alone and made one of the biggest mistakes I'd made this day. I bought a Chocolate Freeze and a Turkey sandwich from Bo's Coffee. I ended up flushing 30% of the Chocolate Freeze down the toilet. I know it's a bad thing, and I'm not saying Bo's Coffee's Chocolate Freeze wasn't delicious, it was just a mistake. I hate blended drinks and everything that has anything to do with Coffee, so from the start I knew I should not have bought that drink. But don't let that discourage you from buying from there, if you do enjoy coffee or blended drinks... or whatever.

So I met up with Alex and Cha thirty minutes before my class with Garces. They sat with me on the benches at SEC walk until I saw my block again and went with them to the classroom.

Garces was terrifying. The first time I saw him, I couldn't help but think of the bad guy in Agent Cody Banks 2 haha, the bald one. I searched, he was played by Keith Allen, you can search him if you like.

I can't explain what was going on with my body the entire time he was talking. It was like, my heart had stopped beating and felt so heavy. My legs felt like jelly, even though I was sitting down. I felt sleepy, too, but not the Mr. Lumboy-class sleepy, more like... my energy was being drained.

He handed out a notice to our parents about what would happen if we were to get less than 50% on our first two Long Tests. It means immediate removal from the program. I guess I should warn my parents about that soon.

He told us that what most people found hard in the long tests was the last question. The last question was always--ALWAYS--proving. He gave us an example: x^2 + 1 > 0. He told us that writing an example is NOT proof. So we couldn't say if x = 1 then x^2 + 1 > 0 => 2 > 0 because it is illogical to assume that all things would be true by just proving one... or something like that.

So we got to writing if-then statements like: If n is an even integer, then n^2 is also even. We started off by saying that n = 2a and so n^2 = (2a)^2 or 4a^2... but whatever, you're not looking for a math lesson, are you?

I don't know what grade to give him, partly because I'm still hoping he's not as hard as they all say, but also because I believe he's a great teacher. I read a lot of comments about his being a good teacher. It's just that he gives hard Long Tests. Hopefully, I pass the first two and continue my life as an ME student.

So after class, I left the room inwardly shaking from head to toe. I headed straight to the farthest building, Belarmine for my EN 11 class. I stopped by the satellite store and bought a bottle of Coca Cola. I then sat on the bench beside a couple talking about Hey! Arnold, and read my brother's old pre-calculus book back when he was still studying.

For EN 11, our professor was Roy Agustin. He didn't say much about himself, but asked about us. I found out his dad was from San Fernando, but he doesn't speak Kapampangan. He will teach us how to write on the university level. We will be submitting papers, having class debates and little activities. He does not allow cellphones in class, either. He seems fun. He sits on the table, and makes jokes.

My grade: A

For LIT 13, we got Ms. Rachelle Torreon. She's quite strict, but has a 3-chance rule thingy. She seems very passionate about her work, and I hope to learn a lot from her. I usually like reading fiction... majority of the books I have read ARE fiction haha. But I only read popular books, not literary winners, so I may feel out of place in that class. I hope the readings she will give us aren't, you know, something I find boring. I want to be interested in them, for both the sake of my grade, and my personal... feelings..?

My grade: B+ (only because I'm a little scared that she doesn't like me, even though she hasn't yet shown any signs of that hahaha)

Tomorrow I will be meeting the famous Michael Coroza (he's not famous to me, but on the long shot that he is to you, well... congrats) who will be teaching me my most painful subject, Filipino. I really hope, I really really really really hope, that ME allows the basic Filipino track, but that is only if we will be given a diagnostic test, which, I heard, is unlikely.

Also I will be having my first PE immediately after Filipino, so I must run. It will just be orientation, and I am glad I will be with Cha.

The last class of the day will be Math for 1 and a half hours. We will be starting our lecture, hopefully I will not be completely lost.

Please, pray for me that I may graduate four years from now still in ME. :)

Oh, and in return, I will be giving you lots of money, once I become rich ;)

Three Days of OrSem in One Post

If you haven't yet sensed from the title, obviously I didn't think the OrSem was that fun. They built it up through all the hype and everything, but maybe it just wasn't my scene.

But I'll be fair, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as the Prep Course. That's kinda unfair to those whose courses didn't have a Prep Course but (as that Dutch girl Margha said in Friends) 'that is my truth,' sorry.

One of the things from the OrSem that were better than the Prep Course was the food. Seriously, the food during the Prep Course... well, it felt like eating bits of clothing.

The preparations and planning were similar on both events. I liked how the TnT's (Talks & Tours, like our TLC's in Prep Course) were so full of energy. They were always dancing (and sweating) and always hyped up.

In terms of activities, the OrSem was better at, you know, the bonding stuff. But that's pretty much a requirement since we were with our blockmates; during the Prep Course, we were divided into teams irrelevant in our next four academic years. In the Prep Course there was only one 'getting-to-know' activity, while in the OrSem there were many games to help us get to know each other better.

The OrSem and Prep Course were also different because the OrSem was about Ateneo, and the Prep Course was just about ME. So another thing I liked about the OrSem was the tour of the campus. Now my friends and I won't get lost on the first week.

The SOM night part of the OrSem was the closest activity to the Prep Course that we had. They did the same things, like show us statistics of how many students actually get into the program, what career opportunities lie ahead, etc.

OH, the OrSem was a lot easier on the legs than the Prep Course was haha. The OrSem running parts were organized better than the Prep Course's since the stations were NEARER to each other haha. AND the weather was better, it only rained on the first day, compared to three days of full-on rain during the Prep Course.

The OrSem night was boring. Maybe because I wasn't really interested in Filipino bands... but we won 2nd place (again) in the T-shirt making contest, so I won a free shirt and a bunch of small notebooks.

Being the antisocial person that I am, I usually didn't talk to anyone. But I think I liked the Prep Course better because we were, like, thirteen. Now we are thirty-one. Right now I'm having a hard time seeing the future and how we will end up as close as (if not closer or less) than my high school friends. I had had many years getting to know my high school friends and now I only have four... what? Anyway, that doesn't matter, I'm sure something will come around.

So yeah, there will be no pictures because frankly, I didn't like the OrSem that much... and this post is, well, useless. So you shouldn't have bothered reading it. You wasted _____ minutes (depending on how quickly you read) reading this useless post.

So before I end this... useless post... I would like to inform you that tantantaaaaan Block T4 Hardcore got Garces as their Math professor. I can't say anything about him, I've never met him. But hopefully all that terror prof talk is not true. I just have to study and work hard, I can't blame the prof if ever I get a low grade.

PICTURES

Okay, so I added Ateneo Mea just to snag some of the pics of the Prep Course.

Credits to the photographers of the MEA Documentations Team.

(The pictures are not in chronological order)

This was the scoreboard during the Hollywood Squares game.

Team Star Wars' is the first one (upper leftmost). This was

created using a program that is familiar to us all: Visual Basic.

It was quite simple, even Candice could do it haha. The blue

button adds points, the red deducts. There's an input box on

top if you can see, where you input the value to be added or

subtracted. In the game, you could get a different number of

points depending on your answer. (For example, if the TLC

who answered the question gave a false answer and we wrote

on our board 'Disagree' but our answer was wrong, we only

get one point. If our answer was right, we'd get two points.)

This was the first challenge, as you can see, our ankles were tied

together to make it harder for us to walk.

It's sort of like the kadang-kadang in OB Intrams.

Our team was at the very last waaaay back there.

This was the challenge when we had to stand up without

lifting ourselves up using our hands.

The tall one was Miranda Priestly and her assistant's the

one with sunglasses. The following pictures are the people

stationed around campus; the backdrop is just where they

modeled for the pictures.

Hannah Montana and the little Lily.

The super fun ballet dancers.

Brad and Angelina minus the kids.

Lady Gaga. I wonder where

Katy Perry is? She was with LG

when they bought our shirts...

Paris Hilton and her bodyguard. The

first people we went to. Her stuffed

dog doesn't seem to be with her here.

Troy and Gabriella. Troy is Micx's older brother.

They didn't buy a single one of our shirts.

Our beloved TLC's Aldrich and Bea.

Behind them are (girl with sunglasses)

Megan Fox, and two Avatar... creatures.

I didn't know we were going to have

TLC's at the beginning so I wasn't

paying attention to their performance.

TLC's for Team First Love.

Here's the redheaded Charlie's Angel again.

(L-R) Rommel, Tim, Micx, and Enrique. They were

doing the Poker Face head-bob here.

The guys after Micx finished the challenge where he

ate the raw egg-yolk.

Next... the EPIC WIN pic.

Hahahaha! This was the disgusting orange challenge.

I love how the photographer got this pic hahaha!

Their hair was wet because it was raining hard

despite the sunny background. It really gives

a nice effect, doesn't it? =))

BTW, these people weren't in my group.

Aaaaand this is Team Star Wars, our TLCs, and the hosts.

I blurred my face because I'm planning on remaining

anonymous in my blogs.

We won 1st runner-up in this pic.