Feeling a little...homesick

No, I am not in a foreign country yet. I'm still in Manila, in Ateneo, but not in ICA.

Forgive the nostalgic and sentimental content that this blog entry might will contain; I just can't help but feel "homesick". What with all these people around me saying how much they miss our class (Fidelity), our CAT group, and everything else ICA-related that they otherwise thought they had left behind for good...

I don't think there are words to describe how different it is in college now. Sure, I'm happy, I feel quite free and independent, and I've made a lot of new friends...but somehow, when I find myself staring blankly into space during a group conversation, I feel the loneliness, the sheer difference of the company I'm with. The separation anxiety, if you may. Maybe it's because I haven't quite settled into college just yet (I mean, what's two weeks compared to three or four years, right?). Maybe not.

I miss laughing like there's no tomorrow. I haven't laughed my signature "witch" laugh in college yet, because nobody has the same crazy sense of humor I do. I miss acting crazy and completely weird, without fear of judgement. I don't think I can do that with my blockmates yet; I'm afraid they'll think I really am nuts. I miss singing aloud to no one in particular. I miss hugging all my friends as if we haven't seen each other in a looong time. I miss hanging out in the Fidelity classroom or in the DM and doing nothing...nothing productive. I miss eating recess and lunch with my friends. I miss walking along the corridors and the HSCC feeling like you own it. I miss talking to our manongs and manangs and the ever-friendly guards. I miss the garden in Gate 5 that doesn't have much grass. Heck, I even miss the cats that love climbing up the garbage cans and scaring the living wits out of me when I come near.

I just miss everything. :( And I sincerely wish hope that if I give it time, Ateneo will grow on me too.

"Who's your block crush?"

I'm just gonna put it out there and say that I really hate despise this question.

Ever since I started college, and  started hanging out with my block, this seems to be the never-gets-old conversation starter. I mean, I don't get it. It seems so imposing and pushy to force someone to answer the question and choose a blockmate he or she's "crushing" on for the sake of small talk. I mean, really? Has conversation been so scarce and difficult that this kind of thing is necessary?

I'm not anti-social or anything of the sort, quite the opposite actually, but it just unnerves me that this has to be asked over and over and over again. Isn't it suffice to say once that you don't take a particular liking to anyone in your block? It gets tiring...and....weird to have someone ask you if you like this and that person. One by one.

Okay, hahaha. I feel better now that I've let this one out. I guess I'll get used to it sooner or later, but if I hear this question in the next few days, I will...bite someone's head off.

Yo, frosh.

Say hello to Block II, the one and only AB-MA Political Science/ AB-MPM class in town! :) Haha.

Pretty awesome bunch of people right here who have made my first few days of college completely amazing. (Well, technically, I've only been in college for a day, but it feels wayy longer than that.) I was supposed to wait until the end of the week to write about my experiences on being a freshie in the Ateneo, but I couldn't wait any longer. Either I'm a) too bored at home right now, b) too dang talkative, or c) too excited, but whichever it is, I'm blogging about this...right now.

So, on my first day as a college freshman, I got to attend my Math 11, English 12 (Merit), and Literature 13 classes. I have to say, I was pretty hesitant to go into Math first thing in the morning, but I'm still glad I did. My professor wasn't so bad, but he seems really young and does not want to be called 'Sir', which is a really foreign and bizarre concept to me. So...Allen geez, so informal I can't do it. Sir Allen goes ahead and starts a freaking lesson on what must have been the fifth minute he was in class! Good thing it was on radicals and exponents only, so my wee little brain could still handle it...which hopefully, will be true for the next few lessons/reviews for the diagnostic exam (to determine whether or not some of us will be demoted to Basic Math for first sem).

I had a three hour break after that, and I did nothing but walk and walk, eat and eat, and chill and talk. Some three hours that was. The highlight would probably be my waffle discovery, oozing with whipped cream. YES, WHIPPED FATTENING CREAM!! :) Then I burned all those calories walking to my next building in the scorching "post-summer" heat. And I got to English and Lit class, which, by far, are the two most favorite subjects I have right now. I love my professor!! He's gay, and American-liberal, and amazingly smart (Brown University for MA and PhD, girlies), and sooooo overall cool (as long as you don't piss him off, I hear). I cannot wait for his classes to start for real because I can already tell it's going to be fun. And challenging, maybe. But fun!!
Of course, it's a plus that the cutest guy ever is just a few meters away from me. Hihi.

FIRST DAY OF COLLEGE!!!

AHHHHHH!!! Tomorrow's going to be my first legit day in college; I can't believe it. Tomorrow, I am officially going to be a college student, and I'm going to have professors and all that. I am excited and nervous all at the same time, but I am sooo ready for this.

I guess OrSem has prepared me well. More on that later on. Haha. For now, I gotta go rush and do last minute preparations (aka fix everything in my bag, etc). For the mean time, here's the song that OrSem got me hooked on. No kidding, it's stuck on every freshie's head, and has been for the past three days.

...College enlistment

There's a mad rush for college enlistment in Ateneo right now, and I'm one of the sorry people who have to wake up early and stare at nothingness in their computer screens until their "designated time of arrival" (what is this anyway, the airport? Hahaha). All this for two units of PE, and four units of Natural Science lab & lecture!

I'm planning to take volleyball, yoga, or muay thai for PE, and Bio for Natural Science if I'm lucky enough to still get a slot in those subjects.

OH OH HERE IT GOES, WISH ME LUCK!

Prep Course

Well, I did promise to tell you about the Prep Course that I attended today...so here goes.

IT. WAS. TIRING. Really. And that's me talking, not some girly girl that doesn't run and isn't game for any sort of physical activity. Speaking of which, there was a lot of physical activity involved, and our upperclassmen tell us that the 3-day mandatory Orientation Seminar is 100000x worse. Oh man.

My brain seriously does not want to cooperate with me right now, having woken up at 5:45 am just to arrive on time in Ateneo. I literally felt like the undead walking and boarding the train this morning. Turns out I was too early anyway, and I had to hole up in the ladies' room because there was that I-don't-know-anyone-here awkwardness outside. I waited until 7:45 to decide that it was safe enough to proceed to the event. Haha. Of course, at first, everyone was awkwardly trying to know each other and have a good time, but as the day wore on, I guess we just got more comfortable and familiar with each other, and I started enjoying the whole event more.

We were divided up into four teams and as part of "Group Dynamics" aka games, we had to collect as much points as we could, especially in the Amazing Race. By the sound of it, you can probably tell that this was the hellish tiring part, right? So much running under a slight drizzle and across wet, muddy fields! As much as the race was physical, it was also a lot of brain work (hello, PoliSci life!). I guess this was the part where I was really able to bond more with my future coursemates, so I enjoyed it nonetheless. And hey, nothing like a good competition and an adrenaline rush for me!

In the end, our group (LEGGO PURPLE!!! Hahaha, never gets old.) actually placed second because we had awesome campaign jingles for "unknown" politicians and law-making skills to ban Justin Bieber from stardom. I met a lot of new friends today (I felt old though, being one of the only 18 year olds in the department. :( ), and there's nothing left to say but: I'm excited for OrSem! \:D/