Stressed

Many unconnected events that happened to me in the past week were very stressful. Two of those were the Dormitory Acquaintance Party and the completion of the my sigsheet. These made me very stressed that I almost want to sleep very early.

The first event was the Dormitory Acquaintance Party. I was not really stressed about what to wear, making the program, decorating the area and the like because I was not part of the house council and I did not volunteer to help in anything. What made me stress was the program and how they organized it. First of all, they were not clear about the dress code. They said that we must wear colorful clothes to describe how colorful our life is. But when we had our corridor assembly, one of the house council members said that we must wear the clothes that reflect our personality. It was really confusing. How can you wear colorful clothes when you are the emotional type of person? You cannot mix the both of them. Second, they did not follow their program flow. They started very late so obviously everything was moved. Also, one of the host forgot the sequence as a result her partner was at a complete loss on what to do next. Third, the schedule for food getting was not followed. It was supposed to be after the main program. But since come people already got some food, the dormers thought that it was okay. Therefore, most of the people at the back lost their focus on the program and they became very noisy. I don't know why no one reprimanded them. Fourth, the food distribution was not handled properly. Some just let the dormers get as many as they want. Some distributed it like giving food to hungry animals. Some just gave it to the people they know. I know that it is a rare type of observation but I cannot avoid it. I have also tried organizing programs but I am always trying my best to make it successful. Moreover, I don't think that when some people enjoyed the party then it is already enough. I am not saying that they did not do their jobs but I hoped that they somehow let us feel that they did it well.

The other thing that made me very stressed was getting the sigs from the members of the organization. If I did not have an ATM problem and long exams, I think that it will be easy. Unlike other organizations, PsychSoc has a very challenging way of getting sigs. They have three levels of sig getting — the signatures, code names, and the signatures for different committees. As of the past week, I only need seven signatures and it is excusable because most of them rarely stays at the nook. The second level is what I was very stressed  of. When I compared my sigsheet to other sigsheets, I was totally worried. Many of them completed at least five code names and I have not completed any. Since I know my priorities and they also said to focus on the academics, I chose to study for my long exams than memorizing all those names. So every time I stayed at the nook, I only get at least three letters. And it bothers me. My mind is full of things to think about that sometimes I thought of quitting it. But I realized that I already started it and I will also experience what I am experiencing now when I apply the next semester. So even I am very stressed about it, I will still do my best to be qualified. And also, I feel that they are very considerate as long as you have a valid reason.

Despite of all the stress I am a experiencing right now, I still believe that God will help me through all of these. I know that everything happens for a reason and these reasons are better than what we expected. Just stay optimistic and be faithful  to Him.

Time Management

It is very stressful when something happened against your plans especially when that event almost ruined your schedule. It will be very hard to adjust since your mind is already set on what to do. That is why I felt that I only accomplished few things since something happened to my ATM card that almost messed up my week.

Monday was somehow all right. Despite the fact that I hate attending meetings during no class days, I have no choice but to attend the General Assembly Meeting of our organization. After that, my classmates and I went to Palma Hall Annex to update our course profiles. Because I was expecting that my parents already deposited my allowance, I checked my account after lunch. When I tried to withdraw, the ATM machine disregarded the action so I assumed that maybe the bank had not encoded it yet. Then I informed my mother  and she said that my guess might be right.

The next day, before going to my P.E. class, I again checked my account. This time, I noticed something I have not read the other day. The machine posted a sentence which said, "No card record." So, I became alarmed. I immediately texted my mother about it. Then my father called me and asked what really happened. I explained it to him and he said that he will visit the bank and inquire about what happened to my account.

Again, when my mother informed me that the bank gave them a copy verifying that the money was already deposited, I checked it once more this time at the ATM machine of a different bank. The machine also ignored the action and it said that my ATM is not valid. As a result, my parents became worried after I informed them. My mother then went to the bank to tell them that there was something wrong with my account. The bank representative, without knowledge about the system's problem, suggested to just withdraw the money over the counter.

And that's where my schedule was ruined. Because of it, I spent so long trying to figure out how to fix the problem as soon as possible. Since my mother knew that I need an allowance, she just sent me money via a money remittance center while I cannot withdraw yet. Then, luckily, we did not have a class in Linguistics for my teacher judged a thesis defense. So, instead of hanging out in our organization, I went to their branch to do what was suggested.

When the teller said that she cannot find my account, I became very stressed. I right away called my mother and said that the only way to get it was to withdraw it to the branch where my parents deposited the money. She was very upset about it. After knowing that, I cannot stop thinking about it. Moreover, my mother instructed me to open an account on a different bank which added to the things I need to think about. The only thing I want to do after all those was to sleep.

While they were fixing their system, the bank representative promised to inform my mother by the time the system was already fixed. So we waited. Then, Friday at noon, my mother texted me that the system already worked properly. So after taking my lunch, I tried to withdraw the money and the machine accepted the action. I felt relieved after a week of stressful events.

There are times when something happens unexpectedly and sometimes it will ruin your entire schedule. But we must try to stay calm. Panic will just add to your problems. We must remember to stay focused, think of ways to fix the problem and to adjust to the situation.

The Unexpected

There were three unexpected things that happened over the week — the application for an organization, the assignment to watch a violent movie, and the results of my long exam and quiz.

Last Monday, while I was surfing the internet, my block mate messaged me asking if I already signed-up for an organization. I told her that I did not since I didn't have a companion. When she mentioned that she was going to attend an applicants' orientation of the UP Psychology Society, I immediately asked her if I can go with her. UP Psychology Society was the organization I wanted to join. So, it was a good thing that she messaged me.

Then, I went with her to the orientation. I learned there that it is not easy joining an organization. There will be many things you need to accomplish so you will be accepted. I then thought of not continuing it. But, I realized, if I will not join any organization, many will think I am a loner. Also, if I will join next year, I will have a small chance of having a companion. As a result, I decided pursuing it. I think that the challenges of the different organizations will always be part of an Iskolar ng Bayan.

Another unexpected thing that happened was our assignment to watch Battle Royale. When I heard it, I thought that it was an action film. But I was wrong . Our teacher told us that it was not really an action film but a violent movie. I can somehow stand watching these kind of movies. On the other hand, when I learned from my classmate that it was very violent, I became hesitant watching it. I had an idea of just reading a summary of it. But, I ignored it and still watched it. While watching it, I realized that it was somehow tolerable for me.

After watching the movie, I fathomed that even violent films have a lesson to portray. It may seem unbelievable but I am the kind of person who always want to understand the message of a film. So I was trying to discover what was it. At first, it was hard because all I saw was killing. Then, when it was almost finished, the message was revealed. It was "in a world full of pretenders, there will always be someone whom you can trust" which I think was unusual.

Then, the results of my long exam in Math and my quiz in French were given to us. Despite the fact that I was slightly confident, I was still nervous. My Math exam result was given first. I got 30 out of 40. I was not satisfied with my score since most of my mistakes were just because of carelessness. So, I promised myself to be more careful in the future exams. Then my French quiz were given back. I was very happy to get a perfect score. Thanks to the bonus questions, my mistakes in the spellings were saved.

Life is full of surprises. It may feel like it just happens in a certain time because some will be revealed all at once. Just remember to be prepared in whatever surprise you will encounter.

Busy Week

Since the past week, I am feeling that I am in college. I already experienced having role playing activities, laborious home works and long exam. And if you are thinking that I hate it, you are wrong. I don't really love it but I am happy doing those things. This is because I am feeling bored here. I don't watch television. Some of the websites I always visit are blocked by the Dilnet. I am not in the mood of reading fiction novels during school months. I rarely go to the mall or the like. So having school works gives me the sense of being occupied.

One of the activities I want to share was our role play in French. We did not have classes two weeks ago so our teacher decided to give that activity to us. Being in a group where your group mates were very confident, was very stressful. I can do an impromptu dialogue in English but French is a different story. I have a lot of worries. I might say a wrong word. I might mispronounce words. I might forget the flow of the story. I was very nervous. And thanks to one of my group mates, we went first. I did everything according to the flow. We were not the best but at least it turned out good. Then I realized that what we did was brave since almost all other groups were bringing their scripts. At the end of the day, I can say that I was proud of what we did.

Example of a meticulous home work? It was maybe our outlining home work in English. Even if it was to be passed two days after, I already started it early. My reasons were we had a dorm assembly and I was sure that it will be long and the fact that it was an outlining activity. Outlining is a very challenging work for it needs the person who will outline to understand the text and be very particular with the topics. So, I started working on it. On the first attempt, it was alright. But when I read it again, I became confused. There were many ideas that seemed to have an importance. I felt that when I add subtopics I will be overwriting. But when I look at it, it seemed to be lacking. What I did was improve my topics by choosing what I thought was important.

The highlight of my week was my first long exam in Math. I studied math for the whole week because I was afraid of the comments of the old students that it is very difficult. I tried to answer all of the hand-outs given to us. Of course, I had not finished it since I also had other priorities in other subjects. The problems in the hand-outs were fine except for some. But when I answered the sample exams, I became worried. Almost all of the questions, for me, were unanswerable. That also why I felt troubled. On the other hand, as a Christian, I believed that God will always guide me because I had also done my part. And when we took our exam, thankfully, it was an average type of exam.

I was happy to have a busy schedule last week. It may sound very unusual but it is true. I would rather be busy than be sleeping and surfing the internet. I know that there will come a time that I just want to rest and I am looking forward to it.

University of the Weirds

Weird, according to Encarta Dictionaries, means odd, strange, or unusual. I am writing about weird things in this post since most of the things I encountered the past week were somehow unusual.

Before I enrolled in the University of the Philippines, I already knew that the students here have the freedom of expressing themselves. One example is having no dress code. Last Wednesday, I, together with my two classmates, went to Museum Cafe at the Vargas Museum to try their food. When we reached there, we were disappointed to know that it was closed so we went home. While we were walking and talking, there was someone walking behind us and I felt weird. Then, she overtook us and we were shocked realizing that she was wearing a superhero costume. We looked at each other and became silent. We were not expecting that someone would actually wear that. It was just strange.

Also, except for weird costumes, there were wacky hairstyles. I was amazed to see a girl in her magenta hair . It was not my first time. I already saw her during the advance registration and in Kalayaan Residence Hall. She did not care what other people might think of her. She was very confident. But, when the classes started, I realized that she was not alone. From odd colors to strange cuts, there are many students who are very brave in having unique looks. With this, I believe that this is the only school with no dress codes. We are very lucky to be in a school which does not stop students from showing who they are.

But not only clothes and hair are strange, the students also have peculiar personalities. Just like during our discussion English class. Our teacher was talking about a show he watched last week. Suddenly, my classmate burst out her emotions. It was my first to witness a student reacting to a television show with such serious reaction. Her look was so sincere. I did not know how to react with what happened. I just the understood that there are many interesting characters here.

Our university is very popular in different kinds of food. There are street foods, expensive foods, and foreign foods. I already started my food journey last week. After knowing that we will have no class in Geography, I went home. Outside Palma Hall, I saw a lady eating corn kernels in a plastic cup. I was curious because I have not seen it before. So, I bought one for me. I was surprised that even street food here are "sosyal". The vendor gave it to me with a tissue paper. It is definitely unusual. I was very amazed.

All of this things certainly define the uniqueness of the University of the Philippines. It is a school where students can be who they want to be and can experience the most outrageous events they have not encountered before. As a freshman, I am looking forward to more weird things that will happen in the next years.

Experience

As John Legend said, "Experience is a good teacher." I strongly agree to this statement because most of our lessons in life come from our experiences. Our experiences may be good or bad but surely it will affect us in different ways.

Life without experiences would be boring. Especially now that I am a freshman, I am very eager to face various challenges that I have not encountered before like, for example, living in a dormitory. I have not stayed in dormitory overnight without my family so this is challenging. It is my first time to share a room with someone I do not know. Also, even though my food is already prepared, I am used to the delicious food at home. But I believe, this chance will help me to be more flexible in dealing with others.

When there are good experiences, there are always bad. And one of those are the embarrassing moments. It maybe be blushing or humiliating but I am pretty sure that everyone has his awkward incident. Some of these are getting inside a different class, sliding on a wet floor, riding in a wrong jeepney and many more. Without these, we will not have one of the most enjoyable experience.

Do you know one of my worries in college? It is the academics. Particularly now that I am in the University of the Philippines, I will never know what to expect. I feel anxious of what will happen every single day. Just like last Thursday, even though I know that my first quiz in math will be short, I was still very nervous. It is maybe because I still do not know the teachers' styles in giving exams or activities or how they grade each work. But I know, I will eventually cope with their different approaches.

After two weeks of classes, I can say that my experiences are not many yet. It is because my routine is the same when I was in elementary that after school I will go home directly. Not like in high school that I still bond with my classmates. Most of the time, I went home late due to the fact that we still talked together. But all is different in my freshman year. I maybe do not get along with my classmates since I just met them or maybe I cannot understand their jokes for it is very different from our jokes. While I am alone after class, I still look forward to the fact that they will be one of my good friends.

As a national university, I have a lot of expectations in UP. Having many enjoyable activities, memorable events, learning while socializing are just a few of what I'm looking forward to in my stay here. I believe that this university will help me to experience all of these.

Experience is an important part of our lives. With these, we will be able to open our minds into new ideas that came from experiences. We will distinguish right from wrong. We will be inspired to experience more. We will be able to build our different characters. We will be able to understand the things that happen now because of the events of the past. So live and learn from your experiences.

Independence

Time flies so fast. It seemed like my childhood years were just yesterday. The first experiences, the people, the challenges, these memories gave meaning to my existence. As I open a new chapter in my life, the demanding world of college, I must use these to be able to live through it.

One certain thing about college is independence. In this moment, I will have a glimpse of what may the real world is. I should learn how to work on my own and not to always ask for the help of others. It is because I know that they do have the same test as me. I will face different trials that would push me to my limits. Trials that I have not encountered in my life. But I know that these will help me in becoming a better person.

Being far from your loved ones may be the hardest part of college. This is the first time that I will be very away from them for a long period of time. Ever since I was a child, I am very close to my family. We almost do all the things together-bond, talk, eat, pray, and many more. We always share jokes and stories with each other that we are almost like friends. This is the reason why it is hard for me to be distant from them to live my own life.

But being independent is an advantage since it will teach us to rely on yourself. It is a characteristic to be proud of. Maybe we will still need help from others but not as consistently as before. This, I believe, is very important lesson in our life. There will always a time in our life that we must solve our own problems, we must stand for what we think is right, we must live on our own. We must also not forget that even in being independent, we can still ask for the help of others especially if we cannot bear it ourselves. Just believe that there is always someone who could help us.

Freedom is also part of independence. We became free due to the fact that we live our own lives now. We are now able to express more of ourselves. We are becoming strong in what we believe in. We already know how to decide for ourselves. But all of this will be useless if we do not know how to be responsible. Responsible enough that we must accept all of the consequences that will arise from our actions.  That we will able to conquer the after effect of these decisions.

Independence is a vital aspect in our lives. We cannot avoid it. It is a reality in life that we must accept. It is one of those things which can make us better persons. Without it, we won't be able to stand for what we believe in. We won't be able to choose of what is right for us. We must do everything we can to become a independent person.