aug 19 2024

I wonder if this will get me doxxed.

Anyway! 

Today I went to my future campus for the very anticipated........third time lol. I actually went for the first time back in May when we had a course orientation and I had a blast looking around! Previously I had only seen it from the outside (when I stayed over at my kuya's place to take the entrance exam) and, well, I did have to go inside one of the school buildings to take the exam but it still wasn't inside the mainnnn campus (it was a a few steps away though) much to my dismay.

The main campus was beautiful! And there were so so many cats. The air inside campus had such a stark contrast to the...cough...environment outside 😵‍💫 which I'm not sure I'll ever get used to.

trash car

I also went again to confirm my enrollment back in July -- when I was doing my summer musical -- and I met ate Ruri for the very first time in real life. For context, we first met when I was like nine, and now I'm 18. Absolutely worth the wait though!

She actually goes to this uni too, although she's graduating before my first year is up. I finished confirming my enrollment (and taking my ID pic... although I wish I could have a retake because I was nawwwt looking my best) before going up to the library to meet her. 

We ate at an Army Navy and I had some sausage because I love sausage. We talked a lot and I learned a lot about campus culture from her. I'm so excited to be an official uni student!

DONT MIND HOW ZOOMED IN IT IS

After eating, she walked me to my kuya's place. Which, by the way, was soon to be my place as well. I hope my kuya graduates soon cuz I need it for myself already grr.

Anyway, enough recapping cuz today was a loooot. I met my blockmates for the very first time and of course it all started with....... me being late.

It absolutely was not my fault though. No one was accepting my Grab request even though I woke up early and everything. When I got to the meeting area they were already ushering people to the auditorium for the freshman orientation. I quickly grabbed one of the croissants they were offering to people and a bottle of water.

Since I was late, I had to sit in the back with all the other latecomers of my block. I met these two girls who were really cool and proceeded to hang out with them the entire time. 

mentimeter of course

After the initial orientation, they sent us downstairs for brunch, which was absolutely delicious. They also passed out healthy soda. I'm pretty sure it was only because the event sponsored by the soda company. 

During brunch, there was a bunch of booths from big brands that gave freebies and such. I had no energy to go around and collect them so I just chatted with my blockmates before we were called to take the official campus tour.

My feet hurt by the end. The campus is so big I think I should buy a hoverboard for transportation. Also, lots of stairs. But then again.... stairs = cardio..... so I guess it's a good thing?

After the campus tour, they brought us to a classroom with our blocks and we all officially met each other. We had icebreakers and introduced ourselves. One of the facilitators asked us individually about why we picked our course (international studies, btw), and since I'm not sure I've ever said it here before: it's because when I was in middle school, I was supposed to transfer to this super fancy international school. I passed the entrance exam and everything, and all I needed was to wait for a slot to open since it was in the middle of the year.

Surprise! A slot did open. However... the school operated on a priority list. Priority 1 was children of diplomats. Guess which priority I was?

8th. Children from public/private schools in the Philippines who were born in the Philippines.

So my slot was taken from me. Thus started my revenge plot. I will become a diplomat and have a child that WILL be the first priority at that schmoozy fancy school and they will become HBIC because I willed it.

Of course, I relayed a condensed version of this to my blockmates. By condensed I mean I literally said "oh...well....it sounded interesting..." and that it was my pre-law. I was pleasantly surprised that most people said it was their pre-law course as well.

It also started raining really hard. This will become important later.

After that, we were all ushered back into the auditorium for the org showcase. I lowk had my eye on some -- theatre, orchestra -- but I was told that shows here were in Tagalog, so that was a no go. As for orch, I can barely play Ode to Joy on my violin, so...

But wow. Everyone was so talented I was a little bit intimidated. There was a pep squad section that really made me feel the university pride. They even gave us glow sticks to wave around! I suddenly really want to go to a game just to scream out chants.

Back to the rain -- there's a tradition in my uni where the freshmen walk outside and orgs put stuff in our bags. It was the tradition. I even brought my favorite tote bag for it! Unfortunately, because of the weather, it was cancelled...

However!

As we were leaving the campus, we heard the pep squad. They made a makeshift version of the event for us with what they had. I was so touched... Even though we didn't get to experience the real thing, this one was just as amazing.

Uni life sounds so amazing. I'm so glad that I get to go to such a great uni. Classes start in like two weeks so I'm counting the days!