Rex blogs: Here freshie, freshie!

(The title should be read the way you would call you cats, "Here kitty, kitty!" Haha! =p)

Two weeks of classes have gone by and like other 1st semester starters, school has been pretty interesting particularly because of the newest members of the campus – the freshies!

I had my first encounter with a freshie on the very first day of class (June 13). As always, I rode an Ikot jeep to my first class. And as I sat down inside the jeepney, there was this young-looking guy seated opposite me, whose attire screamed freshie, freshie, freshie! Haha! His fashion sense was pretty okay and simple – he sure doesn’t seem to come from those science high schools, hehe! He was wearing a rebel-like shirt, a neat pair of pants and a cool pair of rubber shoes. It doesn’t seem so freshie so far, right? I mean, the average UP upperclassman wears the same pieces. It was the long brown envelope inscription: Mabuhay ka! Iskolar ng bayan! It didn’t help that he was holding a small towellete and a binder of mini-notebooks (whose number, by the way, is obviously more than the number of subjects that kid was probably enrolled in for the sem. There was like 10 of them).

On another Ikot ride to class, I was the only passenger. Then suddenly, the driver pulled over because 2 freshies were flagging down his jeep. I was so sure they were freshies because no upperclassman would flag down a jeep just anywhere – we all know there are designated waiting shed for unloading/loading of passengers. When the jeepney stopped, one of the girls asked the driver, “Manong, dadaan po bang gymnasium ito?” Haha! Of course, no upperclassman calls the gym in its non-truncated version and he would surely know that the Ikot indeed passes by the gym. Lastly, the other girl was holding a plastic envelope and inside was the UP Diliman campus map.

(FYI) In UP, student organizations have designated tables and chairs which we call our tambayans. It’s common occurrence during the first week classes when we would see random faces sitting at out tables. Obviously, these kids don’t know that the tables are exclusive for student members. We can't blame them of course, they probably haven't read their survival kits from cover to cover, hehe.

Last year, my morning class ended earlier than usual so I went straight to our AS tambayan to eat breakfast. There was this girl freshie seated on our table writing on a piece of bluebook. I didn’t ask her to leave, of course, I just sat in front of her and minded my own business, hoping she’ll soon realize on her own that she’s in an awkward situation. This year’s freshie tambayan blooper was funnier. Two orgmates of mine arrived at our tambayan with a boy freshie seated in one of our benches. As always, they didn’t ask him to leave. But when it was time for the freshie’s next class, he asked my orgmates if they had a ballpen. Thinking that he was just about to write something in a jiffy, they offered him one. Then the freshie asked, “Nandito pa ba kayo ng 10am? Babalik ko na lang mamaya…” Haha! My orgmates were amusingly shocked so they just told him if they aren’t around when he comes back, he can just leave the ballpen in the table. O diba, hindi masyadong handa ang freshie na ito. At ang tapang pa niyang manghiram ng ballpen for 2 hours kung kani-kanino, haha!

Okay, You’re probably thinking I'm a rude, unwelcoming, freshie-bashing senior, haha! I'm just having a laugh at the innocent bloopers of these college newbies because my own freshie memories sort of come back. This is not a post to poke fun at them. This is just a reminder to all upperclassmen like me that for a time, it was us committing our own freshie bloopers.

When I was a freshie, I was trying so hard to dress as cool as I can. Syempre, first time ko hindi mag-uniform sa school. Of course, looking back on my own fashion sense then, I would definitely cringe. I was more conscious of how trendy I would look instead of how comfortable I am. Eventually, I realized that comfort comes first. Mind you, it’s no mean feat to like dress up for a party and walk long distances under the sun in between classes. These days, I prefer to wear any comfort-fit shirt and pants and a pair of sandals.

On my very first day as a college freshman, I was not without bloopers myself. I was in the Math building and I wanted to go to the Registrar (OUR) to obtain an ID-picture-taking appointment. My campus map says I had to walk around a block to get there. I didn’t know there was a shortcut for it wasn't on the map. From the Math Building, I had to walk to ASTEC, then the new NIP (back then, the new NIP building was non-existent) and passed by a few shanties to get to the OUR. For those who can't imagine what I'm saying because you probably haven't been to our campus – in short, I had to walk 3x the distance because I didn’t take the shortcut.

So there, to all freshies (lalu na yung mga Isko/Iska), well, welcome to college! Have fun in your first year. In terms of academic stress year and free time, this is going to be your best year in college! Haha! Make the most out of it! =p