Entering The University

Entering college, or more especially, the University of the Philippines was, according to my mother, an individual act... or something. It was no longer like high school, when you still had your classmates or groupmates. Your teacher would no longer give out lectures. In college, your teachers would give you a book or chapterS of a book, and then let the class discuss. Attendance is not very important - what is important is your performance in exams and papers.

That's what my mind was set on.

I do not have an exact concept or idea what UP really is. I only know that UP is THE premiere university in the country. Not just the premiere state university, but THE UNIVERSITY. All other universities or schools are simply the OTHERS.

I knew little about ROTC. I hardly learned anything from our CAT (Citizen's Army Training), how much would you expect from me?! I always tell people when asked later about me joining the Corps, the only thing I learned in CAT are tikas, pahinga and agap, ta.

These are my knowledge when I got in the University, before I enlisted for ROTC.

* * *

I enrolled alone, without my mother, unlike a lot of students my age. I learned - early on - that I was more than a year advanced for the generation of students. That is, I took my education earlier than I should. I started Grade 1 before I turned six years old. This, enrolling without any guardian, would turn my life into a whole new kind.

It started when I got to the SSWC. The Sports Science and Wellness Center.

The building of the Department of Physical Education. And the Reserve Officers' Training Corps.