This series of articles will chronicle my first UP experiences as an incoming freshman.

As I mentioned in a previous post, after receiving my admission letter, I had to confirm online that I was enrolling at UP. A few weeks later, I had to go online again to start pre-enlisting for the subjects I wanted to take for my first semester. I was to find out on registration day if I got the subjects I pre-enlisted for.

Speaking of subjects, one of the most hilarious things that I’ve encountered so far in UP is PE. To give you an idea, some of the choices for PE are duck-pin bowling, scuba-diving, tap-dancing, and (the most absurd) walking-for-fitness. I understand that people take walks to stay fit, but for PE?

After days of annoyingly stressful shuttling from doctor to dentist, I finally was able to get my medical certificate, declaring me “Fit to Enroll.” Of course, that’s many thanks to my tito who’s a doctor and a tito who’s a doctor at UP Infirmary.

May 9
Day 1 (College Briefing)

To be honest, the day before college briefing, I still had no idea where it was going to be held. I knew that registration was already transferred to Palma Hall, but I had no idea where college briefing would be. I figured that maybe it’s at my college since it is a college briefing by the college dean, so I went to Plaridel Hall, and sure enough, college briefing was there.

This was an interesting experience. They made the different departments heads sit in front of us. I made a little game in my head since, as usual, I had no one to talk to, and no one was talking to me. I kept on thinking, If Liza had chosen UP over Ateneo, then we’d be together right now. Anyway, I decided to guess, before they were introduced, who was the head of which department. I figured that the Dan Rather-ish man wearing a long-sleeved polo shirt must be the head of Broadcast Communications. I saw this simple-looking lady with glasses. I figured that she was the studious type and concluded that she was from Communications Research. Then, there was this younger-looking guy with messy, gelled hair and a broodingly artistic seriousness upon his face. Ah, this must be the Film guy. Guess what, I was correct with all of them, except for the Journalism person. She was late. Well, that’s very journalistic in a sense. You know, meeting-the-deadline kind of thing.

Anyway, they showed us a Flash presentation about the College of Mass Communication. The presentation uncannily resembled my Piet Mondrian-inspired World History Flash Portfolio in 3^rd year, which made me happy.

Each of the important CMC people gave talks. Among the department heads, only the Film guy talked in straight Filipino. He told us that what sets a Film student apart from the others is that they are the groggiest and most eccentric of the Mass Comm people. He also said that BA Film & Audio-Visual Comm is the only course in Mass Comm that is under an institute. The UP Film Institute was established when they joined the UP Film Center and my degree program, or at least, something like that.

The College Secretary then informed us about the different rules and guidelines that we had to know. One of the things she told officially confirmed a fear of mine that has been building up for the past months. She told us that, recently, the Film department has boomed, and currently, it has the most number of students at CMC. Dagnab it! For the love of--! There goes my job opportunities. Everyone, according to her, wants to be a star. Well, admittedly, I don’t mind being a star, but I also care about making socially-significant films as a director or screenwriter, but with all this competition, I might just be unemployed in the future.

We also had an intermission number from a Broad Comm org. They’re called Broad Ass. Don’t ask. Anyway, they wrote us a song and gave us a rendition of “Seasons of Love” from Rent. Awww.

DZUP (1602) is the University’s radio station, aired right from CMC. When asked about where to find the AM station’s frequency, the Broad Comm guy quickly responded that you don’t really have to know. It’s the very last station to the far right. Some radios don’t even reach that frequency anymore.

Contrary to popular belief, comfort rooms in UP are not really horrible. Of course, the Math Building CR that oh-so scandalized Jessica Qua Hiansen of the Ateneo was bad, but the CMC CRs aren’t bad at all. The toilets actually flush. Up until two years ago, AC toilets rarely flushed.

At the end of the briefing, they announced where each department will hold their own briefing. After waiting for the announcement for Film, they told us to just ask the College Secretary next time because ours was still being scheduled. Okay, that gives me more time to enroll. Apparently not for dummy like me. Before leaving, we sang, for the very first time, "UP Naming Mahal." I realized that I wouldn't be singing the Assumption School Song for a very long time.

We were supposed to go straight to the Records to get our Student Directory and Form 5a. In the Form 5a, the subjects that got into were listed. I was so happy that I got all the subjects I wanted that I quickly forgot to check if I got the timeslots I wanted. I hurriedly submitted my Student Directory with the 2x2 ID pics and had my adviser sign my Form 5a so that I could enroll already.

To be advised by the adviser, I had to go to the Film area. I had no idea where that was. It was a good thing that I saw this co-Film freshman and asked her where I had to go. She directed me towards the UP Film Institute office. It’s at the lobby of the CMC Building Annex. Movie posters line the walls towards that office, and upon entering in, you notice the cans of film that are stocked in the cabinets of the office. You know those film cans that are being restored by Turner? They looked like that. I felt like I was at MGM.

Well, I was too dumb to understand that the adviser is there to help you pick the right classes. I was too dumb to realize that, although I got all the subjects I wanted, I didn’t exactly get the timeslots I wanted. By the time I realized that I have Physics 10 at Palma Hall right after Math 2 at the Math Building, I was already at home eating lunch. I quickly panicked.

How am I supposed to go to Palma Hall from the Math Building (located at the outskirts of UP territory) in a split-second?! Apparate a la Harry Potter? Beam-up a la Star Trek? Do mind-reading a la “Mork calling Orson” to listen to the discussion? Definitely not (though it would be fun).

By the time I was back at the UP Film Institute office, Prof. Piano was gone, interviewing transferees. Aside from being really annoyed at myself for not noticing that schedule conflict, I was further disappointed to find out that still more people want to take Film.

I ran around CMC trying to figure out who could advise me and fix my schedule. I kept calling the office. Prof. Piano was still out; however, by some magical twist of fate, Prof. Piano passed by the office right when my mother called up. He told us to meet him the following day after lunch.

I couldn’t do anything but postpone my enrollment to the following day. That meant not attending the Freshman Orientation the following day but on Wednesday. That is if I can fix my schedule right away.

Lesson of the day: People go to college because they want to be smarter, wiser, and more responsible. They don’t go to university to be dumber. They don’t go UP to complicate an already simplified enrollment procedure.