Quick Reflections

Celso and I were talking about our BS Bio days and sure enough, we perceived college life so differently. No wonder we never crossed paths eventhough we were (gasp) classmates. He was comfortable adjusting from WVSU High School while my first few weeks of June 1989 in college was, in all honesty, terrifying.

I remembered vividly what my main problem was: I didn’t know where to safely sit.

From the University of the Philippines Iloilo campus main gate, the benches were occupied by Stella-Scintillia Juris. Near the dorms were the tambayans of the Juventus’. Go further near the LT, sometimes the mushroom benches were available, but it was quite embarrassing to be right next to the Silak-Silabs. Near the gym, the mushroom benches were for the Hamilia-Hamili. The picnic bench near the volleyball court was for the Validus guys.

City cafeteria seating was worse. The crowd was grouped into UP Highs vs the non-UPHighs. The fashionable city girls and their admirers. Jocks in their basketball uniforms. The frat boys and their sorority sis. Those upperclassmen dressed in shorts and slippers and if you didn’t know better, can be mistaken for janitors. The university and college scholars. The chatty faculty and the visiting VIPs seated on special white chairs.

Talk about unwritten sitting arrangements. I cared so much about this back then. Like most of them probinsyanas, I didn’t want to offend anyone. I was as quiet as a mouse. A fly on the wall. I showed up for class at 830 then disappeared like smoke by 4pm. I cut class on Fridays to run and catch Manong Calbo’s 1130 Iloilo-Kalibo Ceres non-stop bus.

Why would I sit right next to them inglis-ispokening? I got no Levis 501’s or K-Swiss’. I didn’t use Aquanet nor socks with little pom-poms. College freshman year was one of the very awkward times in my life.

Hope you had better memories than mine!