College has passed by so
fast. It seems as if it was just yesterday when I first enrolled into the
university. I remember it as clear as day. I was so excited that
time. I was finally going to be enrolled in UP Diliman, one of the most
prestigious colleges in the country! I was going to meet new people, and maybe
even the friends I would keep for the next four years. I thought nothing could
go wrong that day. Well, I was wrong. Nothing in my life could have prepared me
for the enrollment process UP had, and still has.
 |
| Lines. Lines everywhere. |
Growing up in the province, I was used to my parents paying my tuition fees for
me and fixing whatever it is that has to be fixed during enrollment time.
My father new a few people in the faculty so he did not have such a hard time
enrolling me. The hardest thing he probably had to do was get the money
for my tuition fees. So this spoiled little piggy had no idea what was in
store for her during enrollment day. I honestly thought that the worst
that could happen was a couple of machines breaking down which would result in
us waiting a while.
Finally, doomsday came. Lo and
behold the lines for everything was unimaginably long. It was supposed to
be a day where only freshmen could enroll. How the heck could the
university have so much freshmen?!? To make matters worse I had to walk
to different buildings in order to get everything done. To this day
I still hope that they find a way around this. You have no idea how much
time is wasted by simply transferring to a different building just to have
someone sign on your paper or tell you that the subject you wanted is not
available. Anyway, sometime during the afternoon I finally arrived in the
OUR where we had to pay for my tuition fees. Surprise, surprise, there
was another line waiting for me yet again. I felt like I was waiting for
ages. It was so hot at the waiting area, I could even see the sweat
rolling off my seatmates face. Now that I think about it, maybe those
were tears of frustration. I am not that sure anymore. By the time it was
m turn to pay it felt so good to part with my money. Never in my life had
I thought I would be happy to see my money go into the hands of a total
stranger and watch it disappear into a drawer full of cash of other sufferers
like me. It was my first taste of the enrollment process in UP. A
premonition of the next years to come.
I thought it would not be that
bad the second time since I already knew what to expect. Guess what? I
was wrong. Always ALWAYS expect the unexpected from UPD. The second
semester was three times worse. I could not get all the subjects I wanted
in the CRS, so now I even had to line for the subjects I needed. I had to
line up for an hour or more for a single subject!!! Unfathomable. Why do
you have to line up for something that you are required to take? But as my high
school religious teacher always told us “It could have been worse.” True to his
word, the next enrollment was worse. Enrollment as a ‘regular’ student is
an all together different kind of hell, meant to test your patience to the
utmost limit. But that is a different story
Nicola
Fionna F. Delos Santos
Source
(Photos)
https://aitsalimbay.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/tumblr_m592b0ewta1qgznsuo1_500.jpg
