Just like how a kindergarten feels during his first
day of school, I was very excited to enter my new school, known as one of the
best schools in the country - the University of the Philippines. I was so
innocent then about what was all about this school. I heard a lot of rumours, like
the school being the centre of student activism, lots of jeepneys inside, huge buildings,
and of course, its famous tradition - the oblation run. I surfed the internet to know more about the university,
and the first thing that appeared was a statue. It was Oble (Oblation or
Pahinugod) – a concrete statue made by the famous Filipino
artist Guillermo E. Tolentino, which serves as the iconic symbol of the University. Since then, I
dreamed to see Oble personally until there comes the time that I needed to go
to Manila for the enrolment. Finally, I knew that I will see him!
After a long eight-hour trip from Isabela, we
finally reached Manila. As I, together with my friend, stepped
out from the bus, the sun’s rays shone upon my face and hurriedly, the hot
desert climate of Manila welcomed me, as if thesun’s rays werehuggingmedirectly.All things became new to me, specially
the environment. Noisysurroundings, numerous cars,foul and hazy air and vast
number of people -these were the things I observed, far from what I experience
in the province. Besides from excitement, my mind and heart began to feel
pressured as I saw how life was in Manila.
As the green light turned on, “broom,
broom, beep beep”, jeepneys, taxis and buses turned the highway into a
racetrack. They were racing to get more passengers. Wewere picked-upby ahuge bus
going to Fairview.The ride was very crazy- if the lion was the king of the
jungle, the bus was the king of the road. The bus wasas fast as a camera flash,
it overtookto the right and left making me feel unsafe. In justa few minutes,
the conductor shouted “philcoa, philcoa”. The bus stopped to unload passengers.
We went down and my knees began to shake as my friend told me that we were nearly
there.
“U.P CAMPUS, CAMPUS U.P!” a thin man shouts as
he walked towards us asking if we were going to the campus. We answered him and
he helped us to load our things. The jeep’s small capacity I believed was good
for only 10-14 persons but I was amazed how the jeepney driver managed to
insert four more passengers- we looked like sardines in a small can, we were compressed.
But besides that, I enjoyed riding the jeep because it was my first time to
ride a public utility jeepney. The machine turned on and we started moving. The
jeepney turned right into a very wide road, the University Avenue, which I
thought was an expressway. There were flowers that looked like a fire dividingthe
road into two partsI was so impressed when my friend told me that those
beautiful sun flowers also symbolize the Graduation period of the school.
The jeep went straight up to the checkpoint
and I noticed something- a gigantic building. A massive building views from
afar to which looked likea palace floating on air. The statue stands
approximately two meters and I noticed a plant on his foot. The statue seemed
familiar to me; I knew that I alreadyhave seen it. I didn’t remember its name
but I remembered the way it looked like. I asked my friend and she said “yan si
Oble”.I realized that statue because of the famous tradition of the school-the
oblation run.I can’t describe how glad I was when I saw him face to face. The tiredness I felt was lost as I read the
markers on the statue’s base- It was a verse of Rizal's Mi Ultimo Adois. The long and tedious journey was well worth.
This journey to see Oble is one of the most inspiring journeys I had in life. I
will never forget this experience.
By: Mark Lesther M. Jacinto
(Narration)
Sources: (Photos)
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/354096/scitech/science/no-more-blooming-grad-sunflowers-for-up-after-calendar-shift
http://irvinarenas.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/entry-058/
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